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These baked piroshki are ultra soft. I made half of them with caramelized apples and half with braised cabbage and beef. Both were excellent fillings. I took these baked piroshki over to my sister’s house still warm from the oven and my sister admitted to eating 6 of them. She loved ’em! Actually everyone did.
Between the two filled 9×13″ pans, I only brought home 6 piroshky/buns. I bet this dough would make great dinner rolls. I’ve also been thinking to wrap the dough around sausages to make pretzel dogs. I can’t stop thinking about this dough!
Ingredients for Baked Piroshki:
2 cups warm milk
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar, divided
6 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, (divided into 1 cup and 5 cups + 2 Tbsp) *measured correctly
3 eggs,
1 and 1/2 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
Tip for Success:
A yeast dough will rise much faster in a warm oven. When letting a yeast dough rise in the oven, it should never be hotter than 100˚F. If you have a proofing option on your oven, use it. My old oven didn’t have such a luxury and the low setting was at 150˚F which will start cooking your bread, deactivate the yeast and ruin your buns.
I used to get creative by preheating to low, turning the oven off, propping the door with a wooden spoon and placing my dough over a towel in the oven. I’ve ruined yeast dough before by letting it get to hot and I’d love to spare you the same disappointment.
For the Apple Filling:
Use the apple filling from the fried apple pirojki: 2 medium apples + 1/4 cup sugar. Chop apples finely in food processor then saute with 1/4 cup sugar over medium high heat for 10 min stirring often until most of the juice has evaporated. Set aside to cool. For sweet piroshki, brush the top with sugar water as soon as they are done baking. (1 Tbsp sugar dissolved into 2 Tbsp warm water).
For the Braised Cabbage filling:
Click here for the Braised cabbage with Beef recipe. P.S. Make sure to cut your beef small if using for piroshki.
How to Make the Baked Piroshki/Buns:
Preheat your oven to 360°F at step 13.
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add 2 cups warm milk and sprinkle the top with 1 Tbsp yeast. Let sit for 5-7 five minutes.
2. Add 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk together until blended and let it rise at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. It will rise faster in a warm place (20 minutes in a 100˚ Foven, but don’t let it get hotter than that or it will start to cook and ruin the yeast).
3. Whisk in the 3 eggs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1.5 Tbsp melted butter and 1 tsp salt. Now using the dough hook, add the flour 1 cup at a time letting it blend into the dough before adding the next cup. (Add the last cup 1/2 cup at a time so you don’t over-do it).
You know you’ve added enough flour when the dough is no longer sticking to the walls of the bowl. So, all together from start to finish, I used 6 cups + 2 Tbsp but it could vary slightly depending on the flour you use. Mix/knead on low speed with the dough hook for 15 minutes. .
4. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm 100˚ oven for 1 hour (2 hours in a warm room). The dough will triple in volume. Be patient. It’s all worth it in the end. 😉
5. Transfer your dough to a good non-stick surface and cut into 5 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll each piece of dough into a 13-14″ circle.
6. Cut each circle with a pizza cutter into 8 equal triangles. Place about 1/2 Tbsp of filling onto the middle of the wide portion of each triangle (The OXO mini scoop makes this job easier. I love this little contraption!)
7. To Roll: pinch the two edges together over the filling and seal all the way down. Seal the dough to the base over the filling. Fold in the little corners and roll it forward. Since it helps to visualize, here’s a picture of all the rolling steps from left to right:
8. Once the piroshki are rolled up, place on a parchment lined baking sheet 1/2″ apart with the flap side facing down so they aren’t tempted to unroll. Let the piroshki rise in a warm 100˚ oven for 20 minutes until they look puffy (30-45 minutes in a warm room).
(See how they puff up nicely and are now touching each other? Now they’re ready for the oven)
9. Beat 1 egg and brush the tops of the piroshki with the beaten egg. Bake at 360˚F for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
If you are making the sweet apple piroshki, brush them with your sugar/water glaze just as soon as they are out of the oven to give them some extra shimmer and sweetness.
Enjoy em!
Baked Piroshki Recipe (2 Filling Options: Sweet or Savory!)

Ingredients
- 2 cups warm milk
- 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar, divided
- 6 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, (divided into 1 cup and 5 cups + 2 Tbsp)
- 3 eggs
- 1 and 1/2 Tbsp melted butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
Instructions
For the Apple Filling:
- You need: 2 Apples and 1/3 cup granulated sugar.
