Pirozhki

Pirozhki are a favorite Russian (and Eastern European) dish, often sold as fast food, but made at home as well. The stuffing can vary; meat, veggies, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, cabbage, and fruit are common. A particular variant of pirozhki dough is made without yeast and fried in a pan (much quicker), but this version (my Aunt’s recipe) is my favorite and definitely worth the extra time. The dough can be frozen for use later. We ended up with extra dough and made some additional pirozhki with veggies and cheese and mixed berries with chocolate.

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups whole milk

0.5 cup sugar

4 eggs (+1 for glazing)

1 pack of active dry yeast

1 tsp salt

6-7 cups flour

Filling

2 lbs ground beef

1 chopped onion

Salt, pepper to taste

Warm the 2 cups of milk in a large pot to about 95 degrees Fahrenheit (lukewarm).

Combine 0.5 cup of the warm milk with a tablespoon of sugar and the packet of yeast, mix well. Let the mixture stand until it froths up.

Pour this mixture into the remainder of the warm milk. Slowly add about 3 cups of the flour into the milk mixture, making sure to mix thoroughly. You’re looking for the consistency of pancake batter (the dough was thicker in the picture). Let the dough rise for at least 4 hours, covered, at room temperature (better overnight).

Combine the remainder of the ingredients, slowly mixing in the flour. Knead gently while incorporating the flour to keep the dough light. Add enough flour until the dough no longer sticks to your fingers.

Let the dough rise for another 1-2 hours.

Prepare the filling. Brown the ground beef with onions until done, set aside.

On a well-floured surface divide the dough into small balls (we divided into 2 inch diameter balls which made for pretty large pirozhki).

Roll out the balls into thin ellipses. Spoon the filling into the center of the dough without getting any on the edges.

Close up the pirozhki by folding in the sides (starting from the middle) forming a seam down the middle.

Fold in the edges, and place the pirozhki in a well-oiled pan, seam down. Glaze with a little bit of egg

Bake in a 425 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes

Enjoy!

Update: Upon further testing, the amount of dough this recipe makes would require twice as much filling as I have listed. What I’ve been doing is freezing half the dough and using it on later dates. Just let the dough thaw overnight in the fridge before using.

#russia #pies #beef #pastry #happies