Empanada Dough

ThatSouthernBelle's Note:

Found this on thezenkitchen.com. According to the poster, "I was recently in a hole-in-the-wall Argentinian restaurant and spotted an interesting bit of artwork. On one of their walls was a framed recipe for empanada dough -- it was written in Spanish and looked very old. Using my spot-on translation abilities, I determined that the recipe called for a kilogram of flour, 250 grams of lard, salt to taste, and "enough water to make it work."" Can be used for both savory and sweet fillings.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup lard
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Mix the salt and flour in a large bowl. Rub the lard into the flour mixture with the tips of your fingers until it begins to resemble pea-sized pebbles. Next, add the ice water and mix until just combined. Press into a 6 inch disk and wrap in plastic. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
2. When you are ready to prepare the empanadas, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut the disk into 4 chunks. Flour your work surface and roll one out with a floured rolling pin until it is 1/8 of an inch thick. You should be able to cut 6 four-inch rounds out of each (freehand with a sharp paring knife if you don't have a pastry cutter).
3. Place a small amount of cold filling in the middle of each round, brush the edges with a bit of egg wash, fold into a half-moon, and crimp as desired -- some people fold the edges decoratively while others simply crimp with the tines of a fork.
4. Place the prepared empanadas on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place into the preheated oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is blistered and well-browned.