Kazakhstan · Dough and pastry

Kazakh Baursak

Name: Kazakh Baursak
Prep time: 1 h 50 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 2 h 10 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Kazakhstan
Ingredients: 500 g Plain flour; 250 ml Milk; 2 tsp Dry yeast; 1 tbsp Sugar; 1 tsp Salt; 1 Egg; 50 g Butter; 800 ml Sunflower oil

Local name: Бауырсақ

Golden, puffy fried dough pieces made from a soft yeasted dough, a staple of every Kazakh table.

Servings4
Prep1 h 50 min
Cooking20 min
Total time2 h 10 min
DifficultyEasy

🌱 VegetarianContains glutenContains dairyContains egg

Kazakh Baursak — Photo: Brücke-Osteuropa · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

↓ Method

About this dish

Baursak is a fried yeasted dough found under various names across Central Asia. In Kazakhstan it is served at holidays, weddings, births and memorial meals, and whenever guests come over for tea.

In Kazakh homes the dough is usually lightly salted and made with milk, then cut into squares, diamonds or rounds. It is eaten hot with honey, jam, kaymak or syrup, and is also served alongside soup.

Ingredients

4 servings

Tick the ingredients off like a shopping list.

Dough

500 g Plain floursifted, a little extra if needed
250 ml Milklukewarm
2 tsp Dry yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 Eggat room temperature
50 g Buttermelted and cooled slightly

For frying

800 ml Sunflower oilfor deep frying

Method

Stir the sugar and yeast into the lukewarm milk and leave for 10 minutes until foamy.
Whisk in the egg, salt and melted butter.
Add the flour gradually and knead for about 10 minutes into a soft dough that only slightly sticks to your hands.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for 60 minutes until doubled.
Knead gently to knock out the air and rest the dough for 10 minutes.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1 cm thick.
Cut into diamonds or squares of about 4 cm.
Cover the pieces and let them rest for 10 minutes.
Heat the oil in a deep pot to about 170 °C; a piece of dough should rise to the surface right away.
Fry the pieces in batches, turning often, for about 15 minutes in total until golden on all sides.
Lift out onto a rack or paper towels, drain and serve warm.

💡 Tips

If the oil is too hot the outside browns before the inside cooks; aim for 170 °C.
Do not overcrowd the pot, or the oil cools and the baursak soak it up.
Keep the dough soft; a soft dough gives lighter, puffier baursak.
To enjoy them the next day, warm them in a 160 °C oven for a few minutes.

🛒 Can't find it abroad?

Butter — Use the same amount of lukewarm sunflower oil.
Dry yeast — Use 15 g fresh yeast, dissolved in the milk.

This recipe was prepared with the help of AI, following the traditional home-style method; quantities, times and steps were checked automatically for consistency. Ovens and stoves differ, so check doneness by eye.