Pirozhki

Whisk the flour, yeast, sugar and the 8g of salt for the dough together in a large bowl.

Whisk the egg for the dough into the lukewarm milk and pour it in.

Mix to a shaggy dough with no dry flour left, then knead for 8 minutes, until smooth and elastic.

Work in the softened 60g of butter a piece at a time. The dough will come apart and look ruined partway through; keep kneading and it comes back together.

Cover and prove at around 24C/75F for 60-90 minutes, until doubled.

Meanwhile, melt the 30g of butter for the filling in a wide pan.

Cook the onion over medium-low heat for 6-8 minutes, until soft and translucent but not coloured.

Add the cabbage and the 3g of salt for the filling.

Cook for 20-25 minutes over medium heat, stirring often, until the cabbage has collapsed to about a third of its volume, tastes sweet rather than raw, and no liquid pools when you push it to one side of the pan.

That dry pan is the point of the long cooking. Any free liquid left in the filling turns to steam in the oven and splits the seam open.

Cool the cabbage completely, then fold through the chopped hard-boiled eggs, the dill and the pepper.

Knock the dough back and divide it into 16 pieces of about 55g.

Press or roll each piece into an oval about 12cm long, leaving the middle slightly thicker than the edges.

Put a heaped tablespoon of filling, about 25g, along the centre of each.

Do not go past 30g. An overfilled pirozhok cannot be sealed and will open along the seam wherever it is thinnest.

Bring the two long edges up to meet and pinch the seam firmly along its whole length, then pinch the two ends closed.

Wipe any filling off the seam with a fingertip before pinching. Fat or moisture on the dough stops it sticking to itself.

Set them seam-side down on a lined tray, 4cm apart.

Prove for 30-40 minutes, until visibly puffed and slow to spring back when pressed.

Heat the oven to 190C/375F.

Brush the tops with the beaten egg and milk.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, until deep gold on top and firm underneath when lifted.

To fry them instead, heat the oil to 175C/350F in a deep pan filled no more than a third of the way up, and fry them seam-side down for 2-3 minutes a side, until dark gold. Drain on a rack rather than on paper, which steams the base soft.

Cool for 10 minutes before eating. The filling holds heat far longer than the crumb around it.