Homemade Karelian Pies with Rice Filling | Recipe | My Vintage Cooking (2024)

INGREDIENTS

RICE FILLING

• 270g boiling water
• 170g starchy, short-grain rice
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 litre whole milk
• 8-10g salt

RYE PASTY DOUGH

• 250g cold water
• 250g finely milled white or medium rye
• 110g dark rye
• 8g salt
• Extra rye flour for shaping

DIPPING MIXTURE

• 70g butter
• 200ml milk

METHOD

RICE FILLING

• You can prepare the filling the night before. In a heavy-bottomed kettle, bring water to boil and then add a little bit of butter. Wash the short-grain rice. Boil the rice in the kettle until all of the water has almost absorbed.
• Add whole milk, gently stir and reduce to medium-low heat.
• Let the porridge bubble at low-medium heat under a lid. Keep an eye on the kettle and give the rice porridge a gentle stir every once in a while so that the rice doesn't stick to the bottom.
• Cook until the rice is done and the porridge has a creamy consistency, 30-40 minutes. Add salt to taste and a tiny bit of butter.
• When the rice porridge cools, it will get more firmness yet hold its easily spreadable consistency. Store in the fridge.

RYE PASTY DOUGH

Take the rice filling to room temperature once you start making the dough. If the filling feels too stiff, a quick fix is to add a small egg and mix until smooth.

• In a heavy baking bowl, add salt into cold water. Once absorbed, start adding rye flour. Mix rye flour first with a spatula leaving 70grams of fine rye flour to wait. Wait up to 10 minutes.
• Continue working on the rye dough with your hands adding the rest of the rye flour in. Knead the dough gently until you have a firm but smooth dough, it should not stick to your hands anymore. Shape the mass into a ball and cover the dough carefully with cling film.

SHAPING THE DOUGH

Once you're ready to shape and fill the pies, preheat the oven to 275°C / 527°F (up to 300°C / 572°F). Keep the rye dough covered at all times when you're not working on it to avoid drying.

• Place a plate of extra rye flour next to your baking desk so that you can lightly flour the desk surface as you shape.
• Start working on the dough by shaping it into a log of 5 cm / 2 inches in diameter. Divide the log into 26 pieces. Or divide the log into 2 pieces, repeat and then divide the 4 sections into 6 pieces. You should now have 24 pieces of dough (as a reference, mine were 22-25g in weight).
• Shape each piece of dough into a smooth ball and then flatten. Use more rye flour if needed. Lightly flour each flat dough piece so that they don't stick to each other and finally cover them under a cling film / damp cloth.
• Start shaping the pies one at a time. With a French rolling pin, roll each flat piece of dough into a circular round shape of even thickness. Think about max. 2mm or 0.07 inches.
• It's okay to make the rolled dough into a ball again and switch it to a new piece of flat dough if you made a mistake or two with the rolling.
• Lightly flour the thin discs and stack them on top of each other. Keep them under a cover to avoid drying.

FILLING THE PIE

• When you have enough discs to fill a first baking tray, warm up the dipping milk and start filling the pies.
• First, dust off any excess rye flour. Place rice filling in the middle of the pie, up to 2 tablespoons or so. Spread the filling towards the edges, a thin even layer of filling. Leave 1-2cm / 0.6-0.7 inches empty space around the filling so that you have enough dough to decorate the sides.
• Turn the opposite sides of the pie into the middle leaving the filling open. Start crinkling from the middle: press with your fingers and push the dough towards the last wave. Continue until you reach the endpoint nearest to you and press the lower corner point. Turn the pie 180° and repeat. Again, crinkle from the middle, pushing and pressing with your fingers until you reach the second endpoint. Avoid pinching! Beware of nails!

OVEN BAKE

• Once the first pie is filled, dust your baking tray with rye flour on the spots where you're placing the pies. One by one, fill the pies and transfer them into the baking tray. Once full, bake them in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven heat (mine baked for 12-13 minutes).
• Continue to roll the discs as you wait for the first tray of pies to bake but keep an eye on them the last minutes to avoid burning. Fill the second batch of pies once you have finalized the first pasties with the dipping.

DIPPING MIXTURE

Karelian pies are dipped/brushed with a milk-butter mixture to soften the crust and this also gives the pasties indulgent glazing.

• Once out of the oven, dip each pie in the warm milk-butter mixture. Set the hot pies on parchment paper to drip excess liquid before transferring them on a cooling tray which you keep covered with a kitchen towel.
• Alternatively, you can brush each pie with the mixture but dipping in the liquid is quicker.

HOW TO STORE

Karelian pies are kept in the fridge or stored in the freezer for later enjoyment.

NOTES

If you don't have a French rolling pin, use a dumpling pin but be sure to roll each dough disc evenly. After the bake, alternatively, you can dip the pastries in warm milk, or water to soften the crust. Once cooled, keep Karelian pies in the fridge or store the pasties in the freezer.