This pie with cheese, scallions, and tvorog (dry farmer's cheese) is a true example of homemade comfort, starring an old-fashioned secret: using animal fat in the dough. Adding pork or goose fat combined with vegetable oil gives the crust that legendary, melt-in-your-mouth flakiness you just can't achieve with butter alone. As it bakes, your kitchen will fill with the mouthwatering aroma of toasted scallions and melting cheese, setting the scene for a traditional family dinner. This kind of baking is beloved in many rural areas, where hearty, simple ingredients are cherished, transforming humble farmer's cheese into an exquisite filling.
An appetizing homemade pie with a juicy filling of farmer's cheese, hard cheese, and fresh scallions is ready to be served.
Dough Ingredients
- 40 g pork fat (lard)
- 40 g vegetable oil
- 220 g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 chicken egg
- Pinch of salt
Filling Ingredients
- 100 g dry tvorog (dry farmer's cheese)
- 50 g hard cheese
- 50 g scallions (green onions)
- Salt and black pepper to taste
How to Make Cheese, Scallion, and Tvorog Pie
Prepare the dough. Mix pork or goose fat with a neutral, odorless vegetable oil, such as canola. Add a pinch of salt. You can also make unleavened dough without salt; just do whatever tastes best to you.
Start making the dough by combining the solid fat and liquid oil—this is the secret to a tender, flaky texture.
Add baking powder to the flour and whisk to combine. Sift the flour mixture into the bowl containing the fat and oil.
Sift the flour directly into the bowl with the fats to ensure the dough turns out light and airy.
Rub the flour and fat together with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can also make this dough in a food processor by adding the ingredients to the bowl one by one. Use the paddle or pastry attachment.
Thoroughly rub the ingredients together with your hands until they form a uniform coarse crumb.
Crack one large or two small chicken eggs into the bowl.
The egg will help bind the floury crumbs together into a single, elastic ball of dough.
Quickly knead the dough. Gather it into a ball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 20 minutes to 1 hour.
Form the dough into a ball and let it rest under plastic wrap before rolling it out.
Roll out the rested dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to form a circle about 25-27 centimeters (10-10.5 inches) in diameter.
Roll the dough into a circle about 25-27 cm (10-10.5 inches) in diameter right on the parchment paper.
Spread dry tvorog (dry farmer’s cheese) over half of the rolled-out dough. Feta, brynza, or large-curd cottage cheese will also work wonderfully for this recipe.
Spread the dry farmer's cheese over one half of the dough to form the base of our filling.
Finely grate the hard cheese. Chop the scallions, using both the white and green parts. Scatter the grated cheese and chopped scallions over the tvorog. Season with ground black pepper and salt to taste. Try adding a tablespoon of chopped cilantro to the scallions—it makes it even more delicious.
Top the farmer's cheese with grated hard cheese and a generous layer of fresh scallions.
Lift the edge of the parchment paper and fold the empty half of the dough over the filling. The dough is rich in fat, so it won’t stick to the paper.
Fold the dough in half, carefully covering the filling with the help of the parchment paper.
Seal the edges of the pie; you can crimp them by pressing the tines of a fork along the border. Make a few slits with a sharp knife so steam can escape during baking.
Tightly seal the edges with a fork and make small slits so steam can escape during baking.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Transfer the pie, along with the parchment, onto a baking sheet and place it on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes. The exact time depends on your oven and may vary slightly from the recipe—once the crust turns a deep golden brown, it is ready to take out.
Bake the pie until it develops a deep golden brown crust at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
This pie with scallions, cheese, and tvorog is delicious both hot and cold. You can enjoy a slice instead of bread alongside a fresh vegetable salad. Bon appétit!
The finished pie is equally delicious served piping hot or cooled down.
You can easily buy store-bought pork, chicken, or goose fat for the dough, but there's a budget-friendly way to stock up on this precious ingredient. Skim the solidified fat from the surface of rich meat broths: as long as they weren't overly spiced, this fat makes a perfect base. It yields a magnificent dough, giving your cheese, scallion, and tvorog (farmer's cheese) pie a distinctive texture and subtle aroma you just can't get from standard margarine.
It is best to serve the freshly baked pie alongside a crisp vegetable salad or a steaming mug of chicken broth. If you feel like experimenting, fold a little finely chopped cilantro or a pinch of smoked paprika into the filling for an extra kick. Leftover slices keep their flavor perfectly the next day—simply warm them gently in a dry skillet to bring back the crust's original crunch.
0 comments