Old Fashioned Potato Knishes
Growing up in New York, there were certain foods that you associated with your city. Knishes were unquestionably one of them. My late father was a HUGE fan of kasha and potato knishes and my brother Avi to this day loves them. The big shocker is that when I made these (a bunch of times, natch) my mom (!) of all people, said, this should become a regular in your repertoire. Frankly, I’m still reeling from the shock. But it gives you an idea of how well these went over. Don’t worry, I sent some to Avi as well.
So I checked out many many recipes for knish dough and was disappointed time and again (cookbooks, online etc.) until lo and behold, I spotted a recipe recommended by Deb from Smitten Kitchen and decided to go to the original guy who crafted it. His name is Joe and his website is called Joe Pastry * and the guy is awesome. Not only do I love his website but he is personable and professional. He also wrote me back and is very encouraging. Way to go Joe! (sorry, I couldn’t help myself 🙂 ). And so, I finally have an awesome knish recipe.
This dough is actually ridiculously easy to make, no yeast, no worries, and all you need is the patience of letting it rest for an hour. Yes, yep, nothing to be done about that, ya gotta do it. If you don’t let it rest, the dough will just not be properly workable but if you do (you are relaxing the gluten in the dough), promise! it’s a pleasure. Adult playdough if you get me.
So you should start with the dough since you need that resting time. It’s done in a bowl, no mixer or processor needed.
Take your flour, baking powder and salt and whisk briefly in a medium bowl, preferably one with a lid.
Then make a well (sorta a little crater in the middle of the flour mixture) and put the egg, oil, water and vinegar in it, and mix it all up till incorporated.
Stir it up till it looks like so:
If there’s a bit of flour on the bottom of your bowl, no worries, since right in the bowl, using your hands, you should knead the dough about 6 times, (fold and press, 1/4 turn and again) and then take the lid and close it. Otherwise, take some plastic wrap and cover.
Set aside (you might want to time it to be sure, 1 hour, no cheating). A note, it might “weep” a little oil. No worries, just stir back in.
Now if you’ve been doing the sauteeing of onions and storing the extras in your fridge or freezer as I recommend Basic Sauteed Onions, A Kitchen Staple, you’ve saved a step. Otherwise, you need to sautee an onion. No big, do so and on to your potato filling. Peel about 5 medium potatoes and chunk or cube them (the faster to cook them, m’dear) put in a pot with salt, cover with boiling water and cook on medium simmer till really truly soft. We are gonna mash ’em. Into a bowl and whip out your potato masher (or a fork if you ain’t got one). A note. Do not, no no no put potatoes into a food processor or blender. They get a gummy texture and are just gross. Mashing will go fast if they are really soft (check with a toothpick to be sure).
Next add your sauteed onions and salt and this may seem odd but is not, beat a large egg and put 1/2 (yes, half) the egg into the mixture. You are saving the other half to brush on top of the knish when ready. Mix it all about.
See the other half of the egg? Yup for real. Okay. Your filling is ready to roll, and yuk yuk, so is your dough so now preheat your oven to 350 F.
Now take the rested dough and divide into four pieces, covering the ones you aren’t working with, sprinkle some flour on parchment paper, take a rolling pin and roll into a rectangle. The dough is soft and will roll nice and thin.
Now scoop up a quarter of your potato filling and place in a line on the bottom of the dough nearest you. Leave a bit of a margin. Like so:
Brush the flour away and roll the first bit of dough over the filling and then, using the parchment paper, lift it up a bit and the dough should just roll over and over covering the filling a number of times. If it doesn’t work for you, just gently roll it up yourself with your hands. Your dough should look like this:
and then this:
Now take the dough and sort of pat the filling so it is even and with your fingers, pinch the dough evenly so it looks like this:
I didn’t want mammoth size knishes so this was perfect for me. As you wish. Next twist the end piece of dough/knish to sort of tie it off from its mates.
After twisting, cut with a sharp knife to separate. Then stand them up on their little bottoms and gently press down and push your index finger lightly into the middle. Presto, you’ve made a knish. With a little practice you will become an expert.
Do this with all the dough (you might have a little filling left over, serve beef or chicken on it, don’t let it go to waste!) and put on parchment lined rimmed baking sheet. Remember the 1/2 an egg? Now use it and brush the knishes to glaze them. This makes them brown nicely in the oven.
Bake in the hot oven 30-40 minutes or till golden brown. Serve with brown mustard and astound your family!
Old Fashioned Potato Knishes
Dough:
2 cups (312 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp vinegar
Filling:
5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
boiling water to cover
pinch of salt
one medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
extra flour to sprinkle on parchment paper or silpat
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. In a medium bowl (best if it has its own cover, otherwise you will need plastic wrap), whisk together your dry ingredients, make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg, oil, vinegar and water. Stir together till all the ingredients are incorporated and then right in the bowl, knead the dough about six times, just pressing and turning to make sure all the ingredients have been properly mixed. Cover the bowl with the lid or plastic wrap and let the dough sit for an hour at room temperature. Set aside.
Prepare the filling by boiling the potatoes with the pinch of salt till very soft. Put potatoes in a bowl to cool. Sautee the onions in the oil till medium brown and add to the potatoes and mash together and add a teaspoon of salt. Stir well. When filling is cool, beat the egg and pour HALF the egg into the potato mixture saving the other half to brush on the finished knishes.
