Soft Ryazhenka Dough for Hand Pies and Buns

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make ryazhenka dough for hand pies, pies, and buns? Start by gathering your ingredients. Use all-purpose flour, and reach for a higher-fat ryazhenka if you can. Depending on what you plan to bake, you can make this dough sweeter or more neutral: a sweet dough is great for buns and big fruit pies, while a neutral dough is perfect for hand pies with all kinds of fillings.

2. Step 2:

   

   Use the best-quality butter you can find — pure butter with no vegetable-oil additives. Melt it using any of the methods described at the end of the recipe, then let it cool.

3. Step 3:

   

   Warm the ryazhenka to 98–104°F (37–40°C). Like any cultured dairy, ryazhenka has to be heated gently so the whey doesn't separate:

   1. Heat it only over the lowest heat on the stovetop — never in the microwave.
   2. Stir it constantly with a spatula or spoon.
   3. Check the temperature every minute. It should be warm, not hot. If it forms flakes and the whey separates, it has overheated.

4. Step 4:

   

   Add 2 tablespoons of the flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar, the salt, and the dry yeast to the warm ryazhenka. Tip: dry yeast can be hard to stir in because it clumps, so scatter it over the surface in a thin layer — but stir the flour, salt, and sugar into the ryazhenka first.

5. Step 5:

   

   Mix everything well and let it sit for 20 minutes, until a fluffy foam cap forms. That means the yeast is active and you can keep going. If nothing happens, you'll need fresher yeast. You can swap dry yeast for fresh compressed yeast at a 1:3 ratio — for every 1 gram of dry yeast the recipe calls for, use 3 grams of fresh.

6. Step 6:

   

   Sift the remaining flour into a deep bowl and make a well in the center. Sifting matters — it aerates the flour so the baked goods come out airy and rise well.

7. Step 7:

   

   Pour the sponge and the melted butter into the well, crack in the egg, and add the remaining sugar. For a neutral dough, 1 tablespoon of sugar is plenty. Since I was making a fruit pie and wanted a distinctly sweet dough, I added about 90 g more sugar.

8. Step 8:

   

   Knead a soft, elastic dough, dusting in more flour as needed. At first it will stick to your hands; as you knead and add flour, it gets less sticky. Don't overload it with flour, though — it's better to add a little later, when you roll the pieces out on a floured surface. Shape the finished dough into a ball, cover it with a towel, and leave it somewhere warm for 1 hour to rise.

9. Step 9:

   

   Your ryazhenka dough is ready. Use it to shape hand pies, as a base for large pies, or to form soft, tasty buns. Enjoy!