One of the dishes you cannot miss during a journey in Russia are pirozhki . These little buns may be filled with potatoes, meat, fish, mushrooms or cabbage and are perfect as a starter anyway. Filled with fruits, jam (or even chocolate ), pirozhki will enlighten your afternoon snack.
During our last (alas only one) journey in the awesome Russia, we tasted different types of them from a mobile cart and, believe us, our stomachs weren’t big enough to try them all! Never mind, we took some pirozhki to the hotel, because we could not miss those last ones! So, we had the opportunity to taste them calmly and try to unravel their secrets to recreate them once back home . Now it’s your time…
If Russian cuisine attracks you, have a look on the Medovik…
If you try one of the recipes on the blog, take a photo and publish it on Instragam with the hashtag #fratelliaifornelli and tagging our profile @fratelliaifornelli.
Pirozhki alle patate - Пирожки с картошкой
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 600 g of white flour
- 75 g of olive oil
- 230 ml of warm water
- 15 g of fresh yeast
- 10 g of salt
- 5 g of sugar
For the filling
- 3 potatoes
- 1 onion
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 bay leaf
- ground black pepper
- nutmeg
Instructions
For the pastry
-
Dissolve yeast and sugar in a tablespoon of water. For an optimal leavening, the water should be warm, about 36° C.
-
Once the yeast is dissolved, add the flour, salt and oil.
-
Begin to knead, adding the water a bit 'at a time: the precise amount varies according to both the flour, and weather conditions. You have to get a soft ball, but it should not stick to your hands.
-
Put the dough in a container and cover it with a cloth. Let it rest in a warm place for an hour and a half.
For the filling
-
Boil the potatoes for about twenty minutes, then peel and mash them.
-
Cut the onion into cubes, fry nicely till it turns golden brown.
-
Add onion, spices and egg yolk to the potatoes, mix well with a spoon. Salt to taste.
Assembling
-
Roll your pastry out and cut discs of about 10-12 cm of diameter.
-
Put about a teaspoon of filling in the centre of each disc, then fold it in half.
-
Take the two ends and seal them with a light pressure of the fingers.
-
Bake your pirozhki in oven at 180 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.