Lunch · 75 min · brazilian

Esfiha (Brazilian Meat Pies)

Flour does the heavy lifting here, with water rounding it out. A Brazilian lunch that takes 75 minutes, start to finish. Each serving lands at 480 calories with 22g of protein, so it eats like a much heavier meal. Simple enough for a Tuesday, good enough to serve to guests — that is the whole idea.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 4 cups Flour
• 1.5 cups Water
• 0.33 cup Vegetable oil
• 2.25 tsp Instant yeast
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 lb Ground beef
• 1 Onion
• 2 Tomatoes
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 2 tsp Salt

Steps

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water, rest 5 minutes until foamy, then mix with the flour, oil, and salt. Knead 10 minutes until smooth and rise 1 hour until doubled.
2. Mix the raw beef with finely diced onion and tomatoes, lemon juice, and salt. Esfiha filling goes on raw — it cooks in the oven, staying juicy.
3. Divide the dough into 18 balls and roll each into a 4-inch round. The dough should be thin in the middle with a slightly thicker rim.
4. Spoon filling onto each round and pinch three points together into a triangle, leaving the center open so you can see the meat — the open face is the classic sfiha look.
5. Arrange on oiled baking sheets and rest 15 minutes while the oven heats to 450°F.
6. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until the bottoms are golden and the filling is cooked through. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Build my plan — free

Share this recipe

Know someone who would love this? Send it their way.

Copy link

You might also like

← All recipes