Karelian Rye Pies

Ingredients

• 1 cup rye flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup short-grain rice, cooked into a thick porridge with 2 cups milk and a pinch of salt
• Melted butter, for brushing

Method

1. Mix the rye flour, all-purpose flour, salt, and water into a firm dough; rest 30 minutes.
2. Roll into a log, cut into 12 pieces, and roll each into a very thin oval.
3. Spread a spoonful of the rice porridge down the center of each oval, leaving a border, and pleat the edges up and over to form an open boat shape.
4. Preheat oven to 500°F (260°C) and bake the pies on a hot baking sheet for 10–15 minutes, until the edges are spotted brown.
5. Brush immediately with melted butter and cover with a towel to soften slightly before serving.

The Tale of Karelian Rye Pies

Story updated September 19, 2026

Karelian pies, or karjalanpiirakka, come from Karelia, a historic region now split between eastern Finland and northwestern Russia; the first written reference to them is usually dated to 1686. The traditional pastry is a thin, boat-shaped rye crust filled with rice porridge, and served with munavoi, a butter and hard-boiled egg spread. Potato fillings came later. The pie spread nationwide after the Winter War of 1939 to 1940, when roughly 420,000 Karelians were evacuated to the rest of Finland after the Soviet Union took the region, carrying their food traditions with them. The name karjalanpiirakka now has EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status, which protects the traditional recipe.