Divide the rested dough into 4 parts. Roll out the dough on a floured piece of parchment paper into a rectangle and along the bottom of the dough (short side) leaving a bit of a margin, place a layer of potato filling. Encase the filling with one turn of dough and then using the parchment paper, lift up the edge and gently roll and the dough should fold over itself like a jelly roll. Pinch the dough at intervals (I did 4-5 knishes from a rectangle of dough) and twist. Cut at the twist, pinch the ends shut and sit on their bottoms, gently poking the top to help seal and make a small indentation. Place on parchment paper on rimmed baking sheet, brush with the remaining egg mixture, and do this with the rest of dough and filling. If you have filling left over, serve as a side dish. Bake the knishes 30-40 minutes or till golden brown. Serve with mustard, of course 🙂 . A note, these reheat beautifully and will keep (ha! try it and see how long they last) at least 5 days in the fridge.
https://joepastry.com/2009/the_tradish_knish/
Love the way u write 😂👏👏
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Thanks so much my love!!! I miss you too xxxooo
Hi! This was such a great recipe and easy..no patchka type:)! Came out really yummy! Only thing is the dough wasnt that thin and came out more bready type/ taste rather than that thinner type. I rolled it out as much as i could.
So glad it came out well for you! It’s possible if you let it rest long enough that you used a little too much flour. I weigh my flour because if you scoop up a packed cup it adds a lot more flour and can make the dough heavier. A trick to avoid this without weighing, is to put flour in a container and lighten it with your hands (fluff it) then scoop and sweep off the excess. Enjoy!
Hi. These look yummy. Can they be frozen? If yes, would you recommend freezing them before or after you bake them? thx
Hi Fayge,
You can freeze these, I’d bake them first, let cool and then wrap well. To serve, let defrost and heat briefly in oven to refresh.
Potato knishes came out fantastic I was amazed thank you so much Sam Roth
So glad to hear! My pleasure and thanks for the feedback.
Thank you for this nice recipe. I’m a former NY’er living in Mexico. I make these each year for my Mexican neighbour who visited anYC once and that was the only food he remembered that tasted good. My question now, since I’m making them for myself, neighbours and friends:
How many will this make and is doubling the recipe ok to do, thank you,
Hi Moira, yes you can definitely double the recipe, this makes about 8 medium or 12 smallish knishes. I usually serve them as a side dish so I go with the smaller size.
Was wondering if you tried Shmaltz in knish recipe. I’m use to eating Gabelas knish’s in new York. I no longer live there I’m in Oklahoma. They do not sell knish. So going to make em. I want more then 5 can freeze some .Do I double your recipe? I’ve also seen recipe with turmeric spice in dough gives em a darker color dough. Thank you
Hi Charles, nope never tried shmaltz in this but I imagine it would be ridiculously delish. I prefer to keep my knishes pareve which means neither meat nor dairy so it can be eaten at any meal but if you wish go for it! These freeze very well and yep, you can double the recipe. Just bake them, cool, wrap well and freeze. When defrosting just warm in an oven (or even a microwave) but if you want the touch of crispiness the oven is the way to go once defrosted. (or a toaster oven)
Hi Debbie, I tried making these last week and they were amazing! Thanks for the great recipe! It was easy to follow and I appreciate you providing the weight of the flour in grams.
I added thyme and rosemary to the potatoes because I happened to have some in the fridge, and some cumin to the onions. I’ll definitely be making these again – my next idea is a samosa-like filling!
I’m so glad it turned out well for you! Your additions sound wonderful and a samosa filling sounds good too. Might try that myself.
Deb, Thanks for the incredibly delicious recipe.. We all loved it, brought some to friends who thought they were amazing. Just one question?.i am 69 years old, originally from the Bronx NYC and have never made or eaten knishes without schmaltz. Can I substitute schmaltz for the oil? Believe me I keep lots in my freezer. Thanks
Well you made me laugh, schmaltz, eh? Your arteries must be hardy! I can’t see why not – it will certainly add flavor and the texture should be similar (assuming it’s liquid schmaltz). So glad you enjoyed it and if you do use it, lemme know how it turns out for you!
Debbie, thank you for the incredibly delicious recipe. The whole family loved it and I have no leftovers. I am 69 years old, originally from the Bronx NYC and have never made or eaten knishes without schmaltz. Can I substitute schmaltz for the oil? Love all of your recipes. I feel like I am back with my beloved Mother and Bubbe.
Lovely!
Hey Debbie, for reheating, did I miss the oven temp and time?
Nope, you did not because you could (G-d forbid 😉 ) microwave them too but basically, 5 minutes in a toaster oven should do the trick.
What temperature should knishes be baked at? Also, what kind of potatoes do you recommend? Thank you.
Apologies! I just realized I omitted the baking temp! Will fix that, thanks. 350 F/180 C. I like my red skinned potatoes here in Israel, but really any good mashable sort are fine.
Hi! Thank you for this recipe. I enjoyed reading through it and look forward to making it. I’m a bit confused about the amount of flour because 2 cups normally equals 240 g. So I’m not sure if I should use 240 or 310. There’s a big difference, of course. Thanks again.
Hi, my pleasure. You may note that in my recipes there may be quite a differential between metric and imperial measurements since people weigh flour differently. When I attended a professional baking course, my baking instructor had told me a cup of flour is 120 grams. Others insist it’s 125 grams. This particular recipe by Joe Pastry (whom I reference) he states 2 cups, which is (according to his lights) 11 ounces, actually 311 grams but let’s not quibble. So I simply translated his ounces into grams. This is one of the reasons I give measurements both in US cups and metric. I always weigh my flour and adjust it to whichever recipe I use. For myself, when I develop a recipe I generally stick with 125 grams a cup but I was using his measurements here. A longer answer than perhaps you expected but as you see, there’s method to my madness. 🙂