Polish White Borscht (Żurek) – The Sourdough Soup

Polish White Barszcz, to me, says family dinner. Every Christmas, Easter, or family dinner with my Polish in-laws was elevated by the presence of this hearty, delicious, savory soup.

When my husband and I were visiting Poland we probably had this soup four out of every five days.

This is perfect cold weather, feel better food. It’ll pick you up and cuddle you as you dip a slice of crusty sourdough into the bowl to get every last bit of soup.

One note – This soup at least needs to be started well in advance to allow the rye starter to get perfectly sour to add to the flavor of this soup.

A side note: There is a bit of contention in the Polish community regarding Bialy Barszcz vs Żurek. Both are fairly similar, with a fermented flour starter as a base. From my understanding – Bialy Barszcz is typically made with wheat flour (which I have occasionally used in the following recipe when rye was unavailable) and Żurek is made with rye flour. Regarding my husband’s family and what I’ve known this recipe as – it’s always been either White Barszcz, or Sour Soup.

Equipment I use:

Enamel Dutch Oven

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Polish White Baarszcz

Savory, hearty, filling. With rye starter, polish sausage, potato, and eggs.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 5 days d

Cook Time 3 hours hrs

Course Soup

Cuisine Polish

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

  

White Barszcz Sourdough Starter Ingredients

• 5 tsp rye flour
• 5 cloves garlic
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 allspice berries whole
• 650 ml water cold, DI or filtered
• 1 tsp sourdough starter optional

Soup Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp butter
• ¾ small yellow onion diced
• 300 g polish sausage (approximately 4 hotdog sized links) sliced thin
• 2 russet potatoes peeled and chopped
• 2 allspice berries whole
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp Vegeta seasoning
• salt, pepper, marjoram to taste
• 4 eggs hard boiled
• ¾ cup sour cream
• 6 cups water

Instructions

 

Preparing the soup starter

• Add all starter ingredients to a clean mason jar. Cover loosely.
• Stir once a day, for 5 days. Adding a tsp of already going sourdough starter will kickstart the fermentation process.
• You will know that the starter is ready by smell. It should smell like pickles.

Making the soup

• In a large soup pot melt the butter. Fry the onions in the butter until golden brown.
• Add the 6 cups of water, potatoes, sausage, allspice, bay leaves, vegeta, salt, pepper, and marjoram. You may wish to place the allspice and bay leaves in a sachet (see notes)
• Bring the liquid to a gentle boil and cook uncovered until the potatoes are done.
• Remove the allpice and bay leaves from the soup. Stir the fermented soup starter and strain it into the soup pot, removing the garlic, bay leaves, and allspice.
• Whisk in the sourcream.
• Heat on a gentle bubbling simmer until the soup has thickened. This can take between 1 and 2 hours. The flavors will become more potent as you cook and you should expect the soup to reduce at least 1 to 2 inches depending on your pot.
• Serve with sourdough bread (recommended).

Notes

• It is not pleasant to be enjoying the soup and accidentally chomp on an allspice berry. You can add the allspice berries and bay leaf to a sachet that can easily be removed later.

Keyword Polish, rye, sausage, sourdough,, white barszcz, white borscht