On the Menu: Piroshki

The piroshki: Russian comfort food at its best.

Even our picky little Balin ate more than half of his.

Piroshki can be filled with any number of things: ground meats, rice, potatoes, onions, bacon...even chocolate and fruits for a dessert.

Since this was our vegetarian meal, our piroshki would be filled with potatoes, mushrooms, and onions. (Though someday I'd like to make meat-filled piroshki - sausage, mushroom, and onion in a Worcestershire sauce, maybe? Or a bacon, onion, and potato-stuffed piroshki with some red wine vinegar?)

Out of all the recipes I examined, I liked this one the most. The dough was delightfully soft and the filling was spiced perfectly. The author claims that you can fry these as well as bake them, but I've only ever baked them. I followed the original recipe faithfully, except for substituting Greek yogurt for the sour cream the second time I made them. The dough was still amazing.

I also found that the ratio of dough to filling was a bit off - that there was too much filling to dough. The second time I made these, I halved the filling and there was just enough. Feel free to play around with the ratios.

Piroshki (original recipe here)
Makes about 10

For the dough:
2 cups milk
4 cups + 8 tbs flour
2 eggs
2 tbs sour cream or Greek yogurt
2 tbs oil (I used olive)
1 tbs yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar

For the filling:
3 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked, and mashed
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 stick butter
1 tbs olive oil
3/4 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water, drained, and chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbs finely chopped fresh dill or 1-2 tsp dried dill (optional)

1. For the dough: Whisk together 1 cup warm milk, 1/4 tsp salt, sugar, yeast, and 8 tbs flour in a large bowl. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes. It should rise and be foamy.
2. Meanwhile, mix together 1 cup warm milk, sour cream or yogurt, oil, eggs, and 1 tsp salt. Add 2 1/2 cups flour and mix together.
3. Add the foamy yeast mixture and combine. Then add the rest of the flour. Mix well.
4. Cover the bowl and place in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
5. For the filling: Add olive oil and butter to a pan over medium-high heat. When the butter melts, add the onions. Saute until they have a carmel color.
6. Add the mushrooms and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add dill, if desired.
7. Mix the onion mixture with the mashed potatoes and stir well.

Assembly:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut a piece of dough about the size of a racquetball and place it on a well-floured surface. The dough will be very sticky, so use extra flour or a bit of oil to keep it from sticking to your fingers. Flatten the dough a bit.
3. Put about 1 1/2 - 2 tbs of the filling in the center of the flattened dough. Carefully pinch the sides together.
4. Place on a baking sheet, seam side down. Make the rest of the piroshki. The prioshki will expand in the oven, so space them accordingly.
5. Bake* for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
6. Serve by themselves or with melted butter and garlic.

* Check out the original recipe (here) for instructions on how to fry these.