If you don’t already know, ’empanada’ just means ‘in bread’. So it’s another way of saying a ‘hand pie’. There are two elements to any hand pie; the filling and the crust. I worked out how to make each.
First I had to make the filling. This recipe is an aggregate of quite a few others and is done with some assurances that ‘picadillo’ is just a way of saying ‘minced meat’ or ‘ground beef’ . My picadillo filling, being vegan, is going to start with;
1 cup TVP
1/2 6oz can green olives
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 onion
I put the first batch of ingredients in my food processor. I first tried to mince the above without the tvp. But the mix just floated around the bowl and remained fairly whole. Adding the TVP to the bowl gave some weight to the mix. When all the pieces were about the same size, I moved the contents of the bowl to a sauce pan. I rehydrated the TVP and seasoned it with the following:
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp cinnamon
You could use tomato sauce in place of water for a richer sauce. I find that the amount of liquid it takes to rehydrate the tvp is pretty variable. So always be ready to add a bit more. When the tvp was done and since I had it available, I added a cup of leftover white rice. I also added the 1/2 can of green olives that didn’t go into the food processor after crushing them with the back of my chef’s knife.
The picadillo needed to cool down so I turned my attention to making the dough. There are a lot of variations on dough. Anything from recipes resembling pie crust to straight mass can be used. I went with:
1/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup masa
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
7 tbsp vegetable shortening
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup water
This gave me a textured dough that could stretch a bit without cracking. I only added just enough water to let it form into a dough ball. Then I let my mixer and dough hook work it around for about five minutes. Afterwards I did what everyone recommends; covered it and popped it into the fridge for a thirty minute rest.
While my dough was resting, I turned my attention to cleaning up my workspaces and setting up the food scale and tortilla press. I also lined a sheet pan with parchment paper and preheated my oven to 375°F.
When my dough was rested, I proceeded to weigh out and apportion it. The total dough weight was 440g and I wanted 12 empanadas. Math is pretty easy. Any piece that I tore off that was between 35g and 38g was going to be acceptable.
Dough ball meet tortilla press and become empanada round. Transfer it to my empanada mold. (A few of the rounds were just a bit small. And that’s why I wanted the dough to have some stretch.) I was able to put about two heaping teaspoons of picadillo in each. Close the mold. Squeeze to seal. Then carefully remove from the mold, doing whatever repair is needed to get a good closure. Lay it carefully on the parchment paper.
Put the sheetpan full of empanadas in the heated oven for 25 minutes, or until the edges are tanned and the bottoms have browned. While they bake, go back to cleaning your workspaces. And in my case, refrigerate the unused picadillo.
Set up your new workspace by setting out some trivets for the sheetpan and a wire cooling rack for the empanadas. As soon as they are out of the oven, transfer the empanadas to the wire racks to avoid moisture accumulating under the empanada and giving it a soggy bottom.
