As I mentioned at the beginning, there are many variations when it comes to the filling. Potatoes, onions, and fruit preserves are among the most typical, but quark cheese combined with chopped dried fruits is the original and the most popular filling. However, they all have something in common: round shape with a hollow in the middle filled with delicious cream.
In this post I will show you how to make the dough for vatrushkas, and suggest you some interesting fillings. So, let's begin!
These are the ingredients you'll need to get 12 vatrushka pastries:
for the dough:
- 500 g flour
- 40 g fresh yeast OR 15 g dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 egg
- 300 ml yogurt
- 4 tablespoons oil
for the filling:
see step 7
Directions:
- If you're using fresh yeast, you'll need to activate it first. Dissolve it with sugar, 50 ml of warm water and 1 teaspoon of flour. Leave at room temperature and let it "grow".
- Combine flour, salt and yeast (dry or dissolved) and add egg and oil.
- Heat yogurt until lukewarm (30 seconds in the microwave is the easiest option) and gradually add it to the flour while kneading. Knead until you get smooth and non-sticky dough. You may need just a bit more or less yogurt, depending on the flour.
4. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at room temperature, until it triples its volume. If you're in a hurry and you need to speed up this rising process, you can choose one of these two hints I usually use: cover the bowl with dough with some plastic or aluminium foil and then wrap it with some blanket or something alike, or you can put the dough in some heatproof bowl and put it in the oven heated to no more than 50°C. In both ways you will have your dough rised at least twice faster.
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- For 6 vatrushkas: Combine 300 g quark, cottage or feta cheese and add some sour cream, just enough to get a creamy mixture. Doctor with some salt, if necessary.
- For 6 vatrushkas: beat 1 egg and add 200 g quark, cottage or feta cheese. Then add 1 bell pepper, roasted, peeled and minced. Salt to taste. Combine and fill the hollows.
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- For some sweet version, I suggest apples (peeled and grated), combined with some cinnamon. Fill the vatrushkas and sprinkle the apples with some honey...
- ...Or fill them with some chocolate or hazelnut spread... Fruit marmalade can be perfect as well...
Serve warm with yogurt or sour cream (for the savoury versions).
Note that you can make smaller vatrushkas if you need them as party food. For example, dividing the dough into 24, instead of 12 pieces will give you suitable-sized party pies...
Enjoy and bon appétit!