Mackerel Empanada – Empanada Gallega

Directions

• Dough
• Place the flour in a large bowl.
  Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add it to the bowl.
  Add the olive oil, white wine and salt to the bowl.
• Start mixing with a spoon and then with your hands.
  Place the dough on the clean kitchen countertop and knead until the dough is smooth. It took me 8-10 minutes. Shape it into a ball.
• Sprinkle some flour over the bowl and place the ball inside. Cover with transparent film or a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Filling
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large pan over low-medium heat.
• Cut the onion, red and green pepper into small-medium pieces. Add them to the pan. Add a bit of salt and cook for 20-30 minutes until soft.
• In the meantime, preheat oven to 200 ºC. Place the mackerel fillets on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 5-6 minutes, until the fish is cooked.
• Remove the boned and crumble the mackerel fillets, place the fish crumbs in a plate. Set aside.
• When the vegetables are soft, add the tomato sauce and cook for 10 more minutes. Remove from heat.
• Add the mackerel crumbs and chopped boiled eggs to the pan. Mix everything thoroughly. Set aside.
• Shape the dough and bake
• Divide the dough into two equal pieces, one will the be the base and the other one the cover.
• Preheat oven 200ºC. Top and bottom heat. Place baking paper in a baking sheet.
• Stretch on of the pieces with a rolling pin until you get a thin sheet, around 2 mm thickness. I made a rectangular shape of 25×40 cm.
• Place the dough on the baking sheet.
• Spread the filling over the dough, but leave some space around the edge to close the empanada.
• Stretch the other dough piece. Need to be the same size as the first sheet. Lay it down over the filling. Seal the edges.
• Brush the surface with beaten egg and bake for 30 minutes until golden.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool down before eating it.