Knysh

What it is

Knysh is a bread product known throughout Ukraine, but it is baked differently everywhere. A common feature, as observed by ethnologist Volodymyr Halaychuk, is that the edges of the dough are folded or rolled towards the center. In the Carpathians, knysh most often has a filling.

In the Boyko region, knysh is filled with boiled mashed potatoes, buckwheat, or cheese, and the edges of the dough are folded upwards. In the book 'Boyko Cuisine', a recipe from the village of Dovhe in Drohobych region is recorded: dough made with sour milk and yeast, filling of potatoes mashed with lard, onions, and garlic, and the edges are rolled 'in the shape of a sunflower'. Small knysh, baked 'the size of a palm', were called knyshyky or knysheniata.

In the Hutsul region, knysh can be both filled and unfilled. In Verkhovyna, lean knysh was taken to confession and communion, while rich knysh with bryndza was baked as an everyday meal. In Kosiv, knysh referred to regular round rye bread — as opposed to corn bread — and it was necessarily baked for the Holy Evening. Petro Lehoida, in his review of Carpathian cuisines, describes Hutsul knysh as buns with boiled potatoes or bryndza.

In Bukovina, as early as 1875, ethnographer Hryhoriy Kupchanko recorded that for the Holy Evening, housewives bake knysh with poppy seeds, cabbage, and peas.

History and name

The origin of the word 'knysh' is not precisely determined: the 'Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language' presents several versions and does not consider any of them certain. In the reference book 'Ukrainian Past', knysh is described as rye, less often wheat bread, the edges of which were cut with a spoon moistened in oil and folded towards the center 'like petals'. Knysh is also mentioned among the memorial dishes in Ivan Kotliarevskyi's 'Aeneid'.

A cognate name is knish — a baked pastry with potatoes in the cuisine of Eastern European Jews.

Ingredients and allergens

Variant: boyko-style, with potatoes

Wheat flouras much as the dough needsFor the dough of varenyky, palačinky, bobalyok, and pasky.Contains allergens: gluten

Potato1 kgIn the mountains, potatoes are called bulba, ripa, bandurky, or kompyr — the basis for riplianka, deruny, and pies.

Soured milk0.5 lMilk that has soured naturally; in the mountains, it is consumed with potatoes and added to plain dough with soda.Contains allergens: milk

Lard1 tbspRendered pork fat for frying deruny and hurka.

Onion1 pc.Fried onion in lard or oil is a common seasoning in Carpathian dishes.

Garlic1 headA seasoning for bograch, kiselytsia, sausages, and trout.

Also: eggs (1 pc., for brushing, to serve), yeast (30 g), sugar (a pinch, for the yeast), salt (a pinch)

Contains allergens: gluten, milk, eggs

Variant: salty, with potatoes and bryndza

wheat flour, eggs, sunflower oil, baking powder, vinegar, salt, potato, bryndza (sheep cheese), onion, dill, caraway, black pepper

Contains allergens: gluten, milk, eggs
Diet: vegetarian

Ingredients of the traditional recipe; every cook and every place may do it differently — please ask when ordering. We cannot guarantee the absence of allergens or traces.

How it is traditionally made

• Wheat flour — as much as the dough needs
• Soured milk — 0.5 l
• Yeast — 30 g
• Sugar — a pinch, for the yeast
• Salt — a pinch
• Potato — 1 kg
• Lard — 1 tbsp
• Onion — 1 pc.
• Garlic — 1 head
• Eggs — 1 pc., for brushing

1. Sift the flour, add a pinch of salt and yeast dissolved in sugar. Knead the dough with sour milk like for dumplings and leave it for an hour to rise.
2. Boil the potatoes, drain the water, and mash them with lard, sautéed onions, and garlic.
3. Form balls from the dough, roll each into a circle, and place the potato filling in the center.
4. Fold the edges of the dough towards the center in pleats — 'like a sunflower', leaving the filling exposed.
5. Brush the knysh with egg and bake in the oven until golden brown.
6. For salty knysh with bryndza, keep the plain dough made with eggs and oil in the cold for an hour, form balls of 100 g each, make a dent in each, fill with potatoes and bryndza, sautéed onions, and dill, brush with egg, sprinkle with caraway seeds, and bake for 25 minutes at 210–220 °C.

How it is served

Warm; meat-eaters enjoyed fresh knysh with fried bacon.

Variants

Boykos filled knysh with buckwheat and cheese, Hutsuls — with bryndza. Lean knysh with poppy seeds, cabbage, or peas were baked for the Holy Evening; in Kosiv, knysh also referred to rye bread without filling.

The traditional method as described by our sources; every family does it its own way. We have not tested this recipe in a professional kitchen.

Where it is eaten

The area is approximate and based on the sources below. The dish is cooked outside it too, and ethnographic borders are blurred.

Boykivshchyna (knysh with potatoes, buckwheat, or cheese), Hutsulshchyna — Verkhovyna and Kosiv, Bukovina (Holy Evening knysh). Knysh is baked throughout Ukraine, so its area is not limited to the mountains.

When it is eaten

Occasions: Christmas Eve · Everyday food · Lent

In tradition

In many regions of Ukraine, knysh is the bread of the Holy Evening and remembrance: it was placed on the corner or in the middle of the table, covered kutia, and given to carolers. In Kosiv, knysh was necessarily baked for the Holy Evening, in Bukovina they prepared knysh with lean fillings for it, and in Verkhovyna, lean knysh was taken to confession.

FAQ