Pastopites (Meat Pies)

For the Dough

• 5 ⅓ cups (800g) hard flour (Village/Choriatiko)
• 1 cup (200g) fine semolina
• 1 teaspoon (8g) salt
• ⅔ cup (160g) pork fat (lard)
• 1 ⅔ cups (410ml) lukewarm water

For the Filling

• 2 cups (480g) pork fat (lard)
• 4 tablespoons (60g) sugar
• 1 teaspoon (3g) ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ cups (200g) minced/ground pork (pastá)

For the Syrup

• 3 cups (690g) sugar
• 3 cups (750ml) water
• 10 cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tablespoons (20ml) orange blossom water (anthόnero)
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) lemon juice

For rolling out the dough

• Cornstarch (Nisesté)

First, we prepare the syrup

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, cloves, and cinnamon, and place it on the heat. Let the water warm up.
2. Stir and reduce the heat to medium. Boil for 5 minutes, then add the orange blossom water and lemon juice.
3. Boil for another 1 minute and remove from the heat. Let it cool down.

For the dough

4. Place the flour, semolina, and salt in the mixer bowl or a bowl, and mix with the dough hook or your hands.
5. Add the pork fat (we get this from our butcher, ensuring it is clean. If making it ourselves, we take fat from the butcher, melt it, skim the clean fat from the surface, and let it solidify) and rub it in. That is, rub with your fingertips or mix with the mixer until coarse crumbs form.
6. Add the water and knead for 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough 'rest' for 30 minutes.

For the filling

7. Melt the fat and let it cool.
8. Mix the sugar with the cinnamon. Grind the minced pork in a food processor until it resembles ground almonds.

For the Pastopites

9. Knead the dough and shape it into a log. Cut it into 8 pieces. Dust each piece lightly with cornstarch and roll it out with a rolling pin or a pasta machine. If using the machine, take a piece of dough, roll it slightly with the rolling pin, then run it through setting 2 of the machine and then setting 5. (My machine's setting 1 is the thickest sheet and setting 7 is the thinnest). If rolling by hand, roll out a large rectangular sheet measuring 17x90cm.
10. Brush it with the melted fat and sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar and cinnamon, and 2-3 tablespoons of ground pork mixture. Roll it up, twisting the sheet.
11. Cut the resulting log into 3 pieces, each about 30 cm long. Twist and fold one piece from the left towards the center, and from the opposite side, fold the right side towards the center.
12. Place one piece on top of the other and roll out with a rolling pin into a thin round pie, 10-12 cm. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients. Bake the pastopites on a saj (griddle) or a non-stick pan. Bake them over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side.
13. Remove them and place them in the cold syrup. Lift them out with a slotted spoon to drain the excess syrup. Let them cool without covering them, otherwise, they will soften.