German Spiced Beef Pies

To make about 25 pies

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 pound boneless beef, ground
Salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. paprika
Ground allspice
Freshly grated nutmeg
Dried rosemary and thyme leaves
2 eggs, 1 lightly beaten, 1 yolk
separated from the white and both
lightly beaten
1 1/2 pounds rough puff dough

Heat the oil and saut� the onion and garlic until they are transparent. Add
the ground beef and cook for five minutes. Add salt to taste and season with the cayenne pepper, paprika and a pinch each of allspice, nutmeg, and rosemary and thyme leaves. Let the mixture cool slightly, then stir in the beaten egg.

Roll out the dough thin and cut it into about twenty-five 5-inch squares. Brush the squares with the beaten egg white. Put 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each square and fold the corners to the center, pressing the edges to seal them. Brush the pies with the beaten egg yolk. Place them on a baking sheet sprinkled with water and bake them in a preheated 425 F. oven for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

ROUGH PUFF DOUGH:

To make 1/2 pound dough

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, or half butter
and half lard, chilled and cut into
small pieces
3 to 4 Tbsp. cold water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and cut it into the flour rapidly, using two table knives, until the butter is in tiny pieces. Do not work for more than a few minutes. Add half of the water and, with a fork, quickly blend it into the flour and butter mixture. Add just enough of the rest of the water to enable you to gather the dough together with your hands into a firm ball.

Enclose the dough in plastic wrap or wax paper and place it in the refrigerator for at least one hour, or put it in the freezer for 20 minutes, until the surface is slightly frozen. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for two days or in the freezer for a month. If frozen, let the dough defrost in the refrigerator for one day.

TO ROLL OUT ROUGH PUFF DOUGH: Place the
dough on a cool, floured surface and smack it flat with the rolling pin. Turn the dough over to make sure that both sides are well floured, and roll out the dough rapidly into a rectangle about 1 foot long and 5 to 6 inches wide. Fold the two short ends to meet each other in the center, then fold again to align the folded edges with each other. Following the direction of the fold lines, roll the dough into a rectangle again, fold it in the same way, enclose it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for one to two hours or freeze it for 15 to 20 minutes. Repeat this process two or three more times before using the dough. Always let the dough rest in therefrigerator or freezer between rollings.