Ossetian pies are not just a national dish of the inhabitants of Ossetia, but a real symbol of the republic. This is a treat that is not accepted to be eaten alone, with generous portions of pies you can easily feed your friends, sharing with them not only food, but also the joy of communication.

Traditionally, Ossetian pies are round. In a properly prepared pie, there is always a thin dough and a large amount of filling. Various fillings for Ossetian pies are prepared. The most popular are pies with cheese, beet tops, meat, mushrooms, potatoes, cabbage, pumpkin; sweet pies are also prepared.

Perfect for any occasion, you can eat them at home or in the office, you can take them with you to a picnic or put them on the table during a holiday, when you need to feed a large company. It is customary to cook 3 pies at a time, this is due to tradition

Ingredients for the dough:

• flour - 500-600 g,
• kefir - 200 ml,
• milk - 100 ml,
• egg - 1 pc,
• sour cream - 2 tablespoons
• fresh yeast - 35 g,
• sugar - 1 tsp,
• salt - 1/2 tsp

Ingredients for the filling:

• 1 kg beef or lamb (can be substituted for lean pork)
• about 200 ml of meat or chicken broth,
• 1 large onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 200 g,
• a few sprigs of cilantro, parsley,
• salt, black and red ground pepper to taste,
• butter for lubricating Ossetian pies

How to make Ossetian meat and cheese pie:

Heat milk to warm temperature, pour into a bowl. Add sugar, salt and yeast to warm milk. Grind thoroughly with a fork until smooth. Leave the yeast dough warm for 15 minutes (ideally 40 ° C).

Remove kefir, eggs and sour cream from the refrigerator, leave at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then add eggs to the risen yeast dough and beat a little with a fork. Then pour in kefir, sour cream and stir thoroughly.

Gradually sift the flour into the egg mixture and knead the dough with a spoon. When it is difficult to knead the dough with a spoon, grease your palms with vegetable oil and knead the dough with your hands.

Cover the bowl with the dough for Ossetian pies with cling film or a light towel, leave warm for 1.5 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the meat filling for the Ossetian pie. The meat should be washed and dried, the onion and garlic should be peeled. Pass the meat along with onions and garlic through a meat grinder. Rinse and chop the greens, add to the minced meat and mix.

Add salt, black and red pepper to taste to the minced meat with onions, garlic and herbs, mix again. Pour in a couple more spoons of broth and mix. The meat filling for Ossetian pies will be tastier if you let it brew for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.

After the indicated time, remove the film / towel from the bowl and knead well with your hands. Then divide it into 3 equal parts (from the specified number of ingredients, 3 pies are obtained, each of them is designed for 3-4 servings).

Place one slice of dough on a floured table. Roll out the dough into a round layer about 0.8-1 cm thick. Place a third of the meat filling on the tortilla, leaving the edges of the dough free. Optionally, you can sprinkle the meat with grated cheese, but you can do without it.

Then you need to connect the edges of the dough on top (above the filling, it should be inside the dough) and pinch them.

Turn the pie over with the "seam" down and with your hands distribute the filling closer to the edges, gently stretching the pie in different directions. Gently turn the cake over to the other side and knead it again with your hands in different directions.

The table (or other surface on which you prepare the cake) should be well sprinkled with flour. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220 ° C. Thus, manually roll out the Ossetian pie with meat filling until its diameter is about 35 cm. Sprinkle the baking sheet with flour and transfer the pie to it.

Make several shallow cuts on top of the dough, which only touch the filling (but do not reach the bottom layer of the dough) and send the baking sheet to the preheated oven at the lowest level. Bake the Ossetian meat pie for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, you can prepare the next cake. After 10 minutes, you need to move the baking sheet with the Ossetian pie to the middle tier of the oven. Bake the cake for another 5-7 minutes until golden brown.

3-4 minutes before the end of the preparation of the meat pie, you need to remove the baking sheet and pour 2-3 tbsp into the cuts. meat broth. Thanks to this procedure, the meat filling in the pie will be juicy.

Bake the Ossetian meat pie for another 3-4 minutes. After the specified time, remove the baking sheet with the pie, transfer it to a dish.

Sprinkle a little flour on the hot baking sheet and put the second pie on it, send it to the preheated oven. Brush the hot first pie evenly with a piece of butter (about 30 g).

While the second Ossetian meat pie is being baked, the third pie can be prepared. Also, move the baking sheet to the middle level after 10 minutes and pour in the broth. Remove the baking sheet, transfer the second pie on top to the first. Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour, put out the third pie and bake it in the same way as in the previous times.

Grease the second pie with meat filling with half of the remaining butter and leave to cool. Remove the baking sheet, transfer the third pie to the stack of two pies and brush it evenly with the remaining butter.

Each Ossetian meat pie can be served individually, or cut into a stack like that. Ossetian pie tastes best when hot. Bon Appetit!