Karelian pies or Kalitki

Kalitki is a traditional Karelian pastry. The word itself came from Finnish “kalittoa”. The fact that it is traditionally made of non-fermented dough proves they were created at least before the IX century. Still there is no evidence they were known somewhere except Karelia before the XX century. Karelian women used to say: «Alito — kyzyy kaheksoa» - “Kalitka needs eight”. That means initially they needed eight ingredients to cook it. Today the recipe is a little bit easier than in the past. Here it is.

Ingredients (for 12 pies)

Rye flour      500 g

Sour cream 125 g

Milk    125 g

Salt 1,4 tea spoon

Egg    1

Butter          2 spoons

Potato         6

The cooking takes about hour and a half.

1. Peel and boil the potatoes , mash into a puree , add a little loosening of the egg, melted butter , salt from the heart , stir and leave aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, mix in a glass of milk and sour cream: a distinctive feature of kalitki is that for the dough, as a rule, they do not use water , but the dairy products - yogurt, yogurt or sour cream, as in this recipe.

Sift the flour, add salt and gradually add the milk and cream mixture, stirring. Our goal is to add as much cream and milk as the flour can take, creating a flexible, pliable dough. Knead the dough, wrap in foil and let it "rest" for 20-30 minutes.

3. Make a sausage form of the dough, cutting off a piece of it the size of a walnut, roll them on a floured surface into a round scones thickness 1-1.5 mm . Place in the middle of each 2 tablespoons of mashed potato on both sides tucked scones edge to the middle, stung them with an interval of about 1 cm

4.  Put kalitki on a greased baking sheet and bake 20 minutes at 200 degrees .

Learn more about Karelia