Langos is a typical street food that you can find in every corner of Europe, but plenty of people prepare it at home as well. Based on the info I could find, Langos originated in Hungary, but it quickly found its way into the neighboring countries. It was basically a side product of bread baking made from the same dough. While the bread oven was heating up in the morning, people would shape the leftover bread dough into flat and round discs and bake those before the actual bread. And that’s how Langos was born. Find more information about Langos on Wikipedia.

Whether this is true or not is hard to say, but one thing remains a fact: Langos is a very affordable and simple dish to make, it tastes great and you should definitely try it. There are several Langos recipes out there, I have tried a few myself and I’d love to show you the favorite of mine today.

This Langos recipe includes one not-so-traditional ingredient, which happens to be sour cream. I love this recipe, because the finished Langos stays crispy and crunchy for a longer period of time. Several types of toppings are used on Langos, such as garlic, cheese, sour cream, tartar sauce, ketchup… the choice is yours.

TIP: Want to try more Hungarian dishes? Try my take on the Hungarian Beef Goulash too.

Let’s start cooking!

Langos Recipe Ingredients

Langos Dough:

1kg (8 cups) all purpose wheat flour
1 cube fresh yeast or 1 pack of dried
250ml (1 cup) sour cream
400ml (1 ¾ cups) milk
2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons salt
oil for frying

Toppings

garlic oil – crushed garlic mixed with oil and a pinch of salt
tartar sauce
sour cream
ketchup
grated cheese of choice

How To Make Langos

Watch the video or scroll down for step by step instructions:

Making a Langos is extremely simple, we just need to give the dough some time to rise. The amount of dough from this Langos recipe is enough for about 15-20 smaller pieces.

First we need to bring the yeast back to live. Mix about 1 cup of milk with 2 teaspoons of sugar and fresh yeast. You can totally use dried yeast too, it will just need a few more minutes to activate. Once the yeast is activated, we can start making the Langos dough.

Add all the dough ingredients into a large bowl : 1kg (8cups) flour, rest of the milk, 250ml (1cup) sour cream, 3 teaspoons of salt and the activated yeast. I have a nice stand mixer so I’m using that, but you can also mix the dough with your hand.

The finished Langos dough is quite tough/solid and not too sticky. Form a ball and cover the dough with foil or kitchen towel and let it rise until it doubles in size. It should take about 1.5 hours.

Once the dough has risen, we can start making our Langos. Put some oil on your hands and grab a handful of the dough, the oil will prevent it from sticking to your hands and the kitchen desk. Now form the dough into a round shape, Langos should look like a small pizza. (I have a pizza recipe too by the way) You can use just your hands or grab a roller. If possible, try to keep the edge somewhat thicker than the center part.

Make about 3 or 4 pieces at first, you can make more as these ones are frying. Do not make more than you can eat at once! Langos tastes the best when still hot, it needs to be crunchy. The dough can be stored in the fridge safely for 3-4 days, so you can make more later on.

Now heat some frying oil in a larger pan, it has to be bigger than the Langos pieces as it fries the best when it’s free to float a bit. At least ½ inch of oil should be in the pan to make this possible.

When frying Langos, aim for a pretty high temperature but not the max. 180-200C or around 350F should be just about right. Carefully place each piece into the oil, starting from one side of the pan (check the video to see how). Do not “drop” the dough into the oil at once or the hot oil will splash out and you will burn your hands. Fry about 2 minutes per side, or until the color turns golden brown. The center of the Langos tends to puff up while frying, so push it back with a spatula or some other utensil so it fries better.

Place the finished Langos on a paper towel, so it absorbs the excess fat. Once you have another one ready, place another paper towel on the first one and stack them this way. Let them cool just a bit so they are cold enough to handle and serve immediately.

The toppings are optional, Langos can be eaten just as is with a bit of salt, but it definitely tastes better with some toppings. I’m using garlic oil (crushed garlic mixed with oil and salt), grated cheese, tartar sauce and some ketchup. You can also use sour cream or yoghurt. Basically, whatever you like, put it on your Langos :)

And we are done! I hope you liked this Langos recipe, let me know in the comments.

Optional Tips For My Langos Recipe:

• Don’t have sour cream at hand? You can use plain white yoghurt in the Langos dough too.
• No milk in the fridge? You can substitute it with the same amount of water.
• Made too much Langos dough? No problem, store it in the fridge for up to 3-4 days or freeze it for later use, it should stay good for about 6 months.