~ Piroshkis

Dear Fans of Hounds Who Cook,
We dogs are happier than usual, having had a near-two-hour walk today down to the river and round about town. We wore our packs to carry things of interest. And when we returned home, even The Gute was beside himself with joy. Gute does not play,  per se, as he is a serious sort of hound. But when he does play, it's very puppy like and typically his bounds are as high as they are long. He bounded about down the hallway chasing toys for a full 8 minutes before resuming his usual immoveably sleepy hound position on the bed.

Meanwhile, I Eli, have been investigating a new culinary tool our girl brought home from the resale store yesterday. (We know when she's there as we each get a small stuffed animal to rip mercilessly apart when she comes home. We think they are free with purchase.)

The tool is a Piroshki maker (or Perogie or Pirozhki) but you can make this recipe easily without our special tool. Our girl used to eat these up from the Russian Teahouse in St. Paul Midway neighborhood and now we dogs can make them for her. (Well, not Guthrie. He won't wake up til 11 p.m., but I Elias will make an attempt.)

I started with a recipe from allrecipes.com and houndified it as usual for extra goodness. 


Russian Pirozhkis
The Dough
2 cups milk, warmed (we used sour milk for extra flavor and added 1/2 tsp. baking soda to balance it out)
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups all-purpose flour

The Filling
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium head cabbage, finely chopped
6 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 pound sausage (we used italian, in spite of it being a russian dish)
salt and pepper to taste

Place 1/2 cup milk in a cup or small bowl. Stir in sugar and sprinkle yeast over the top. Set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Pour the remaining warm milk into a large bowl. Add the melted butter, egg, salt and 1 cup of flour. Stir in the yeast mixture (which should be foamy by now). Mix in flour 1 cup at a time until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and doesn't stick to your hands. Cover the bowl loosely and set in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour. Dough should almost triple in size.

Meanwhile, saute the sausage, breaking it into bits. Set aside.

Melt the remaining butter and saute the cabbage til it has wilted. Mix in the chopped eggs and cooked sausage and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until cabbage is tender. Set aside.

Place the risen dough onto a floured surface. Divide dough according to method of making the peroshkis. This recipe makes about 30 peroshkis. Using a peroskhi cutter like ours makes 18 at once, so we divide the dough into 4 sections (for 2 top layers and 2 bottom layers of 18 piroshkis each.)  Roll out one section of dough and lay over the piroshki mold. Fill pockets with about 1 tablespoon of filling. Roll another section of dough out and lay over filled pockets. Use rolling pin over the mold to press and cut the piroshkis.

If you are not using a cutter, form dough into a 2-inch diameter roll and cut into 30 one-inch pieces. Flatten the balls by hand until they are 4 to 5 inches across. Place a spoonful of the cabbage filling in the center and fold in half to enclose. Pinch the edges together to seal in the filling.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place the piroshkis on  baking sheets two inches apart to allow the dough to rise. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Notes from Elias: We are sure that the bread should be brushed with something before entering the oven. Tonight we are experimenting with what: milk, egg white, egg yolk, olive oil, or ? and will let you know what is best. 10:48 p.m.: Egg Yolk wash, paws down. Works of art.