These strawberry hand pies are great for three reasons.
First, they taste really delicious – a juicy strawberry filling and tender airy dough baked to golden won’t leave anyone indifferent.
Second, pyrizhly are a wonderful alternative to traditional pies and can be taken as an on-to-go snack (your kids will grab them out of your dinner basket with great pleasure).
Third, they look impressive – perfect as a dessert for your next party).
Can’t wait to try these goodies? Then let’s start cooking right away).
Ingredients:
- 500 g (17,5 oz) flour
- 6 g (2 tsp) dry yeast / 20 g (1 tbsp) fresh yeast
- 200 ml milk
- 90 g (3 oz) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 50 g (≈2 oz) dairy butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 100 ml ryazhenka (fermented baked milk)
Filling
- 500 g (17,5 oz) fresh/frozen strawberries
- 1 tbsp corn/potato starch
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg – for brushing
- Vegetable oil – for greasing
Cooking
Predough
Warm up milk and add yeast, 1/2 tbsp salt, and 6 tbsp flour. Stir the mass until it gets the consistency of sour cream.
Tip! The predough ensures your dough will quickly and evenly rise.
Leave the predough in a warm place with no drafts. It should increase in volume to 2,5 times.
Beat 2 eggs of warm temperature. Add salt, remaining sugar, ryazhenka (ryazhenka is a dairy product made by fermenting milk after it has been baked at a low temperature for a long time), and warmed dairy butter. Mix everything thoroughly until light and fluffy.
Tip! You can replace ryazhenka with kefir (fermented milk product similar to yogurt), yogurt or sour milk.
Take the predough that is now filled with air bubbles and add it to the egg mass. Beat everything until smooth. Continue to whip the mass and add flour gradually. Knead the dough for about 15 minutes.
Tip! It’s very important to not overload the dough with flour. If your dough sticks to hands, continue to knead it and in a while, you’ll see that it stops sticking. It’s better to knead the dough for longer time to develop gluten.
As a result we get very soft and elastic dough (if it slightly sticks to your hands, it’s ok). Grease a bowl with vegetable oil, shape the dough in a nice round ball and transfer it there. Cover the dough with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 2 hours. It should increase in volume in 2,5 times.
Filling
Wash and cut strawberries into medium pieces. If you use frozen strawberries, then unfrozen them and let excess liquid drain.
Combine 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp starch in a bowl. We use starch to thicken the strawberry juice that will prevent it from leaking during baking.
Put the dough on a well-floured surface, divide it in 20 pieces and shape them in the form of balls. If you want your buns to have equal size, then you can use scales. The weight of each dough piece is ≈ 50 g (2 oz).
When you shape first 10 “balls”, cover them with clingfilm and let rest until the second part is done as well.
Take one ball, roll it into circle. Put an incomplete teaspoon of sugar-starch mass in the center. Then add strawberries above.
Fold the dough over the filling, and tightly press edges to seal. Repeat the procedure with the rest of ingredients.
Arrange pyrizhky on a baking tray lined with foil and greased with vegetable oil. Let them stand for 10 minutes to rise.
Then carefully brush them with a whipped egg. Put the patties in an oven in 5 minutes.
Bake hand pies at 180°C (356°F) for 20 minutes.
You’ll get golden, glossy, airy, and very tender patties.
Enjoy your meal!
Have you liked the recipe for strawberry buns?
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