Grandma-style pirozhki: fluffy yeast dough and fillings that don't leak

This dough works for both baked and fried pirozhki, as well as buns and vatrushki. It is soft, stretchy and holds a filling well.

A sponge is a runny pre-dough in which the yeast gets going before the main mix. It helps most with rich dough: sugar, butter and eggs slow yeast down, and without a sponge the dough rises slowly.

Mix the warm milk, yeast, sugar and 3–4 tbsp of the flour. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 15–20 minutes. When the surface is covered with bubbles and has risen into a cap, the yeast is alive and active. If nothing happens, the yeast is dead — better to start again than lose all the dough.

Add the egg, salt and sifted flour to the sponge and mix. Add the butter last, once the flour has come together with the liquid: fat added at the start hinders gluten formation.

Knead for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticks to your hands. The right pirozhki dough is soft, almost like an earlobe. Don't pack it with flour: a stiff dough makes dense, dry pirozhki.

Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm (25–28 °C) for 1–1.5 hours until doubled. Knock it back and let it rise again — 30–40 minutes. The second rise makes the crumb finer and lighter.

When there's no time to wait for yeast — a kefir dough with baking soda. It suits fried pirozhki and is ready in 15 minutes.

Two main rules: the filling must not be runny and must be completely cold. A hot filling melts the fat in the dough, which turns sticky and tears. A wet one soaks the dough from inside and leaks out during baking.

Divide the dough into 50–60 g balls — a standard-sized pirozhok. Cover the balls with a towel so they don't dry out and rest them for 10 minutes: relaxed dough rolls out more easily.

Roll or stretch each ball into a 10–12 cm round, 5–6 mm thick. Keep the edges a little thinner than the centre: when sealed they fold double and end up the same thickness. Filling — a heaped tablespoon, no more.

Pinch the edges firmly, with no flour on them: flour stops the dough sticking. Lay the pirozhki seam-side down — their own weight presses the seam shut and it won't open.

Lay the pirozhki on a lined tray 3–4 cm apart. Cover with a towel and leave to proof for 15–20 minutes: they'll rise a little and turn puffy. Skip this and they'll burst in the oven.

Brush with an egg beaten with a spoon of milk for a glossy golden crust. Yolk alone gives a darker colour. Brush gently so the egg doesn't run onto the tray and glue them down.

Bake at 180–190 °C for 20–25 minutes until golden. Straight out of the oven, brush with melted butter and cover with a towel for 10 minutes — the crust will soften.

The main reason fried pirozhki are greasy is oil that isn't hot enough. The dough slowly soaks up oil instead of setting into a crust straight away. The temperature should be 170–180 °C. Without a thermometer: drop in a scrap of dough — it should float up at once and be surrounded by small bubbles.

Use plenty of oil: a 1.5–2 cm layer so the pirozhki float. Fry 3–4 at a time, no more, or the oil cools. 2–3 minutes per side. Drain on kitchen paper.

Roll pirozhki for frying a little thicker and flatten them slightly before frying so they cook evenly.

Pirozhki keep 2 days at room temperature in a bag or under a towel, up to 4 days in the fridge. Reheat in the oven at 160 °C for 5–7 minutes or in the microwave under a damp paper towel.

They freeze very well. Freeze cooked pirozhki on a tray, then bag them, for up to 3 months. Reheat from frozen in the oven at 170 °C for 12–15 minutes.

You can also freeze raw dough — straight after the first rise, in portion-sized balls. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then 1–2 hours somewhere warm before shaping.