Empanada Dough Recipe
While store bought empanada discs work in a pinch, a good homemade dough is worth it. Your empanadas will be flakier, more tender, and more flavorful. Guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups (420 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (56 g) butter melted
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 ¼ cups (220 grams) very hot water
Instructions
- Mix flour and salt and then add butter.
- Mix butter into the flour mixture until the dough is crumbly.
- Stir in egg yolk.
- Add water and stir everything together with a wooden spoon or a spatula. Once the dough starts to come together, take over with your hands (test the dough to make sure it's not too hot to handle) and knead until you have a smooth ball, adding 1-2 tablespoons more water if the dough is tough or dry.
- Let the dough rest for 15 minutes and then section into 14 pieces.
- Roll into balls.
- On a lightly floured surface, flatten one by one and use a rolling pin to roll them into a circle.
- Place 2 tablespoons of filling into the middle of the circle.
- Wet along the edges, fold and seal, removing air.
- Curl (repulgue technique) the seam with your fingers or crimp with a fork.
- Brush with egg yolk and bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
This recipe does not include time to make filling. If you are going to make a meat filling, you should start with that: cook everything and let it cool prior to starting your dough because if you use warm filling on empanada dough it will make a sticky mess. The advantage of this is that you can make most meat fillings the day before, cutting down on prep time on the day of.
Want a unique filling idea? Use this dough recipe to make this Caprese Empanada, a flaky empanda stuffed with cheese, sun-dried tomato, and plenty of fresh basil.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!