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Pilar's Chilean Food & Garden

Pilar's Chilean Food & Garden

A recipe blog by a Chilean living in the USA

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Empanada Dough

August 9, 2019 by Pilar Hernandez

Versión en español

Empanada DoughA traditional and handy recipe for Empanada dough, you can use it for your oven or fried savory recipes. Enjoy. Empanadas are a staple of Latin cuisine, found in all countries with different fillings.

Tips for some delicious empanadas:

Can I freeze the empanada dough?

I do not recommend it. The dough gets very difficult to work.

Is this dough good for fried empanadas?

Yes, the recipe for the dough is the same. Heat the oil to 350F or 180C, no more, or the empanadas will remain raw inside and very golden on the outside.

What can I do so that the empanadas do not burst in the oven?

It is essential to keep an eye on them and prick them with a toothpick when they inflate so that the steam escapes and does not burst.

Why do you recommend dividing the dough into portions, not rolling half the dough, and cutting the rounds with a plate?

The more times you roll the dough, gather leftovers, and use it again, the more difficult the dough becomes to work with, it loses flexibility, and if it develops a lot of gluten, the dough cooks hard.

Uses of Empanada Dough in Chile:

The most traditional ones are the Empanadas de Pino (onion, beef, hard-boiled egg, raisins) many families eat them every Sunday for the big family lunch. Also, the Fried Shrimp & Cheese Empanadas are found in coastal towns and restaurants. Kids are usually big fans of the Cheese Empanada.

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Empanada Dough

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Pilar Hernandez
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 20
  • Category: Savory
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Chilean
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Description

A basic empanada dough, perfect for the oven or to fry.


Ingredients

•    1 cup whole milk

•    1 cup of hot water

•    1 tablespoon salt

•    1 kilo or 2 pounds of all-purpose flour

•    4 egg yolks

•    180 grams lard, butter or shortening, melted


Instructions

1.    Make a brine with the milk, hot water, and salt, stir to dissolve the salt completely.
2.    In a large bowl or on a stand mixer with the paddle attachment mix the flour and egg yolks, mix for a minute to incorporate. Add the melted shortening and work a little more, at this point you will see only crumbs.
3.    To form the dough star adding the brine with the mixer running on low speed until the dough is soft and flexible. If you need more moisture, keep adding water.
4.    Separate the dough into 20 portions and cover with a moist cloth. Work each piece individually, rolling until thin, cut in a circle about 7″ and fill and bake as directed on the recipe.


Keywords: Empanada dough, Chilean cuisine

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Tag @chileanfoodandgarden on Instagram and hashtag it #chileanfoodandgarden

Dried ingredients for empanadasEmpanada dough Empanada Dough Empanada dough dough portioned rolling of the dough

 


The Chilean Kitchen*




 

If you enjoyed this recipe, you would also enjoy my cookbook* featuring 75 Chilean recipes for all seasons. It is lovingly written and scrumtpiously photographed, and you’ll delight in the best that Chilean cuisine has to offer, with easy-to-follow recipes tailored to American ingredients and grocery stores.

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Category: Chilean Appetizers & Beverages, Chilean Breads, Chilean recipes, Empanadas (EN), Savory things

About Pilar Hernandez

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    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. Alvaro

    February 18, 2019 at 9:40 pm

    It would be helpful to indicate how many empanadas this recipe makes, 1 dozen, 2 dozen ?

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      February 19, 2019 at 8:55 am

      Depends on the size, for big (20 cm diameter) makes 12, medium (12 cm) 20.

      Reply
    • Phillip

      April 14, 2019 at 8:23 am

      It clearly states 20.

      Reply
  2. Rick Erazo

    December 8, 2019 at 2:31 pm

    This is my favorite recipe of the dozens i’ve tried. I use King Arthur bread flour for its higher protein content (closer to Chilean flour) and fresh pork belly lard from a local Mexican grocery. I substitute a little white wine for some of the milk. I have had more reliable results measuring the ingredients with a digital kitchen scale set to metric. Our family prefers the typical Chilean jumbo rectangular empanadas and this recipe yields about a dozen (plus a couple more from scraps) so I make two batches and freeze some.

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      December 8, 2019 at 2:38 pm

      Thanks, Rick. I developed this recipe using King Arthur so I’m not surprised you have good results. It’s my favorite flour.
      Thanks for sharing your tips and coming back to comment.

      Reply
  3. David

    March 21, 2020 at 4:40 am

    Can you please explain how you fold/seal the empañadas to look like the ones in the photo?

