Flaky Baked Empanada Dough Recipe From Scratch

For today’s recipe, I will show you how to make my famous baked empanada dough from scratch. It is very easy and makes the best flaky and uber-crispy baked snacks. 

For some filling ideas, you can check out some of my recipes like Caprese Empanadas, classic Spinach And Feta Empanadas, and these rich, savory Beef And Cheese Empanadas.

How To Make This Oven-Baked Empanada Dough Recipe – What Do You Need?

Today’s flaky baked empanada dough recipe is super easy to make. You only need a couple of ingredients you likely already have in your fridge. They include flour, salt, butter, eggs, and milk.

Flour

For the flour, I chose to use all-purpose flour. This flour has the perfect amount of protein (gluten) to make a dough that is dense, crispy, and elastic. It makes the dough easy to work with and creates the best texture.

You can actually make your own all-purpose flour at home by combining 1 part cake flour (or pastry flour) with 1 part bread flour.

Salt

Fine salt has a couple of functions many people overlook. Don’t leave it out. It can be replaced by using salted butter instead of unsalted butter. 

The salt in any dough recipe functions as a tenderizer and flavor enhancer. It helps create a more tender, crispy crust and makes it taste much better. It’s the same reason why we add salt (in small amounts) to cakes.

Butter

Then we have the butter. You should make sure the butter is cold and cubed into 1/2-inch blocks. This technique of incorporating butter into the dry ingredients helps the flour coat butter “blobs.”

That is what helps create many layers that ultimately create a flaky baked empanada dough. It’s a technique similar to making puff pastry, just a lot less labor-intensive and with fewer layers.

Egg And Milk

These ingredients help bring the dough together. They also help enrich it, give it some sweeter flavors, and help provide a golden brown color.

Add the entire egg first. Then, slowly add the milk until the dough comes together.

Which Fillings Work Best For Empanadas?

The key to making a crispy baked empanada dough recipe is choosing the correct filling. 

Traditional empanada fillings contain a combination of ingredients. They can include meat (usually ground or pulled), cheese, tomatoes, and corn.

Every country has its own go-to filling. But today, with fusion cuisine being as big as it is, there is no limit to what you can try.

However, the secret to making the best-baked empanada dough recipe is using a filling that isn’t too saucy. Because you aren’t frying the empanadas, the dough will sit for a while in the oven before getting baked. This means it is allowed time to get soggy if your filling is too juicy.

Now, by no means am I saying make a dry filling. But just don’t let the sauce run everywhere. It should be thick. That is also why we bake empanadas at a high temperature.

You can check out this amazing list of empanada-filling ideas.

Tips For Making Homemade Empanada Dough From Scratch

• If you added too much milk to your baked empanada dough recipe, you should add a little bit more flour. That’s why I recommend adding the milk slowly.
• If the dough is too soft to work with, wrap it in plastic wrap, and rest it in the fridge for about 10 minutes. It will help make the dough more workable.
• You have to add a pre-cooked filling. The empanadas should only bake until the dough is crispy and golden, not until the raw filling is cooked. If you over-bake the dough, it will become dry and lose flavor.

FAQs

How do you store leftover empanada dough?

If you have unfilled dough, simply shape it into a ball and wrap it in plastic. Then, place it in the fridge for two days. Alternatively, store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

If you have filled and shaped unbaked empanadas, you can freeze them in a single layer. Once frozen, you can stack them inside an airtight container. Do not store filled unbaked empanadas in the fridge. They will become soggy.

Does empanada dough go bad?

Empanada dough does go bad if it isn’t stored properly or used within the proper time frame. You should always wrap it in airtight plastic or place it in a container. Keep it cold in the fridge for two days. If you store it in the freezer, make sure to add a layer of foil to deter freezer burn.

Can you make a vegan baked empanada dough recipe?

It is possible to make vegan empanada dough. And it’s easy! Just check whether the ingredients you are using are actually vegan. Substitute the butter with margarine (or another vegan butter), and replace the egg with flax eggs. The milk can be replaced with plant-based milk. And, of course, remember to make your filling completely vegan.

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