Pirog

Ronny is on summer vacation now and he decided to make these. It's one of those things about being an expatriate. Sometimes it's not that easy to buy foods you used to eat at home so you learn to make a lot of things from scratch!

Pirog originate in Ukrania and are popular in Sweden. Most people buy them frozen, but there's nothing like the wonderful aroma of a freshly baked pirog. Spelt flour is used in making them commonly, but we used rye flour in ours.


Pirog

Ingredients

Pastry

50 g Unsalted Butter
5 dl Whole Milk
25 g Dry Yeast
1 dl Rye Flour
11 dl AP Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar

Egg Wash

1 Egg

Filling

250 g Ground Beef
200 g Mushrooms (Chopped)
1/2 Onion (Chopped)
1 Rib Celery (Chopped)
2 Carrots (Chopped)
1 Clove Garlic (Chopped)
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
2 Tsp Cumin
Shredded Cheese

How to Make the Pastry

Step 1: Put the yeast in a plastic or glass bowl.

Step 2: Melt the butter and add the milk and when it's finger warm, add it to the yeast. Mix this together to blend.

Step 3: Add the salt and sugar and blend.

Step 4: Add the wheat and rye flour and mix it until it resembles a soft sticky dough and let it rest for 40 minutes. Cover the bowl with a clean towel or wrap.

Step 5: Knead the dough for a few minutes on a floured surface.

Step 6: Roll out the dough and cut it into circles with an inverted bowl around size of a rice bowl.

How to Make the Filling

Step 1: Heat-up the olive oil and braise the meat for awhile.

Step 2: Add all the other ingredients and braise them until the mixture is dry.

Assembly

Step 1: Put some of the meat filling and cheese onto the wrapper and fold it over sealing it.

Step 2: Take a fork and seal the edges tight.

Step 3: Brush them with the egg wash.

Step 4: Bake then in an oven preheated to 225 C on the lowest rack for 14-16 minutes until they are golden brown.