In this magical winter period, when it snows, there is still a festive mood after recent New Year's events, I wanted to make such a beautiful currant pie in the form snowflakes. There are similar recipes on the Internet, but the problem is that they are designed only for sweet pies, and I wanted to make two pies from one dough at once - one sweet, one salty. And then I decided to improvise😚 And I offer you my version of the test and two pies from it at once. #pies
Ingredients: For the dough:, milk, yeast, sugar, egg, butter, flour, salt, Sweet pie filling:, berry thick jam (I use currant jam), cornstarch (if you have jam, like mine), water for soaking starch, For salty filling:, minced chicken fillet, cheese (any that melts well), dill or green onions, Spices, salt, For coating:, yolk, milk
Cooking method:
Let's start with the dough for the test. I always weigh all the necessary ingredients at the beginning of the process, sift the flour separately. And then I get to work... So, we heat the milk to 35 ° C (so that it is warm, but not hot), pour a bag of yeast into the milk, 1 tbsp. sugar, 4-5 tbsp. sifted flour. Mix everything well with a whisk until smooth. You will get a very thick creamy consistency. We cover the bowl with the dough with a clean towel and leave it for 25 minutes in a warm place (I put it on the battery).
After 25 min. The dough should double in size. If this does not happen, low-quality yeast has been caught and you will have to start all over again. But if the dough came up, then everything is fine and you can knead the dough.
Add 2 eggs at room temperature to the dough, the rest of the sugar, a pinch of salt, melted butter (not hot!) And stir everything well until combined.
We begin to mix in the flour little by little, pouring it into the dough in parts. When kneading becomes harder, you can put the dough on the table and continue to mix the flour with your hands. You may need 20-25 g less or more flour. Focus on the consistency of the dough! It should turn out elastic, soft, a little sticky to your hands. We shift the dough into a bowl, cover with a towel, put in a warm place for 1.2 hours.
While the dough is rising, make the fillings. For sweet, I chose currant jam. This is my favorite berry, we grow it in the country, interrupt it with a blender, add sugar, put it in jars and store it in the refrigerator. And I'm allergic to it😋 But on occasion, I can't deny myself. You can choose any jam or marmalade.
But if you have liquid jam, like I have, then transfer it to a saucepan, bring to a boil and pour in the starch, soaked and stirred in cold water. Boil until thickened. Cover the hot jam with plastic wrap and let cool. Let's move on to the salty stuffing!
I punch the fillet in a blender, but you can use ready-made minced meat. Next, I heat the pan and fry the minced meat over low heat until it is incompletely cooked. I add salt, pepper, dry marjoram, dry red and green basil, cumin, a little rosemary and smoked paprika. At the end of frying, add chopped dill, mix. I let the stuffing cool down. I grate cheese.
When the dough has risen well, has increased, punch it down and transfer it to the table. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. We divide one part into 3 equal parts, form balls, cover with a film and a towel, let it lie on the table for 10 minutes. Divide the second part of the dough into 2 equal parts and also form balls, send under a film and a towel for 10 minutes.
For a sweet pie, we take that part of the dough, which is divided into 3 balls. Roll out the balls one at a time into circles with a diameter of 23 cm, like on pizza. I roll out on a silicone mat with round markings, it is very convenient. Next, we shift the first layer onto siliconized parchment, distribute half a serving of jam over it, not reaching the edge of 0.5 cm. Cover with the same second layer of dough, spread with the rest of the jam. And top with a third layer. It looks like a three-story pizza😊🫓
Next, the most interesting thing is to create a snowflake out of pizza❄. We put a plate with a diameter of 7-10 cm in the center of the pie, press down a little. With a knife we make cuts at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock (remember the dial?). Then we divide each of the sectors in half, and each of them, in turn, is also cut in half. You should get 16 equal petals. We remove the plate. We take two petals, lift them up, scroll them like bundles in opposite directions, put them back and pinch the joint. We do this with everyone.
We cover the future snowflake with a film, a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Let's move on to the salty pie. We roll one ball into a layer of 25 cm, transfer it to parchment, distribute the filling over it (try to leave the excess liquid in the plate where the minced meat was), sprinkle with cheese on top. We roll out the second layer thinner, 27 cm. It needs to make holes. I decided to take the snowflake cuts and give the cake a winter look. We make 7-8 holes in a circle, you can just prick with a fork. Cover the filling with the second layer. We pass along the edges with a fork, pinching the edges. I made a braid.
Next, cover the salty pie with a film and a towel, let it rest for half an hour.
By that time, a sweet pie can already be sent to the oven to bake. We heat the oven to 175 C °. Lubricate the cake with a mixture of yolk and milk and send to bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. The cake will rise and quickly become like a fluffy snowflake. You can cool down at room temperature.
When the sweet cake is baked, do the same with the salty cake. Grease and bake.
When the sweet cake has cooled, sprinkle it with powdered sugar. It looks just magical! My mom said "Wow!" when she saw it🤩 Both the taste and the aroma... By the way, when boiling them, I add ground cardamom to currants and blueberries. It goes well with berries.
The salty cake is just as good as the sweet one. Juicy, with a stretchy cheese filling. Better than any store bought pizza!
Thus, from one test we got two different pies. Due to the fact that the dough is moderately sweet, it is perfect for both sweet and savory pastries. And yeast dough is not at all as difficult and laborious as it seems! It is possible in between household chores, rest, communication with children, periodically for 15 minutes to leave for the test. When the hand is stuffed, it seems very easy and fast. Improvise, cook, create!😇