Now that summer’s here we can finally explore new places again, travel and hike and just enjoy the nature around us. But when we hit the road we always make at least one stop for a small picnic, and that means we have to be prepared with picnic food and blankets.
So the obvious thing to take for a picnic would be sandwiches of course, but I don’t fancy sandwiches too much. I mean, yeah they’re great, but if I have an option to just bake something without having to stuff it later (with sandwich stuff that is) or spread something on it or add something to it – I’ll that that option any day.
We went to New Brunswick with the kids and friends for the long weekend, and I decided I’m making something special for the road and picnic. I guess you could say that my Russian genes took over me, because what I made was ‘Piroshki’.
Piroshki are basically small potato stuffed rolls. They can also be stuffed with cherries (and then be the dessert) but I really wanted these with potato since I knew it’ll be SO good with a pickle on the side and a sliced hardboiled egg in it.
So I made these, and it was really easy to make them, except it was a bit of work because shaping them one at a time definitely took some time.
These are originally made with white flour but I made them with whole wheat flour just to make it a bit more wholesome.
The kids loved it, we loved it and I didn’t have to stand there the next morning making sandwiches. A win-win for sure.
- 800gr Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 tsp Salt
- 4 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 ¾ Cup Lukewarm Water
- 5 Medium Sized Potatoes – Peeled and cut into squares
- 1 Onion – Chopped
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 Egg Yolk - Beaten
- Mix the flour, yeast, salt, vegetable oil and half of the water in a stand mixer and gradually add in the other half of the water until the dough is soft and non-tacky. Mix on low speed for about 5 minutes using the kneading attachment.
- Once the dough’s ready, pat it with a bit of oil and cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and set the dough aside to rise for about 45-60 minutes or until it almost doubles its size.
- While the dough is rising, prepare the filling: cook the potatoes in water until they soften. Drain the water and mash the potatoes.
- In a frying pan, put the oil and chopped onion and sauté the onion until it’s translucent.
- Combine the onion and mashed potatoes, add 1tsp salt and mix together. Set aside to cool a bit.
- Preheat the oven to 375F (180C) and layer a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the parchment paper lightly with vegetable oil.
- When the dough has risen, remove from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface, divide into 4 and roll each part into a log.
- Divide each log into 6 pieces by slicing it and using a rolling pin, roll each piece into a round circle that’s about 8-10cm in diameter (3-4 inches).
- In the middle of each circle, place about 1 Tbsp of the filling.
- To close the circles, fold them into 2 and pinch the edges to tightly close them. Tuck the corners onto the seam (which will be the bottom after baking) and place the finished stuffed dough on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Brush with the beaten egg yolk and bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely golden.
