Ukrainian Pirog with Cheese Filling

So, I've mentioned that I used to live in Ukraine. Well, when I lived there, one of my ABSOLUTE favorite things to eat is what they call pie (pirog/пирог). It's so good. And we had a little pirogovaya right around the corner. Very dangerous when you don't feel like cooking!

Since being back in the States, the Ukrainian pie is one thing I have missed SO much. I've wanted to attempt making one, but the dough is very specific and I couldn't find the right recipe. Well, for New Year's Eve, which we always celebrate with a Ukrainian flair, I decided that come Hell or high water, I was going to make one!

So I set to googling. And googling. And then I googled some more. And just when I thought I'd never find what I was looking for, there it was. It had a horrid looking filling in it, but I'd worry about that later. I'd FOUND the dough!

The dough in question is yeast based, light and flaky, and slightly sweet. But not too sweet, because sometimes it has savory fillings. I decided to make mine with a  traditional cheese filling.

I started with the dough, the recipe for which I found, here:

Dough:
2 tsp yeast
3 Tbsp cold water
pinch of sugar
3 3/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
scant 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp cold milk
2 eggs
3 Tbsp sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice

Dissolve the pinch of sugar in 3 tbsp water in a small glass bowl Add the yeast and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand until foamy, about 10-15 minutes.

While the yeast gets foamy, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment on low, mix in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (of course, you can always use a regular mixer for this, but a stand mixer frees up your hands).

Whisk together the cold milk, eggs, sour cream, and lemon juice. Then whisk in the yeast. Add this mixture slowly and continuously to the flour-butter mixture with the mixer on low. Mix until well combined, about 2 minutes. Put a dough hook attachment on the mixer and knead the dough for 5 minutes (or you can knead by hand). Turn the dough onto a lightly floured working surface and fold it over several times to form a soft dough. Cover the dough with plastic and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

After the dough has been refrigerated, now comes the fun part! Forming it and making the filling!

For my pirog, I chose a round one with a lattice top. There are so many variations, though! You can do round, oval, square, rectangle. And for the top, you can do the lattice, or a braided look. Or you could cover the whole thing with a sheet of dough and do some decorative shaped either in dough on top, or cut out of it. I divided the dough in half and rolled on half into a circle the size of my stoneware pan (about 12 inches) with the edges overlapping a bit.

 Here's me working on the lattice, after I've put in the filling:

For my filling in this one, I chose what is called tvorog/творог. If you have a Russian grocery near you, you can find it there. Alternately, you could use farmer's cheese. Or even cream cheese. I added just a little sugar to my tvorog (It comes in a small container, about the size of half of a standard brick, and that is the perfect amount for the filling here) and then some raisins. I mixed it well and spread it in an even layer on the dough circle, leaving room around the sides to fold the dough up.

Once the filling is in, roll out the remaining dough and cut into strips (I use a pizza wheel for this) and then weave a lattice on the top. I like the lattice because it bakes up nice and golden and lets you see the filling.

Now for the egg wash. Whisk together 1 egg and 1 tsp water and spread it over the top of the pie. This will help it bake golden and flaky:

Once you've done the egg wash, place the pie in a 350 degree oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. When it is done, the dough should be golden and flaky looking:

These pies are best served warm, but they can easily be reheated. I don't have any pictures of a slice of the pie because it was gone too fast! 

Now that I have the dough recipe, I look forward to trying other fillings. I'd like to do one of my favorites from Ukraine, a spinach filling. I just have to remember what else was in it. Other favorite filling of mine are: lemon curd, apple, pomegranate, cranberry. I'm a sucker for the sweet fillings. Savory favorites include: spinach, egg, potato (mashed), and my husband loves ground meat.

Please let me know if you try making one and what kind of fillings you try!

Summertime Dessert Series: Triple Berry Clafouti

Aren't these just gorgeous?  They are perfect and slightly tart.  My mouth is watering just writing this

My little munchkin and I spent an hour in the blazing California sun, in order to gather what amounted to about six pounds of beautiful, tart blackberries.  These berries are destined for all sorts of delectable treats.  Since we also had some beautiful raspberries to use up and I picked up another big tub of blueberries at Costco, I decided to try a dessert I have wanted to make for awhile, but hadn't gotten a chance to do: a clafouti.

Fresh from the oven!

According to Wikipedia, a clafouti is "a baked French dessert of black cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm."  This is obviously a deviation from that, but the idea is still the same.  This recipe is adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and calls for a mixture of 3 cups of berries.  I did a cup each of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

Triple Berry Clafouti
2/3 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup soured milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup each blackberries, blueberries and raspberries


Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9 inch pie plate with cooking or baking spray.

Mix berries together in the pie plate.  Combine all ingredients except the berries in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.  Add in a dash of salt.  The batter will be very thin.  Pour the batter over the berries in the pie plate.

Bake for 50-55 minutes (I baked mine for 50 minutes and it was perfect) or until the top is puffy and lightly browned.

Serve warm with either a light dusting of powdered sugar or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

This is nice for a summer dessert or brunch.  It tastes best when it is fresh from the oven!

This post is linked to:

Sweets for a Saturday

This Chick Cooks

My Grandma's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This was probably my favorite pie when I was younger.  As a matter of fact, it's still my favorite.  I love strawberries and I love how the rhubarb works with them.  It's just SO. GOOD.  I have memories of my wonderful Grandma Hazel making this pie, and this is her recipe.

Seriously, it's so yummy.

Even though making pie crust is my nemesis, I refuse to use a pre-made crust.  So despite my difficulties with crust, I just keep trying to find one that works for me.  I got this one from Salad in a Jar and it worked okay for me, although the top crust didn't come together quite as well as I would have liked.  Still, it worked well enough.  I might give it another try.

Simple Pie Crust

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup shortening

6-9 Tbsp ice water

pinch of salt

Use a pastry cutter or a food processor to cut the flour and the shortening (two butter knives will work if you don't have either of those)  I used my food processor and pulsed it a few times until the shortening was reduced to the size of peas.

Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture and begin to press in to a ball.  Only use as much water as necessary to avoid ending up with a too moist ball of dough.  Once you have a nice ball of dough, it's time to roll it out. I tried this method because it was one I hadn't used before.  Take a plain tea towel and sprinkle with flour.  Dump the dough ball on to the floured surface and using the towel, press it into a tighter ball.  Use your floured rolling pin to roll the ball dough outward from the center. When the dough is large enough and thin enough, place the pie plate over the dough, slide your hand under the tea towel and flip the whole thing upside down.  Then it is ready to fill!

Ideally, this would be a whole lot smoother looking, but as I said, I am pie crust challenged

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling

2 cups cut up strawberries

2 cups cut up rhubarb

2 eggs, beaten well

1 1/2 cups sugar (I used 3/4 Splenda baking blend)

3 1/2 tsp flour

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Beat the eggs.  Add sugar, nutmeg and flour together and beat into eggs.  Pour over cut up fruit and mix well.  

Freshly grated nutmeg-SO much better than the pre-grated stuff!

Pour entire fruit mixture into prepared pie crust

Cover with top crust.  Now, here's where mine goes a little awry, since my crust came out less than perfect. I ended up taking large sections on pie dough and just placing them over the filling, while forming the edge.  It actually ended up looking quite nice.  But, ideally, you'd place an entire second crust on top and then crimp the two together at the edges.

Not perfect, but workable

Place pie into a oven preheated to 400F and bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350F and bake an additional 35-40 minuted, until crust is browned.

Like I said, I love this pie.  It is sweet and just a little bit tart.  And this crust turned out to be nice and flaky.  And now I'm craving this pie again, so I might have to make it again soon!