- Chop apples finely in food processor then saute with 1/4 cup sugar over medium high heat for 10 min stirring often until most of the juice has evaporated. Set aside to cool. For sweet piroshki, brush the top with sugar water as soon as they are done baking. (1 Tbsp sugar dissolved into 2 Tbsp warm water).
For the Braised Cabbage filling: visit NatashasKitchen.com for the full Braised cabbage with Beef recipe. P.S. Make sure to cut your beef small if using for piroshki.
How to Make the Piroshki/Buns: (Preheat your oven to 360° F at step 8).
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add 2 cups warm milk and sprinkle the top with 1 Tbsp yeast. Let sit for 5-7 five minutes.
- Add 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk together until blended and let it rise at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. It will rise faster in a warm place (20 minutes in a 100˚ oven, but don't let it get hotter than that or it will start to cook and ruin the yeast).
- Whisk in the 3 eggs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1.5 Tbsp melted butter and 1 tsp salt. Now using the dough hook, add the flour 1 cup at a time letting it blend into the dough before adding the next cup. (Add the last cup 1/2 cup at a time so you don't over-do it). You know you've added enough flour when the dough is no longer sticking to the walls of the bowl. I ended up adding 6 cups + 2 Tbsp but it could vary slightly depending on the flour you use. Mix/knead on low speed with the dough hook for 15 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm 100˚F oven for 1 hour (2 hours in a warm room). The dough will triple in volume. Be patient. It's all worth it in the end.
- Transfer your dough to a good non-stick surface and cut into 5 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll each piece of dough into a 13-14" circle.
- Cut each circle with a pizza cutter into 8 equal triangles. Place about 1/2 Tbsp of filling onto the middle of the wide portion of each triangle.
- To Roll: pinch the two edges together over the filling and seal all the way down. Seal the dough to the base over the filling. Fold in the little corners and roll it forward.
- Once the piroshki are rolled up, place on a parchment lined baking sheet 1/2" apart with the flap side facing down so they aren't tempted to unroll. Let the piroshki rise in a warm 100˚ oven for 20 minutes until they look puffy (30-45 minutes in a warm room). The will puff up nicely and will be touching each other. Now they're ready for the oven.
- Beat 1 egg and brush the tops of the piroshki with the beaten egg. Bake at 360˚F for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Notes
Tip for Success: Yeast dough will rise much faster in a warm oven. When letting a yeast dough rise in the oven, it should never be hotter than 100˚F. If you have a proofing option on your oven, use it. My old oven didn't have such a luxury and the low setting was at 150˚F which will start cooking your bread, deactivate the yeast and ruin your buns. I used to get creative by preheating to low, turning the oven off, propping the door with a wooden spoon and placing my dough over a towel in the oven. I've ruined yeast dough before by letting it get to hot and I'd love to spare you the same disappointment.
Credits: The dough and apple filling was inspired by my one my readers, Ira, who shared her family’s recipe for baked piroshki. P.S. she said a bread maker works well for the dough. Thank you so much Ira for sharing your brilliant and simple recipe with us!
Natasha,
I would like to know if after the filling and second rising of the perishki, can they be refrigerated and baked the next day? Or should they be baked and then refrigerated? They would be made to serve the next day.
Hi Marion! I haven’t tested refrigerating the dough so I can’t say for sure. One of my readers shared that she freezes the completed product all the time and reheats the piroshki in a wet paper towel in a microwave. You could do the same with the refrigerated and baked piroshki, you’ll have to experiment with the timing. Let us know how they are.
Thank you. I am leaning on baking them and freezing them until needed, thaw and heat in the oven when ready to serve.
This is a time consuming recipe — it took the better part of the day just to make the dough. (I used leftover pulled beef as the filling). The result was amazing though, and well worth the effort. I topped with black sesame seeds and coarse ground salt.
I’m so glad to hear you loved the recipe, Annie. Thank you for sharing.
If I wanted to use a bread maker for the dough would I use the same amount of ingredients ?
Hi Natasha, yes that will work. We have this note in the recipe that I hope helps “Credits: The dough and apple filling was inspired by my one my readers, Ira, who shared her family’s recipe for baked piroshki. P.S. she said a bread maker works well for the dough.”
Thank you! Just making sure, if using a bread maker, do you throw in all ingredients at the same time?
If I were to test it in a bread maker, I would let the yeast activate with the milk first before adding the rest of the ingredients then add the ingredients in the same order as in this recipe.
Do you know how many grams of flour this would be? I like to be exact and not leave it to chance as I have added too much flour in the past. Love all your recipes!!!
Hi Elizabeth! 1 cup of flour is equal to 120 grams, so about 735g total including.
Thank you!!! Looking forward to making this recipe, all of yours are AMAZING!!
