Empanada Gallega

Ah the sun. Ah the trees. Ah the birds. Oh the birds. Ah the air. Ah the sky. Some more birds. These were the kind of thoughts that were sloshing around Celestial Dragon's head as he was lying on a yellow meadow in what was then known as the Year of the Sneaky Tomato. His arms were crossed around his scaly head and his tail was flicking absentmindedly to and fro. His huge nostrils inhaled the sweet scents of summer that whirled and buzzed around him. Behind him, hanging lazily from a tree, was Divine Cherry. Her red legs were dangling in what would later be known as a nonchalant manner from a branch.
Suddenly, a little girl came walking by. It wasn't really a girl, nor was it really little, but in those days things were still a bit blurry. Be that as it may, she was hopping from one flower to the next, like a bee, thus making her way to Divine Cherry's tree. She was carrying a small wicker basket under one arm. It wasn't really an arm, not was it really a wicker basket, nor indeed was it really small. In that ill-defined basket, however, was something round and good. It is still unknown how she had managed to do it, but the little girl who wasn't really little nor a girl had succeeded in capturing a small star (which wasn't really small nor really a star). She had put it in the basket and was carrying it to her grandmother, who was indeed her grandmother. At the mere smell of the star, Celestial Dragon jumped out of his reverie and Divine Cherry jumped down from her tree. Gracefully, though. They both gathered around the not-little girl and started talking to her. At the end of that fruitful discussion (its content has never been revealed, but it is being assumed that it ran along the general lines of what-is-it-you-haver-there-girl-oh-my-!-what-a-big-nose-mister), it was decided that the grandmother--who was really a grandmother--could wait some more since she had been waiting so long already, and that the not-star would taste much better if baked in the oven and filled with a delicious, well, filling.
And so it was that later that day in the Year of the Sneaky Tomato, a dragon, a cherry, and a little girl that was not little nor a girl sat down for dinner and enjoyed the first ever Empanada Gallega. The recipe down below is a faithful reproduction of what Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon think their first Empanada must have tasted like. After all, the Year of the Sneaky Tomato has expired a looong time ago...


Blog-checking lines: Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished!

Empanada Gallega - recipe adapted from the September Daring Baking Challege

Dough:
- 750 g bread flour
- 480 ml of lukewarm water, approximately
- 15 g fresh yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 10 g salt
- 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large egg, for egg wash

Filling:
- 1 hard boiled egg
- 1 yellow pepper, cut in stripes
- 200 g chopped tomatoes
- 180 g tuna
- 1 big onion, finely chopped
- 10 black olives

Prepare the dough. Stir the yeast with sugar in the water and let it dissolve for 10 minutes. Make a wheel in the flour and add the water yeast mixture, add the oil and salt. Mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon  to combine them. On a floured surface, knead the dough for 15 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with a cling film and let it rise in a warm place for 1 and half hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion. When the onion is soft, add the pepper and cook it for 10 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes and finish to cook the vegetables. Let the vegetables to cool down and then add the crumbled tuna and the olives.

Assembly of the empanada. Cut the dough in two parts. With a rolling pin, spread gently one half in a greased and floured tray. Pour the cold filling in the dough case, and finish it with the crumbled hard-boiled egg.  On a clean surface, spread gently the second half of the dough and use it to cover the empanada. Join the top and the bottom dough pincing the edges with your fingers in order to end up with a  rope-like border. Use extra dough to decorate and make a central hole in the top dough to let the steam escape during the cooking. Brush the surface with a beaten egg.
Cook in a preheated oven at 180°C for 45 min.

Empanada Gallega - ricetta adattata dalla sfida di settembre dei Daring Bakers

Impasto:
- 750 g farina forte
- 450 g acqua tiepida
- 15 g lievito di birra fresco
- 1 cucchiaino di zucchero
- 10 g di sale
- 60 ml di olio evo
- 1 uovo sbattuto, per spennellare
Ripieno:
- 1 uovo sodo
- 1 peperone giallo tagliato a striscioline sottili
- 200g pomodori a pezzi
- 180 g tonno sottolio
- 1 grossa cipolla, tritata finemente
- una decina di olive nere
- olio, sale e pepe

Preparare l'impasto. Mescolare il lievito all'acqua insieme a un cucchiaino di zucchero e far riposare per 10minuti. Fare un buco nella farina e aggiungerci l'acqua con il lievito e l'olio, mescolare e aggiungere il sale. Trasferire su una superficie pulita e impastare per 15 minuti circa fino ad ottenere una palla liscia ed elastica. Mettere in una ciotola, coprira con pellicola e far lievitare in luogo tiepido per circa un'ora e mezza, o fino a che l'impasto avrà raddoppiato il suo volume.

Preparare il ripieno. Far appassire la cipolla in una padella con un po' d'olio evo. Quando la cipolla è trasparente, aggiungere i peperoni e cuocere per una decina di minuti.Aggiungere i pomodori e terminare la cottura. Quando le verdure si sono intiepidite aggiungere il tonno sbriciolato e le olive.

Assemblaggio. Dividere l'impasto in due parti uguali. Stendere una metà dell'impasto e metterela in una teglia precedentemente unta e infarinata. Coprire con il ripieno, completamente raffreddato. Sbriciolare sopra l'uovo sodo. Stendere anche la seconda metà dell'impasto sopra al ripieno. Unire le estremità dei due impasti con le dita, pizzicando i bordi in modo da fare una sorta di cordoncino (come in foto). Fare un buco in centro all'empanada per far fuoriuscire l'umidità durante la cottura. Spennellare la superfice con l'uovo sbattuto. Cuocere in forno caldo a 180 gradi per 45 minuti circa.


Enjoy,
And Spread the Mess