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For the dough:
Dissolve the yeast and a pinch of sugar
in the warm water. Sprinkle in a teaspoon of flour and
leave for 15 minutes in a warm place. Pour into a
bowl, mix in the softened butter, sifted flour and
salt, the milk and the beaten eggs, and knead into a
smooth dough. Leave to rise until it has doubled in
volume. Knead again and roll out. Cut out in small
circles: you will be folding these in half to enclose
the filling in a semi-circle or canoe shape. Brush
the inner edges with a little milk to help them seal
firmly. Then either brush the piroshki with egg and
bake in a moderate to hot oven for about 10 minutes,
until golden brown: or fry them, uncoated, in deep
fat.
For the meat filling:
Lightly fry the onion in
the oil or butter, add the meat and cook for 5
minutes. Combine in a bowl with the seasoning and
herbs and allow to cool. Pirozhki often come out
rather dry because of the small
quantities of filling which cannot, as with a pie, be
moistened by the last-minute addition of stock. Both
suet and frozen stock in little chips have been
recommended to me by conscientious Russian pastry
cooks to cure this fault. My objections are that suet
makes the pirozhki undesireably fatty, while the
chipped stock needs forethought and a sledgehammer,
both of
which go missing when I am in a hurry. A better
solution, I think, is to use stock either naturally or
artificially jellied with gelatine. Add 2 teaspoons,
finely chopped, to the mixture when it is absolutely
cold from the refrigerator, bind with egg and use
immediately.
For the mushroom filling:
Chop the fresh
mushrooms into quarters and cook gently in butter with
finely chopped herbs for 15 minutes. Season, add a
little chopped onion, chopped hardboiled egg or rice
or both, and enough sour cream to make a fairly moist
filling.
For the buckwheat filling:
Cook the kasha in
salted water for about 15 minutes until soft but not
mushy. Drain well and combine with chopped
hard-boiled egg, chopped fried onions, and chopped
mushrooms saute'ed in butter. Add seasoning and herbs
to taste. Allow the mixture to cool thoroughly in the
refrigerator and add little pieces of very cold
butter. Use immediately.
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Kvas
