A Taste of Childhood

All of us have those foods that just instantly take us back to childhood and to me Karelian pasties are one of those. The rye crust and the soft barley, rice or potato filling just get me every time. It's such a shame that it's so difficult to find good Karelian pasties from the shops anymore. Most manufacturers mix wheat and other grains with rye in the crust and add way too much salt. The filling is often tasteless and the crust isn't crispy like it should be. The reason for this can be found when you take a look at the ingredients of these ready-made Karelian pasties.

Karelian pasties with barley (on left) and potato filling (on right).

Let's take Vaasan's "Isoäidin rukiinen karjalanpiirakka" (meaning Grandmother's Karelian pasty made with rye) as an example. Home-made Karelian pasties have six ingredients: milk, rice/barley, whole wheat rye flour, water, oil and salt. Vaasan's Karelian pasties in the other hand have 16 ingredients. Here's the list:

Water, rice 25%, rye flour, vegetable oil, wheat flour, whole wheat rye flour, vegetable fat, carrot, wheat gluten, sugar, salt (1,0%), glucose, rye malt, milk protein, flavours, colouring (E 160a = beta-carotene). The rye-content is 8%.

The number one thing you should remember when reading ingredients-lists is that the ingredient which was used the most is the first one on the list. Next time you go to the supermarket next time just check how many products have water right at the top of the ingredients-list and you'll be surprised. The reason for this is very simple: the more water there is in the product the cheaper it is to make. Even though the very name of this product suggests that it's made with rye, there's also wheat mixed in. Some things on the list are just confusing. Why is there carrot in Karelian pasties? Or why is there sugar? glucose? wheat gluten? milk protein? colouring? artificial falovours? My grandmother sure didn't need to use food colouring to make her pasties look nice and tasty.

I've actually made Karelian pasties just a couple of times so I'm definitely not an expert. Believe it or not - they're actually pretty easy to make. The only tiring part is forming the pasties since it takes quite a lot of time. If you want to make these pasties note that it takes a couple of hours.

Karelian pasties (or Karjalanpiirakat)

Barley filling:

• 2 1/4 decilitres whole barley
• 3 decilitres water
• 1,5 decilitres oat/organic milk
• 1 teaspoon salt

Potato filling:

• 10 potatoes
• ½ decilitre oat/organic milk
• ½ tablespoon margarine

Pasty dough:

• 2½ decilitres water
• 6 decilitres whole wheat rye flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• vegetable oil or melted margarine mixed with milk for brushing

Choose which filling you want to use (you can also make rice porrige) or you can make half of each.

Barley filling: Bring the water to the boil and add the barley. When the water has absorbed into the barley, add milk and salt. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 40-60 minutes while stirring. Be very careful since milk is burned very easily.

Potato filling: Peel the potatos and cut them in squares. Boil the squares for 10-20 minutes until they're soft. Pour out the water. Puree the potatos and add milk and margarine.

Let the filling cool down.

Pasty dough: Measure water into a bowl. Add salt and oil. Start adding the flour. First whip it in but eventually you have to use your hand to knead the dough. Let the dough rest for a little while.

Preheat the oven into 300°C Place a sheet pan into the oven to get it heated as well. This way the pasties will be nice and crispy.

Sprinkle some flour on the table you're using so the dough doesn't stick. Roll the dough into a long "snake" and cut it into small slices. Roll the slices into balls and cover them with plastic wrap so they don't dry.

Use a rolling pin to roll out the balls into very thin disks. Cover the disks with plastic wrapping. Sprinkle some flour on each disk before you pile the next one on top of it so they don't stick to each other. Once the disks are ready, it's time to start forming the pasties!

Spread some filling on the disk. Raise the edges of disks towards the centre pinching with you're fingers to make an oval-shaped pasty. Place the pasties on bakery paper. Carefully take the hot sheet pan out of the oven and slide the bakery paper with the pasties on the pan. Put it in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until they look ready. 

Brush the pasties with canola oil or milk-margarine-mixture after you've baked them (do the brushing while the pasties are still hot).

Step-by-step pinching: