Jamaican Beef Patties

Here's a bit of a different recipe for ya–Jamaican beef patties. The most recent Eating Well had a whole section on Jamaican dishes and we thought this one looked pretty tasty—not to mention the entire thing looked like a hot pocket! Since I haven't had a hot pocket in years, I had to try them. Speaking of hot pockets listen to this... you'll laugh, hard.
The crust turned out a bit dry - it almost needs some kind of sauce or something. The beef is tasty though, it has a unique flavor from the turmeric. We probably won't be making them again though just because they are so labor involved. The recipe calls for whole-wheat pastry flour and the only brand that HT had was nearly 5 bucks! I thought about just using regular whole-wheat flour but didn't want to mess anything up so went for the splurge. Does anyone know if the difference is really that important? I sure would be willing to save the money and use regular whole-wheat if it's pretty much the same! We doubled the recipe so we'd have plenty of leftovers, but only got 10 patties out of the mixture instead of 12. If you do try these, they take about 2 and 1/2 hrs, so plan ahead (45 minutes active time).

Ingredients

CRUST

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
  
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 5 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/3 cup ice water
• 1 large egg yolk

FILLING

• 8 ounces 93%-lean ground beef
• 1 bunch scallions, minced
• 1 habanero pepper, minced
  
• 1/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs (i.e. Panko)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. To prepare crust: Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 3/4 teaspoon salt and baking powder in a large bowl.
2. Cut butter into small pieces and quickly rub them into the dry ingredients with your fingers until smaller but still visible. Add oil and toss with a fork to combine.
   
3. Whisk water and egg yolk in a small bowl. Add to the flour mixture and stir until the dough begins to come together. Knead in the bowl a few times until it forms a ball.
   
4. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. With about 30 minutes left in the dough chill time, start to prepare the filling. Cook ground beef, scallions and chile pepper in a medium skillet over medium heat, breaking up the beef with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes.
   
6. Stir in breadcrumbs, water, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric and 1/4 teaspoon salt; mix well. Let cool.
7. Preheat oven to 400°F.
8. To make patties: Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. On a well-floured surface, roll each piece into a 6-inch circle about 3/8 inch thick. Trim the edges to make an even circle (you might have a bowl the right size to use as a guide).
   
9. Put about 1/4 cup filling on half of the dough, leaving about a 1/4-inch border. Fold the dough over the filling to make a half-moon shape and crimp the edges with a fork to seal.
10. Place on a large baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Bake the patties until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.