Russian Pirog

I used to study in Leningrad (now St Peters, Russia) in late 1980s, one of our favorite breakfasts at that time was Piroski, either filled with meat and egg or with cabbage. It was very cheap, 10 kopek (probably less than 10 cents), it was very hot as freshly fried but it was good as it kept myself warm during the freezing winter. Piroski is smaller version of Pirog, another baked cake, mostly filled with meat or veggies. If Piroski is daily, routine meal, Pirog – mostly for holidays, special occasion.

And then when I studied at Le Cordon Bleu (Paris), I realized that I may create a Russian Pirog by using a recipe from French chef for milk bread, I did and it was amazingly good!

Preparation for the dough 

1. Bread flour  500 gr
2. Salt  10 gr
3. Sugar  40 gr
4. Fresh yeast  15 gr  or  about 3 gr of dry yeast
5. Fermented dough  60 gr
6. Milk powder  25 gr
7. Water  250 ml
8. Egg  1
9. Butter  100 gr

Mix all together for about 10′ at the 1st speed and another 8-10′ – at the second speed. Let’s it rest for about 20′ before keep it in the fridge for next day use.

Preparation for the filling 

As I decided to make the filling with only veggies (cabbage, carrot, mushroom…) but you can create something with meat and veggies.

1. Cabbage  1/3 of the whole cabbage
2. Carrot  1pc
3. Mushroom  100-200 gr
4. Onion 1-2 pcs
5. Herbes de Provence 
6. Olive oil  

Stir the onion with olive oil first until slightly golden  brown, then add cabbage, already finely shredded, then carrot and mushroom. Seasoning as you like, to me I used a lot of black pepper! The filling should be very well-cooked.

Next day take out the dough from the fridge, the dough is now easily to handle, roll it into a big square, don’t forget to dust the working surface during rolling, to avoid the dough stick to the table, put the filling right in the middle, and fold two sides over the filling, seal it carefully and turn it upside down into the well-buttered ceramic mold, the seal side should be underneath. Egg wash the whole bread and let’s it rest for 2 hours at 25ºC.

Bake the Russian Pirog at 180ºC for 30′ minutes. This’s my first trial with Russian Pirog, I’m very happy to get it done perfectly. I brought it into my yoga class, and after the practice, we all did enjoy this fabulous Russian flavor!

Note: Don’t over fill the Pirog!