Carelian rice pies

These pies are very, very Finnish - although foreigners usually fall in love with them too, thanks to the cute form and mild taste. Traditionally these are served with butter - I add some butter to the dough and the filling to make then perfect just as they are. Serve fresh from oven - heaven! 

A Finnish society called Martat are the masters of baking these pies (and basically any Finnish traditional food!). Watch this video for the correct technique (at 2 minutes) - practice makes perfect, have patience.    

Ingredients

(15-20 pies)

Bread dough:
1 dl cold water
1 teaspoons water
1 dl wheat flour
2 dl rye flour
25 g melted butter
Rice porridge:
5 dl full fat milk
1,5 dl rice porridge flakes *
1 teaspoon salt
25 g butter

* Usually the rice porridge is made of whole rice grains (risotto type), but using the flakes cuts half of hour of the cooking time

Preparation

First prepare the rice porridge: heat the milk and add rice flakes, boil 5 minutes.
Add salt and butter, mix and leave to cool down.
While the porridge cools down, prepare the dough: mix flours, salt, and water, add melted butter and mix until even.
Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough, then using a glass take flat round pieces of dough. Pile then on top of each other and cover to avoid drying.

Prepare the pies: flatten each round piece of dough until 1 mm thick, then spread 1 full tablespoon of porridge on it. Turn the edges toward the center, building the pie. Cook in 275C until they get a bit color. Brush ready pies with melted butter.