Kybyn from Lithuania

*A sweet reader informed me that the current recipe sadly isn't a traditional recipe! He/she mentioned the dough shouldn't contain any yeast and be more buttery. Also pork fillings are not traditional. New recipe will be needed!*

Lately I've been craving salty baked goods. Maybe it is because I've eaten too many danish while trying to make the perfect danish. So on a boring Sunday I couldn't help myself anymore and looked into the fridge. I didn't have much in there, some spring onions, cabbage.... cabbage. Suddenly I remembered a short informative video I saw several times on Discovery Channel about minority people. It was a video about the Karaim in Lithuania and during the few minutes a girl talks about her people and you see shots of her mother making kybyn.

Kybyn are basically a yeast dough pastry with meat and/or vegetables inside. The dough isn't set aside to rise like when baking bread, which gives it a funny texture. You can basically stuff anything in them, but I chose minced meat with some cabbage and mushrooms as filling. Which were incidentally all inside my fridge on Sunday, when the only grocery shop nearby opens around 4 pm.

Take a look at the form of the pastry. They are like crescents which are folded shut and then on the belly you pinch the dough to break it open. Not sure if it really is necessary, but the old Karaim lady in the video did it, so I do too. Making this form isn't hard:

1. You make a circle, either by rolling out your dough and cutting a circle out or by taking a piece of dough and roll it in a round shape.

2. Put some filling in the middle, fold the dough in the middle and pinch close the sides. You'll now have a half moon shape.

3. To form the side hold the pastry in one hand and using your thumb from your other hand fold the pinched shut side from the back to the front, soflty pressing it down. Continue like that till the whole round part of the pastry is folded in.You'll get like a /\/\/\/\ pattern on the edge.

And now for the ingredients:

Dough

14 grams of dry yeast

100 ml of milk

1 egg

200 grams of sour cream (I used Greek yoghurt instead)

500 grams of all-purpose flour

Filling:

300 grams of minced pork, beef or lamb

100 grams of cabbage

100 grams of onion

salt and pepper to taste

1. First mix up all the ingredients you want for the filling. You can put anything you like in it.

2. Combine all the dough ingredients in a bowl and knead it till the dough is smooth.

3. Make the pastry.

4. Brush on some eggwash and bake the pastries in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes or till golden brown. 

I wouldn't suggest putting only meat in the kybyn, as the water inside the vegetables will make them more juicy.