Karelian Rice Pies

📝 Ingredients

• 170 g rye flour (150 for the dough, 20 for dusting)
• 50 g plain flour
• 280 ml water (130 for the dough, 150 for the rice)
• 100 g arborio rice
• 530 ml semi-skimmed milk (500 for the rice, 30 for the glaze)
• 60 g unsalted butter (20 for the glaze, 40 for the egg butter)
• 4 eggs
• 5 g fresh chives
• Salt

🍴 Utensils

• Saucepan
• Mixing bowl
• Rolling pin
• Baking tray and baking paper
• Pastry brush
• Fork

📖 Steps

1. The day before, bring 150 ml water to the boil in a saucepan. Add the rice with ½ tsp salt and cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat, until the water is almost absorbed. Add 500 ml milk and cook for 30 to 35 minutes over a low heat, stirring often, until you have a thick rice pudding.
2. While the rice cooks, mix 150 g rye flour, the wheat flour and ½ tsp salt in a mixing bowl. Pour in 130 ml lukewarm water and knead for 2 to 3 minutes until you have a firm dough that doesn't stick to your fingers. Add a little more rye flour if needed, then cover.
3. Take the rice off the heat when it is very thick and the spoon leaves a trail across the bottom, then leave to cool slightly. Preheat the oven to 250 °C, or as hot as it will go. Shape the dough into a log and cut it into 12 equal pieces.
4. On a work surface well dusted with rye flour, roll out each piece into a very thin oval of about 15 × 10 cm: the dough should be almost see-through. Keep the ovals side by side on the floured surface, without stacking them, under a tea towel so they don't dry out.
5. Spread 2 heaped tbsp of rice pudding in the centre of each oval, leaving a 2 cm border. Fold this border over the filling and pinch it every centimetre to form small, tight pleats, leaving the rice visible in the centre. Place the pies on the baking tray lined with baking paper.
6. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are golden and the rice has a few brown spots. While they bake, melt 20 g butter with 30 ml milk. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush the pies generously with this mixture.
7. Stack the still-warm pies and cover them with a clean tea towel for 30 minutes: the steam softens the crust, which becomes tender instead of staying brittle. Then leave them to cool and store in a container in the fridge.
8. For the egg butter, cook the eggs for 10 minutes in boiling water, cool them under cold water and peel. Mash them finely with a fork with 40 g very soft butter, a pinch of salt and the snipped chives, then chill.
9. In the morning, enjoy the pies cold or warmed for 5 minutes in the oven at 180 °C, topped with egg butter taken out of the fridge 10 minutes earlier. To take them with you, allow 3 pies per person and pack the egg butter in a small container to spread at the last minute.