Mbriulata (Sicilian Sausage and Potato Pies)

I've been reading the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri, and so I am thinking about Sicilian food. I was looking for a recipe for cudduruni, and then came across a reference to mbriulata, so I decided to work up a recipe for them. Here is my version of these sausage and potato hand pies.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 60    grams warm water (2 ounces)
• 30    grams milk (1 ounce)
• 240    grams sourdough starter (~8 ounces)
  (If you don't have sourdough starter, add in  4 ounces of water and 4 ounces of flour)
• 240    grams semolina flour (~8 ounces)
• 0.5    teaspoons salt
• 2    tablespoons olive oil
• 1    egg, beaten with 1tablespoon of water
• 3 small potatoes (~ 16 ounces)
• 8 ounces sausage
  (I used 2 links hot Italian sausage from Costco)
• 1 small onion, diced (1/2 cup)
• 8 diced olives (I used green ones)
• 4 ounces mozarella (or mild feta), diced
  (I used mozarella)
• 4 tablespoons of grated pecorino cheese
• olive oil, salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine yeast, warm water, and milk in bowl of stand mixer - let proof 5 minutes while gathering other ingredients.
3. Mix in sourdough starter.
4. Mix in semolina flour and salt.
5. Knead so that dough forms a loose ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. 
6. Allow the dough to rise for half an hour. 
7. While the dough is rising, cook the sausage.
8. Peel and chop the potatoes into small dices, and fry with sausage.
   (I cooked the links, then sliced the links in half, and then diced them into small chunks)
9. Season the potatoes with a little pepper (maybe 1/4 teaspoon)
10. Divide dough into 4 portions. Divide toppings into 4 portions.
    (Or divide into 8 portions, but each person will probably eat 2 of the smaller ones.)
11. Roll one dough piece out as thin as possible into a rectangle.
12. Sprinkle dough with 1/4 of potatoes, meat, olives, and finely chopped onion. 
13. Add 1/4 of the diced cheese.
14. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of pecorino cheese, drizzle with olive oil.
15. Roll the dough up like a jelly roll to form a log. 
16. Seal the seam and ends of log. Roll the log lightly to even it up, and then turn into a spiral tucking under one end.
17. Repeat for other dough pieces.
18. Brush the surface of each spiral with the egg wash. Sprinkle with a bit of additional pecorino cheese.
19. Cook the mbriulata in the preheated  oven for 40 to 50 minutes. 
20. Leave to rest for ten minutes before serving.

Carole's Notes:

We liked these. We each had one for dinner with some salad.



When looking up a cudduruni recipe at this site http://www.visitsicily.info/en/sfinciuni/ I found a version 'mbriulata recipe. I adapted that recipe, with ideas from https://farfalle1.wordpress.com/recipes/mbriulata/ -- my version uses a sourdough starter.

Some ideas on building and rolling them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQB-BvQ0ALw
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQwEcjrv0zA