Russian Piroshki (pirojki) with apples - Пирожки
Russian piroshki with tender apples are so soft, airy and satisfying. This has the best piroshki dough!
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Dough:
- 1 1/2 Tbsp oil
- 15 oz luke warm water
- 4 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 Tbsp sugar, omit sugar if doing meat or potato filling
- 2 to 3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped finely (I use a food processor and pulse several times)
- 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon per piroshok
Other Ingredients:
- Enough canola oil to go half-way up the side of the piroshky when frying.
- Extra flour to dust the cutting board.
Instructions
The easiest way to do this is in a bread maker.
- If you have one, set it to the dough setting and add the ingredients in the following order: Oil, water, 2 cups flour, salt, sugar, 2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour* , yeast.
- A bread maker will do the following: mix, let dough rise, mix again and let the dough rise (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours).
- Put the finished dough onto a well floured cutting board, sprinkle dough with flour and with well-floured hands, shape it into a large log. It will rise more as it sits on the board.
- Cut off pieces one at a time about 3/4" thick. Place the piece of dough over your well-floured hand (dough will be sticky) and shape it into a 3" to 4" circle using your hands. Do not put flour on the side where you are going to put the apples, otherwise the sides won't seal.
- Put 1/4 tsp sugar in the center of the dough and put 1 heaping Tbsp of apple over the sugar. cover the apple with the sides of the dough and pinch the ends together with your fingers to seal the dough together. Flatten the pirojki slightly to make them a more uniform size.
- Heat oil in a large, deep, heavy-bottomed pan. There should be enough oil to cover the pirojki half-way up the side.
- Place them in the hot oil (about 330°F) and fry until deep golden brown on each side. They should sizzle when you put them in the oil. Sometimes they puff up a lot on one side so you may end up with a third side that needs to be fried.
Place on paper towels to cool and enjoy!
Notes
To get an flour exact measurement, use a dry ingredients measuring cup and scrape off the top with the back of a butter knife. You can also make this dough using a stand mixer with a dough hook and then letting it rise in a warm place (like the oven).
