Pastechi Pastry Dough Recipes

Steps:

• Add the flour and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter and toss to combine. With your fingers, begin to "smush" the butter into flat pieces. Continue smushing until all the butter is flattened but none of the pieces are larger than a quarter. The flour will look like coarse cornmeal.
• Add the water, quickly folding it in with a wooden spoon to distribute the moisture. (Do not stir vigorously--the dough should appear shaggy.) Use your hands to break up any large clumps of moisture. Then use your knuckles or a palm to smear the dough up the sides of the bowl (a technique known as fraisage). This distributes the butter over a larger surface to achieve larger flakes and compact the dough. Once you've gone around the bowl one time, fold the dough over itself a few times to pick up any dry bits from the bottom. Gently press the dough into a disk. (Note: The dough should remain very cool to the touch throughout the process. If it approaches room temperature, refrigerate it for 5 to 10 minutes to chill.)
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a 10-by-12-inch rectangle. Perform a letter fold by folding one of the short ends towards the middle and the other short end over the first, like folding a business letter.
• Turn the dough 90 degrees, so the long side faces you, and perform a second letter fold. Turn the dough 90 degrees again; perform a third letter fold.
• If the dough still feels cool, it can be used immediately. Otherwise, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.

Steps:

• Saute vegetables in oil.
• Add beef and cook until well done.
• Add bouillon cube, cumin, tomato paste and if necessary, a little water.
• Stir to mix ingredients.
• Simmer until bouillon cube is dissolved.
• Add remaining ingredients.
• You can do a taste test and make filling as spicy as desired.
• Place 1 generous teaspoon of filling on round of Pastechi Pastry.
• Fold rounds in half.
• Seal and crimp edges.
• Fry in hot oil till golden brown.
• Drain on paper towels.
• Serve warm!
• (We like to dip our pastechis in ketchup, but they're yummy plain too!).

Steps:

• A LARGE MIXING BOWL: 5 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon soda Use a whisk to mix.
• Cut in one pound of lard.
• Mix to resemble coarse crumbs.
• IN A ONE CUP MEASURING CUP: Add 1 whole egg 3 tablespoons lemon juice Mix with a fork and add enough water to fill the one cup measuring cup.
• Add the cup of liquid to the dry ingredients and mix until dough forms into a ball.
• (at this point I form into balls using approximate amount for the size pie plate I'm using and place into a plastic bag until ready to roll.) NOTE: Rolling the dough between two sheets of wax paper makes for a nice even sheet of pastry.
• This will make 3-4 double pies-- depending on what size pie pans you are using.

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse flour and salt to combine. Add cold butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, add up to 3 tablespoons more water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix. Form dough into a 1-inch-thick disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days).