Karjalanpiirakka recipe

An open rye boat with hand-pleated edges and rice porridge visible in the middle, baked in a fierce oven and softened afterwards with butter and egg butter.

3 hours and 10 minutesmedium8 ingredients

Ingredients

• 250 g rye flour
• 200 g short-grain rice
• 800 ml milk
• 175 g butter
• 475 ml water
• 60 g wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs

How to make Karjalanpiirakka

1. Cook 200 g of short-grain rice in 475 ml of water for 5 minutes, add 800 ml of milk and let it thicken 40 minutes on very low heat, stirring. Salt it and cool it fully; the porridge must be firm, not runny.
2. Knead 60 g of rye flour, 60 g of wheat flour, 2 tsp of salt and 475 ml of cold water into a dense, non-sticky dough.
3. Roll it into a log, cut 16 pieces and roll each one out into a 15 cm disc so thin it is almost translucent, dusting with rye flour.
4. Spread 2 tbsp of cold porridge down the middle of each disc, leaving 2 cm of bare rim.
5. Fold the two long edges up over the filling and pinch them into tight pleats between thumb and finger. The pie stays OPEN, an oval boat with the porridge showing; it is never sealed shut.
6. Bake at 275 °C, the hottest your oven goes, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the pleats brown and gold spots appear on the porridge.
7. Straight out of the oven, brush or dip them in 175 g of melted butter mixed with 2 tbsp of hot water, stack them and cover with a cloth for 10 minutes so the rye crust softens.
8. Make munavoi: mash 3 hard-boiled eggs with 175 g of soft butter and a pinch of salt, and spoon it onto each warm pie.

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