Piroshki (A Savoury, Filled Pastry)

"Make these for your next party as an appetizer. Piroshki are a very popular pastry here in Greece, probably brought over with the return of the Greeks from 'Pontos', now a part of Russia. Here, they are traditionally fried, but I find them much too rich (although very good) that way. This version is baked, and does not suffer any (just less calories) for it. I have given 3 different filling recipes. One for meat, one potato, and one mushroom. They are all great and each recipe will yield enough filling for 20-22 pastries. The prep time approximate - the pastry does need two hours to 'rest'."
 
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photo by puppitypup photo by puppitypup
photo by puppitypup
photo by kzbhansen photo by kzbhansen
Ready In:
1hr 20mins
Ingredients:
28
Yields:
20-22 pastries
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ingredients

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directions

  • For pastry: Cut butter into pieces.
  • Combine flour, butter, and salt using a knife or pastry blender.
  • Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons ice water.
  • Form into ball as you would pie dough.
  • May need to add remaining 2 tablespoons water.
  • Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Place pastry dough on floured board; roll out into rectangle.
  • Fold over into thirds.
  • Roll out again into rectangle.
  • Continue rolling and folding five times.
  • Rewrap in plastic; return to refrigerator for 1 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Grease baking sheet.
  • Roll dough out to 1/8-inch thickness.
  • Cut dough using 3 ½-inch round cutter.
  • Place about 1 tablespoon of filling on each pastry circle.
  • Fold dough over making half moons; press together edges together using ice water to seal.
  • Place pies on baking sheet.
  • Whisk together egg yolk and 2 tblsps water; brush pies with egg wash.
  • Bake about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
  • For Meat Filling: sauté onion in 2 tablespoons butter until soft.
  • Add ground beef and sear until light gravy forms.
  • Let cool.
  • Mix in egg, dill, salt and pepper.
  • For Potato Filling: Fry the onions in the butter until soft and golden-brown.
  • Boil the potatoes in their jackets, then peel and mash them.
  • Let cool slightly.
  • Season with plenty of salt and pepper and mix in the onions and egg.
  • For Mushroom Filling: In a pan or skillet, saute the mushrooms, onion, and shallots in the butter until the onion is translucent.
  • Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
  • Continue to cook, stirring until nearly all the moisture is evaporated.
  • Cool mixture slightly and mix in cream cheese or mashed potato.
  • I like to sprinkle poppy seeds over the egg washed pastries filled with the mushroom filling.
  • Note: these pastries are very good made with phyllo pastry, too.

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Reviews

  1. Very nice. Just take a serious shortcut and use puff pastry.
     
  2. Ok, I'm not sure how to rate this as I changed some of the ingredients. For example, for the mushroom ones I added fresh parsley, basil and garlic. Either way they were delicious.
     
  3. Evelyn, these are delicious! I couldn't decide which filling to make so I made both mushroom and beef, then decided to combine the two fillings before filling the pastries. I added a bit of paprika too the filling as well and used puff pastry sheets rather than making the pastry dough from scratch. Made for ZWT, please see my rating system as I rate tougher than most.
     
  4. This was my first go at making pierogis/piroshki & I loved them. I halved the recipe because there are only two of us (and you have to see the price of cheese here to believe it), I made the cheese & onion ones and they were great. The pastry was lovely & having them baked instead of boiled was quite different (but actually a great taste). Thanks Evelyn, made for ZWT 4.
     
  5. These were very good, a bit dry but otherwise good. I like the diffrent layers the pastry made!! THanks for posting!!
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<style>body { background: url("http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3512121819_f2f1aaf050.jpg?v=0"); background-repeat: repeat-y; }</style> OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages! I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure. So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call. What did I do wrong? Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths. I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time. That's all for now.
 
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