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      March 21, 2020 at 2:26 pm

      Hi, here you can see more on the pictures https://www.chileanfoodandgarden.com/chilean-beef-empanadas/
      You seal them and then fold the sides. I will take a better step by step pictures of this soon.

      Reply
  4. Ramiro Salas

    March 25, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    Great site and recipes. Two things that I’ve found make a difference in this recipe: use real lard instead of shortening, and replace one of the egg yolks by a full egg. The egg white will add a slightly more brittle feel to the final product. Again, thanks for helping make our food more accessible to folks in English-speaking countries.

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      March 27, 2020 at 1:52 pm

      Thanks for your comments.

      Reply
  5. Meyling

    May 1, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing these recipes!!
    I will try many of these when I get brave. This brings me so many memories of my childhood..

    Thank you!

    Meyling

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      May 2, 2020 at 1:08 pm

      I’m so glad. Let me know if you have any questions. Welcome to the blog.

      Reply
  6. Margot

    May 4, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    Wonderful recipe! Thank you so much for this website. My mother never cooks with measured ingredients, and she doesn’t have the patience to write down her recipes:) I have made these empanadas 4 times now and I love them. I have adjusted the spices as I add more cumin , but otherwise it is similar. I made these yesterday and dropped them off at my parent’s house to stay socially distant during these quarantine times. They were so happy to have them. I look forward to your cookbook!

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      May 5, 2020 at 12:54 pm

      That is amazing Margot. Welcome to the site and let me know if you have any questions or more successes in the kitchen.

      Reply
  7. Enrique Goldenberg

    July 6, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    Can you please use something different from shortening. Shortening is like eating poison and it is forbidden in many places in the USA

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      July 7, 2020 at 12:23 pm

      You can use lard or butter, no problem.

      Reply
  8. Liliana (Lily) Waissbluth

    July 20, 2020 at 12:57 am

    Hola Pilar. Hice la receta para la masa de empanadas y me sobro y la envolvi en plastic wrap y la congele. La saque y me salieron 4 empanadas y tenia congelado pino que me sobro tambien, y salieron fantasticas. Vivo aqui hace como 50 anos y me encanta cocinar y lo que hare la proxima ves es usar la lucuma en polvo para la torta de merengue que a mi familia la enloquece( a mi tambien). Siempre me traia de Chile la Lucuma en pure y no habia tenido ningun problema, pero ahora no viajamos asi que no sabia que hacer. Compre la lucuma en polvo y hice una receta de flan de lucumas y no tiene nada que ver con the real thing. Pero voy a probar tu metodo de usarlo en crema batiendolo. Me gustaria comprar tu libro porque hago mucha comida chilena.
    Liliana

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      July 20, 2020 at 1:10 pm

      Gracias Liliana por comentar. El libro sale el 6 de octubre y tiene 30% recetas del blog y el resto son nuevas. Gracias por el apoyo.

      Reply
  9. Grace Decoske

    September 21, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    Thank you so much! This was the best recipe for Chilean empanadas!! Quedaron super!! 😋

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      September 22, 2020 at 2:16 pm

      I’m so glad!!! Viva Chile 🙂

      Reply
  10. Philip Roman

    April 16, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    I have tried this recipe and my empanada dough comes out like biscuits. Flaky and crumbles.. help what am I doing wrong?

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      April 17, 2021 at 1:11 pm

      Are you using the ingredients at the temperatures prescribe? that’s is very important, and no substitution. Also, it’s a lot easier doing it with a machine: bread machine, kitchenaid, even the food processor with the dough attachment, it requires over 20 minutes of needing by hand and vigorous.

      Reply
  11. Brenda

    September 30, 2021 at 3:31 am

    Will this recipe work with gluten free all purpose flour?

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      September 30, 2021 at 12:44 pm

      Most likely, I don’t see why not, but I haven’t tried it. Let me know if you do, please.

      Reply
  12. Marcia

    December 11, 2021 at 2:59 pm

    Hi Pilar! I’m trying to think of how to save time with this recipe for part of Christmas dinner. Using a regular sized deep dish pie plate, could I use this recipe to bake my empanada dough and filling into a pie instead of individual empanadas? Let me know your thoughts!

    P.S. your recipes have brought so much joy to our family!

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez

      December 12, 2021 at 2:15 pm

      Yes, you could do that.
      Another option is to make the empanadas (the whole process baked them normally and all) now or a week in advance and keep them frozen. Then they go straight from the freeze to the oven to re-heat. They do very well.
      I’m so glad the recipe is a hit with your family.

      Reply

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