Ingredients
Method
- Freeze the Butter: Place your butter in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours but preferably overnight. TIP: For extra flaky dough, freeze the flour and the bowl as well, although not a must but it makes a difference.
- Water + Lemon Mixture: Add ice cubes in a glass then add the water and lemon juice and set aside. The lemon will not leave a taste in the dough. The addition of lemon helps produces a flaky crust but it doesn’t affect the taste.
- Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. This is going to sound like home economics book but you need everything to be cold to produce a flaky pastry. Feel free to put the bowl of flour in the fridge to chill, around 15 minutes or you can leave it overnight too.
- Grate the Butter: On the larger side of a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the flour mix. Stir the butter into the flour, do this as you go. It is easier to mix it several times than doing it at the end when you are done grating everything. Frozen butter is the secret ingredient of this recipe. The colder the butter the flakier the pastry. So remember, this is a shortcut short crust pastry, so we aren’t folding and doing that whole process so the flaky texture will depend mostly to the state of the butter you are using. I’m all for process but if you get a great result with less work then I’m all for that.
- Wet Ingredients: Add in the liquid, holding a little back just in case you don’t need it all. Using your hand bring your pastry together gently. You want to add just enough water to bring the pastry together. Too much water will not yield you a flaky dough. I normally starts at 4 tbsp, then I am gradually adding 1 tbsp at a time. The sign to stop is when you can already form the dough into a ball. When your dough gets too sticky, you went too far adding much liquid. You can remedy this by adding a bit more flour. So start adding the liquid gradually and monitor so you do not have to add extra flour.
- Chill the Dough: Bring the dough together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. You can refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze 2-3 months to use at a later day. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight when ready to use.
- Shape & Cut the Dough: When you are ready to use it, unwrap, roll, knead and cut into desired shape. As this stage, you now have empanada dough ready for filling.*** TIP 1: You can use this to make sweet or savory empanada. Use any filling of your choice. Minced meat, shredded chicken, sauteed mushroom and cheese, Jam, fresh fruit slices, nutella or any chocolate spread, scrambled egg and MORE! so many choices.*** TIP 2: You can also freeze the filled empanada for future baking. No need to thaw when ready to bake. Bake straight from the freezer, you might need to add 2-3 more minutes in the baking time.
- Egg wash (optional): Egg wash is optional but it makes a nice browning and looks better. It doesn’t affect the taste even if you do not do it. Simply mix 1 beaten egg + 1 teaspoon water then brush it on top of the empanada before baking
- Baking: Fill and Bake at 400F for 35 – 40 minutes or until brown and flaky.*** Alternatively, you can also deep fry or even use air-fryer to cook it
Video
Notes
Put the butter in the freezer minimum 2 hours but preferably overnight before use for a more flaky and buttery dough.