You’re welcome, Elizabeth! I hope you love it.
This dough os outstanding 🙌 I’ve done it several times and the only changed I did it’s cutting the sugar to half (because it’s our preference just to be less sweet).
I’ve done the cabbage filling with mushrooms and also the cherry version (which is so good btw! No changes to that one!).
Thanks for sharing it!
I grew up in Misiones, North east of Argentina where there’s been a lot of Ukrainian, Russian, Polish immigration. So happy to have found your recipes and now recreate many of those flavors!
I’m so glad you found our blog also, Andrea!! Welcome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
Excellent dough. I’ve used it with several fillings: apricot, BBQ pork, etc., and they bake up wonderfully.
Great to hear that, Doloris. Thank you for your good comments and feedback!
I just wanted to come back and say I made these today and they are lovely! The dough turned out so good despite me slightly messing up and the recipe was super easy to follow. Thanks for sharing, I’ve never made anything like this before 🙂
(I ate like 5 so they are definitely tasty haha)
You’re welcome! I’m sure you did great as the result was good, thank you for your review. We appreciate it!
Can this be made with potatoes inside, instead of meat or apples?
Hi Sarah, I have had very tasty results using potato filling and then dipping them in a garlic dip. Oh so yummy!
Regarding your comment about proofing in a warm oven:
If your oven has an incandescent oven light, just turn it on and proof your dough in there. Should keep the oven right around 80 degrees F. I use the light-warmed oven in the winter when it’s too chilly in the house for good proofing.
I do the same thing. Works every time and it’s faster than leaving on the counter! And I am definitely making these.
I’m so excited to try this recipe today! Your instructions seem very clear and helpful 🙂
Sounds good, please share with us again how it goes. We’d love to know your feedback. Enjoy!
I made these for the first time today, following the recipe closely. I did all the dough work by hand, since I don’t have a stand mixer. Time-consuming, but not difficult; the dough is easy to roll and work with. I made 3/5 with the apple filling and 2/5 with a mushroom filling. Sprinkled a little kosher salt on the mushroom ones and glazed the apple ones with sugar water as suggested. They are all DELICIOUS. Everyone loved them. I’ll definitely make these again. Thank you–and slava Ukraini!
Aww, thank you, Rachel! So thoughtful! I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe!
Hi Natasha, I really want to make pirshoki with Jam inside. Would this dough work? Would it need sugar in the dough?
Hi Olga, I honestly haven’t tested that with this recipe. It may work, but usually, I would just go with the jelly-filled donuts recipe for something like that.
HI Natasha,
i love this recipe and this dough is amazing! i am planning on making more tomorrow but i wondered if this dough could be made the day before and refrigerated?
thank you!
Hi Cathy, I haven’t tried that so I can’t say for sure how it would affect the overall consistency. Refrigerating works with most yeast doughs using active dry yeast. If anyone else has experimented, please let us know.
Natasha, this was wonderful as ALWAYS. Made with beef and cabbage filling, just like my husband’s babushka used to make. Thank you for bringing those memories back for him.
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m all smiles
This recipe is crazy-GOOD!
Thank you for the wonderful review!
This was an amazing recipe, thanks Natasha! I brought it to a birthday gathering of a friend and everyone absolutely loved it!
That’s fantastic, thank you for sharing that with us!
I’ve tried other recipes for beef piroshki and this so far is my favorite. Thanks to Natasha. I embellished on the beef filling tho. I used ground beef and onion with cheddar cheese, seasoned with salt, pepper and dill weed. Very yummy.
I’m so glad you found a favorite recipe on my blog, John!
Bring a ramekin of water to a boil in microwave to create a warm steamy rising environment. Don’t remember where I got this handy tip but it works well for the first rise of the dough.
We’re reading Anna Karenina and trying Russian inspired recipes 🙂. This recipe is a keeper, so so so good
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Hi Natasha if your oven has a light it is perfect turned on for hurrying dough up. I’ve made this in a thermomix so i don’t have to do all the steps, the dough function warms the yeast due to the machine getting warm from use, so just throw the lot in cold. I’ve seen it made with buttermilk and yoghurt and yours seems japanese milk bread style but it was truly delicious thank you for your recipe
Thank you for sharing that feedback with me, Marnie!
Natasha, can I use almond flour for those? If so, how I should modify the ingredients? Thank you!
Hi Elena, I saw that someone else commented this “I have substituted milk with almond milk and butter with canola/sunflower seed oil. Mine came out amazing. I don’t know how it compares to the original recipe, but I only heard compliments.”