Faworki dough calculator
Faworki, the Polish angel wings: a stiff dough of flour, sour cream and yolks with a spoon of spirit, beaten with a rolling pin, rolled paper-thin and fried.
Total hydration counts the water inside the eggs, milk and butter.
Faworki are strips of a stiff, yolk-rich dough, knotted and fried until they blister, then dusted with icing sugar. No yeast and no baking powder: the lift is air, beaten in with a rolling pin. The spoon of spirit is the old Polish trick against the dough drinking fat.
How it works
The dough
AniaGotuje on 400 g of cake flour: 150 g of sour cream 18% (37.5%), yolks weighed to 90 g (22.5%), a tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of 95% spirit, a teaspoon of icing sugar and a pinch of salt. Everything into one bowl, mixed and kneaded briefly into a firm, elastic ball; hers weighed 685 g.
Beating in the air
This is the work: knead, flatten, fold, roll and beat the dough with the rolling pin, for tens of minutes if you have the patience, until it is perfectly smooth. AniaGotuje’s shortcut is a meat grinder: pass the dough through a medium plate two or three times. Moje Wypieki rests the dough 30 minutes before beating and 30 minutes in the fridge after.
Rolling, cutting, frying
Roll a third at a time as thin as you possibly can, until the board shows through. Strips no wider than 2.5 cm and no longer than 10, a slit in the middle, one end pulled through. Fry a few at a time in oil or lard at 170 to 180 °C, 30 to 40 seconds a side, onto paper towels. Icing sugar once they are cool.
Sources & methodology
Every percentage in this calculator traces to the published sources below — nothing is invented. Where respected sources disagree, the default sits inside the documented range.
- AniaGotuje — Faworki — The anchor: 400 g of cake flour, 150 g of sour cream 18%, yolks weighed to 90 g, a spoon of butter, a spoon of 95% spirit, a teaspoon of icing sugar; her ball weighed 685 g. Beaten with a rolling pin or passed through a meat grinder, fried at 170–180 °C.
- Kwestia Smaku — Faworki — Four yolks on 320 g of flour with five spoons of cream and two teaspoons of spirit, about 60 pieces: the top of the yolk band and the light end of the piece weight.
- Kwestia Smaku — Faworki domowe — The one recipe that weighs the butter: 40 g on 500 g of flour with six yolks, about 70 pieces.
- Moje Wypieki — Faworki — Five yolks on 450 g of flour, three quarters of a cup of sour cream, a spoon of spirit or two of rum; 30 minutes’ rest before beating and 30 in the fridge after, fried at 175 °C.
FAQ
Is the spirit necessary?
No. AniaGotuje says it can be left out; it loosens the crumb a little and keeps the faworki from soaking up oil. A tablespoon of 10% spirit vinegar does the same job for her. Moje Wypieki allows two spoons of rum instead.
Why did they come out hard?
Almost always because the dough was not rolled thin enough. It should be nearly transparent. A heavier flour is the other reason: AniaGotuje wants a low-ash cake flour, type 405 or 450, not type 650.
How many yolks?
Four to six per 400 to 500 g of flour across the Polish recipes, about 20 to 22% by weight. More yolks make them crisper and yellower; the dough may then take a little more flour. Nela Rubinstein’s famous version, on Moje Wypieki, uses a whole egg and two yolks with vinegar and rum.
How many pieces?
Kwestia Smaku gets about 60 from 320 g of flour and about 70 from 500 g, so a piece is 8 to 11 g of dough. AniaGotuje’s 400 g of flour makes roughly 70 at the default 10 g.
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