Potato pirozhki are the kind of thing every family seems to make a little differently, but they all share the same basic idea: soft yeasted dough on the outside, a simple, filling potato mixture on the inside. Baking them instead of frying takes less hands-on attention than pan-frying and skips the lingering oil smell that fried pirozhki tend to leave behind.

The dough should be soft and just slightly tacky to the touch — too much flour worked in during kneading and the pirozhki come out dense instead of light and airy. Letting the dough rise in a warm spot isn’t optional here; skip it, and the yeast won’t have time to build the volume that makes the dough fluffy, no matter how long you bake it.

For the filling, it helps to keep the mashed potato on the drier side — milk in the mash tends to leak out while sealing the dough, so this version sticks to butter alone. Sautéed onion adds a mellow sweetness the filling would otherwise lack, and fresh dill brings the brightness plain mashed potato usually misses.

Give the shaped pirozhki a short second rise right on the baking sheet before they go in the oven — it makes a real difference in how puffy they turn out. An egg wash gives them a glossy golden crust, and sealing them seam-side down keeps the filling from bursting out as the dough expands in the heat.