I’m a big fan of empanadas, and these were a new flavor of empanada for me! For the crust I’ve used a pie dough made of the remains of the Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking flour blend from last week, but you can easily just use your favorite other, gluten-having pie dough, or store-bought dough.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 1/4 cups gluten-free flour blend
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons salted butter, cold
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Filling:

• 1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or no-salt-added canned)
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 8-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced

To Finish:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons water

To prepare the dough, combine the flour blend and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your hands until it resembles fine crumbs.

Make a well in the center. Combine the egg, water, and apple cider vinegar in a cup/small bowl.

Pour the liquids into the well in the dry mixture. Mix together until the dough holds together.

Divide the resulting dough into 2 even pieces, wrap in saran wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

When the dough is ready, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the tomatoes, cheese, basil, and garlic in a bowl and set aside.

Roll out one of the pieces of dough to about 1/8″ between 2 sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. Flip a 6″ diameter bowl and use it as a giant cookie cutter, cutting out 4 rounds from the piece of dough, then doing the same with the second piece of dough. (I actually only got 7 total, guess I didn’t roll thin enough!)

Place 3 tablespoons of filling on one side of a dough round, leaving some clear space on the edge to seal. It turns out you probably want even more empty space than shown here, as folding up the edges takes room.

Ideally yours will have wider clear space around the filling, and a bit less filling. Learning experience!

Wet that clear edge, then fold the other half of dough over the filling, creating a half-moon.

Press together to seal, then fold over the edges, a bit at a time, starting from one edge – the repulgue technique. (I’m glad I looked it up, it isn’t quite what I was picturing!) Place the sealed empanadas on an ungreased sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough circles and filling.

Do watch the linked video for how to make better-than-that looking edges!

Make an egg wash by whisking together the egg and water, and brush the top of each empanada with the wash.

Bake 10-15 minutes until crispy.

This (and many) gluten-free dough doesn’t brown much at all, so all your browning will come from the egg wash, so if yours was maybe heavy on the water, don’t wait until the end of time for it to brown!

Margherita Empanadas

From Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking.

Crust:

• 2 1/4 cups gluten-free flour blend
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons salted butter, cold
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Filling:

• 1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or no-salt-added canned)
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 8-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced

To Finish:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons water

To prepare the dough, combine the flour blend and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your hands until it resembles fine crumbs. Make a well in the center. Combine the egg, water, and apple cider vinegar, then pour them into the well. Mix together until the dough holds together. Divide the resulting dough into 2 even pieces, wrap in saran wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

When the dough is ready, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the tomatoes, cheese, basil, and garlic in a bowl and set aside.

Roll out one of the pieces of dough to about 1/8″ between 2 sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. Flip a 6″ diameter bowl and use it as a giant cookie cutter, cutting out 4 rounds from the piece of dough, then doing the same with the second piece of dough.

Place 3 tablespoons of filling on one side of a dough round, leaving a wide clear space on the edge to seal. Wet that clear edge, then fold the other half of dough over the filling, creating a half-moon. Press together to seal, then fold over the edges, a bit at a time, starting from one edge. Place the sealed empanadas on an ungreased sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough circles and filling.

Make an egg wash by whisking together the egg and water, and brush the top of each empanada with the wash. Bake 10-15 minutes, until golden-brown or until the crust is crisp.