Sour Milk Dough for Hand Pies
Soft and tender, made from simple ingredients, quick and easy! Sour milk dough for hand pies turns out very tasty. It can be made not only with milk or kefir, but also with ryazhenka or yogurt as the base. This dough makes not only excellent hand pies, but also pies with a wide variety of fillings.
Updated : 17 March, 2026
Easy
About 1 hour.
Ingredients
Dough
500 grams
Wheat flour
400 grams
Sour milk
11 grams
Dry yeast
2
Eggs
1 tablespoon
Sugar
1 tablespoon
Baking powder
1 grams
Salt
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare all the necessary ingredients for making sour milk dough. The sour milk can be either fresh or more fermented. I recommend choosing a richer one, because the dough will be tastier. Use all-purpose flour. Take all the ingredients out of the refrigerator so they can come to room temperature.
Step 2
Pour the sour milk into a saucepan or a pot with a thick bottom and warm it up. Sour milk, like other cultured dairy products, needs to be heated properly so that the whey does not separate: 1. Heat it only over the very lowest heat on the stove. 2. Stir the sour milk constantly with a spatula or spoon, checking from time to time whether it is warm yet. 3. If you warm the sour milk in the microwave, use the lowest power and keep checking it so it does not overheat.
Step 3
The sour milk should be warm, not hot, about 36-38°C (97-100°F), because a higher temperature can kill the yeast. The easiest way to check the temperature is with a kitchen thermometer. If curds appear and the whey separates, the sour milk has been overheated. Pour a little of the sour milk into a bowl, add the sugar, salt, and dry yeast. You can adjust the amount of sugar and salt to your taste.
Step 4
Stir the mixture and leave it for 15 minutes. During this time the yeast should activate and a foamy cap should appear on the surface. If that does not happen, the yeast is expired and should not be used further. The dough will not rise.
Step 5
While the yeast mixture is resting, in another bowl combine the remaining warm sour milk and the eggs. Mix the mixture with a whisk.
Step 6
Add part of the flour sifted through a sieve, about two-thirds, and mix the mixture until smooth. It is important to sift the flour to enrich it with oxygen. Then the baked goods will turn out airy and will rise well during baking. At this stage, the dough should be thick but still pourable.
Step 7
Pour in the yeast mixture and add the baking powder. Mix the mass thoroughly.
Step 8
Add the remaining flour to the dough and mix everything again with a spatula. Knead a soft, pliable dough that is not stiff, adding a little more flour if needed. At first the dough will stick to your hands, then as you knead and add flour, the stickiness will lessen. But you should not overload the dough with flour either. It is better to add more later, when you roll out the pieces of dough on a floured surface. I needed about 50 grams more flour, about 6 tablespoons.
Step 9
If you kneaded the dough in a small bowl, transfer it to a larger container so it has room to grow. I dusted the surface of the dough with flour so it would not dry out. Cover the dough with a clean towel and leave it in a warm place for about 30-40 minutes. During this time it should double in volume. Depending on the room temperature and the activity of the yeast, it may take a little more or a little less time.
Step 10
If you do not plan to fry the hand pies or bake pies right away, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it, where it can be stored for up to 12 hours, or put it in the freezer for up to 1 month. This amount of dough makes about 20 medium hand pies. Enjoy your meal!
Author note
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