Pirozhki (Russian Small Pies)

Pirozhki is a generic word for individual-sized baked or fried buns stuffed with a variety of fillings. Pirozhki is the diminutive form of the Russian word пирог, which refers to a full-sized pie. A common variety of pirozhki are baked stuffed buns made from yeast dough and often glazed with egg to produce the common golden colour.

They may contain sweet-based fillings such as stewed or fresh fruit (apples, cherries, apricots, chopped lemon, etc), jam, or cottage cheese; a vegetable filling (mashed potatoes, mushrooms, onions and egg, cabbage); meat or fish; an oatmeal filling mixed with meat or giblets.

Yeast Dough for Pirozhki

Strong bread flour	1 kg
Sugar	1 tbsp
Vegetable oil	10 ml
Yeast	5-8 g
Water	300ml

Pirozhki

Yeast dough for 20 pirozhki	1 kg
Stuffing	500-700 g
Egg	1

First of all, make the yeast dough according to the recipe above;
prepare the filling you desire:

Roll small balls out of the dough, 5 cm in diameter, and leave to rest for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, whisk the egg in a bowl:

Smear an oven tray with vegetable oil. Use a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round the bottom of the tray evenly (the paper will absorb excess oil):

Now you can make pirozhki:
- Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin or just flatten with your hand to form a circle;
- Carefully spoon the filling into the centre of each circle. There should be enough space left for you to bring up the edges to make one seam line down the middle;
- Lightly press the seam down so the pie is flattened on the top side as well the bottom, making a rough lozenge shape. Turn each pie over with the seam side down:

How to Pinch the Edges Video

Ensure they are left to stand on the oiled tray not touching one another. Cover the pirozhki with a kitchen towel and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes. Turn the oven on to preheat to 200°C.
Then egg wash the pirozhki:

If you have two batches of pies with different fillings, you can make markings on pies of one of the batches with a help of a knife. Put the pirozhki in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes:

Remove the pirozhki from the oven when ready, place on a paper towel spread on a table, and smear each pie with melted butter:

Cover with a kitchen towel on top and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Then serve:

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