HAMBRE HAMBRE HAMBRE? It's empanada time!

I can't get enough of Rick Stein's new series: Spain. Stein's the only 'celebrity' chef who seems to get excited about food in a way I recognise, both in his writing and TV. And I don't just like him because I've been to Padstow.

Anyway, I was inspired to try to make a proper Galician empanada just using whatever I had at home (Rick approves of economy). I'd made smaller versions before, from a Moro recipe, which were recognisably pasty-like and thin shelled. However, the sort I saw in last week's show were huge tray sized affairs, with a much more bready crust, sliced into portions for sharing.

There weren't many clues on how to form the dough other than that it was "like bread, but with lots of olive oil" so I made my best approximation of something that was half bread, half shortcrust.

• 200g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100g strong bread flour
• 100ml olive oil
• 1tsp dried yeast dissolved in 50ml warm water with 1tsp sugar.
• 2tbsp white wine

Assuming you're already familiar with dough making technique:

1. Mix the oil, salt and flour to form flakey crumbs
2. Add yeast and wine, and form a dough, adding water as necessary and kneading briefly to get a soft, springy consistency.
3. Leave for 30 mins to an hour to rise a little.
4. Split the dough in half and roll out two sheets about 5mm thick.
5. Place one sheet on a tray or in a non-stick baking dish, put a layer of filling on top, then place the other sheet on top of that and crimp the edges well.
6. Leave for another 15 minutes to rise a little, glaze with oil, cut some steam slits, and then bake for 20-30mins in a moderate oven.
7. Serve warm, or room temp, but not hot.

For the filling this time I used some excess garbanzos con espinacas (chickpeas with spinach, a Spanish classic, here's a good recipe though I add a little thyme). I don't imagine this combination is authentic, but it was very good - the whole thing stratified into crust, bread, gooey filling dough mix, and filling. I have no way of checking this pastry against an authentic Galician one, but I'll stick with it for a while and try some more traditional fillings, like, er, hake.

Here it is the day after when I'd eaten most of it.