We are big on mushrooms in Poland. When I was little, my friends’ parents used to take us to pick wild mushrooms in the forest. Although I loved mushrooms, the forest and the process of foraging for my own food, there was always a certain amount of trepidation that the delicious mushrooms that we were feasting on would be the last thing we ever ate. Foraging for mushrooms is like the Russian roulette of snacking: in one hour you could be relaxing with a nice full belly or you could be heading to Accident and Emergency!
Despite their potential danger, I love mushrooms and the smell of mushrooms sautéed in a pan reminds me of home. My mum used to make us a simple yet cracking mushroom dish of whole mushroom cups sautéed in butter, garlic and herbs with fresh bread. We used to fight over who will get to mop up the last bit of the sauce with their slice. The smell of these little mushroom parcels remind me of that time. The forest-like smell permeates the house as soon as the ingredients hit the pan. The fragrant filling is encased in a pizza-like dough, the edges of which crisp up in the oven nicely. I love having these for lunch with a cup of steaming hot barszcz on cold winter days.
700 g of mushrooms (roughly 9 very big mushrooms, I used chestnut and regular) 3 tbsp of olive oil 5 shallots, finely diced 2 garlic cloves, finely diced 20 g dried wild mushrooms, rinsed, soaked in water overnight 1 tsp dried oregano ½ tsp dried thyme 1 tsp salt, adjust to taste generous amount of ground pepper 3 tbsp of breadcrumbs
Dough
250 g regular flour 250 g bread flour 1 cup of water 1 tsp active instant yeast 2 pinches of sugar 1 tsp of salt 5 tbsp olive oil
Dough
