Piroshki
Submitted by bayou queen
Piroshki: golden Russian stuffed buns of soft yeast dough wrapped around savory beef, mushroom, or buckwheat fillings, then baked or fried. The portable hand pie of Russian home cooking.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
30 minREADY
1 hrsTucked into lunchboxes and passed around at gatherings, piroshki are the beloved stuffed buns of Russian home cooking, soft, enriched yeast dough folded around a savory filling and baked golden or fried crisp.
The dough is the constant; the fillings are where tradition gets generous. There is a classic minced beef and onion, an earthy mushroom version bound with sour cream and hard-boiled egg, and a nutty buckwheat kasha filling with onion and egg.
The recipe shares a genuinely useful old trick. Because the fillings are small, baked piroshki can come out dry. The fix passed down by Russian cooks is to fold in a little finely chopped jellied stock; it melts as they bake, moistening the meat from within without making the filling greasy the way suet does.
Cut the dough into circles, fold into half-moons, and seal the edges well with a dab of milk so the filling stays put. Brush with egg to bake, or drop them into hot fat to fry.
Chef Tips
- Seal the edges firmly, brushing the inner rim with milk, so the filling doesn’t leak during baking or frying.
- Let every filling cool completely before sealing the dough; warm filling makes the dough slack and hard to seal.
- For moist meat piroshki, fold in finely chopped jellied stock, which melts inside as they cook.
- Don’t overfill; a modest spoonful seals cleanly and bakes through evenly.
Variations
- Try egg-and-mushroom, cabbage, or potato fillings.
- Bake them for a soft, bread-like bun, or deep-fry for a crisp golden shell.
- Serve alongside a bowl of soup or borscht the way Russians do.
Ingredients
Directions
FOR THE DOUGH:
Dissolve the yeast and a pinch of sugar in the warm water.
Sprinkle in a teaspoon of flour and leave for 15 minutes in a warm place.
Pour into a bowl, mix in the softened butter, sifted flour and salt, the milk and the beaten eggs, and knead into a smooth dough.
Leave to rise until it has doubled in volume.
Knead again and roll out.
Cut out in small circles: you will be folding these in half to enclose the filling in a semi-circle or canoe shape.
Brush the inner edges with a little milk to help them seal firmly.
Then either brush the piroshki with egg and bake in a moderate to hot oven for about 10 minutes, until golden brown: or fry them, uncoated, in deep fat.
FOR THE MEAT FILLING:
Lightly fry the onion in the oil or butter, add the meat and cook for 5 minutes.
Combine in a bowl with the seasoning and herbs and allow to cool.
Pirozhki often come out rather dry because of the small quantities of filling which cannot, as with a pie, be moistened by the last-minute addition of stock.
Both suet and frozen stock in little chips have been recommended to me by conscientious Russian pastry cooks to cure this fault.
My objections are that suet makes the pirozhki undesireably fatty, while the chipped stock needs forethought and a sledgehammer, both of which go missing when I am in a hurry.
A better solution, I think, is to use stock either naturally or artificially jellied with gelatine.
Add 2 teaspoons, finely chopped, to the mixture when it is absolutely cold from the refrigerator, bind with egg and use immediately.
FOR THE MUSHROOM FILLING:
Chop the fresh mushrooms into quarters and cook gently in butter with finely chopped herbs for 15 minutes.
Season, add a little chopped onion, chopped hardboiled egg or rice or both, and enough sour cream to make a fairly moist filling.
FOR THE BUCKWHEAT FILLING:
Cook the kasha in salted water for about 15 minutes until soft but not mushy.
Drain well and combine with chopped hard-boiled egg, chopped fried onions, and chopped mushrooms sautéed in butter.
Add seasoning and herbs to taste.
Allow the mixture to cool thoroughly in the refrigerator and add little pieces of very cold butter.
Use immediately.
These are basic traditional fillings, but there is plenty of scope for invention along non-Russian lines; for example, egg and mushroom filling, moistened with butter.
Comments
These recipes look TERRRRIFFFFFIC!!! Just wanted to add to the buckwheat one. A friend's Mom made buckwheat ones with dill. It looked like way too much dill, but when I tasted them, I couldn't stay away from them. Try it!! I don't believe she used onions & mushrooms, if she did they were minimally used. This was many years ago & I still recall how great they were! Good luck to you.