Armenian Gata

10 cps (2 and 1/2 lbs) all purpose white flour
1/2 cp sugar
1 T salt
2 pkg yeast ( I use rapid rise)
1/2 cp lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
5 eggs, beaten with a fork
1 and 1/2 cp butter (2 and 1/2 sticks)
2 cp milk, scalded

Melt butter in milk and cool to lukewarm. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl ( I put it in a bread kneading machine bowl). Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and add sugar and let rise. Add yeast, eggs and cooled milk mixture to flour mixture and stir until it holds together. It will be a sticky dough. Let rise for 1 to 2 hours in a warm place. Roll out small sections of the dough at a time and cut with about a 6 inch round glass or cookie cutter. Fill with small amount of either meat or cheese filling. Fold over and seal. Coat with beaten egg yolk and top with poppy seed for the meat ones and sesame seed for cheese (or vice versa). Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 min.

Meat Filling:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
2 T. olive oil
6 oz chopped pine nuts (optional)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp paprika (Hungarian sweet is good to use)
1 T. cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg (I use whole nutmegs and grate them, a fresher taste)
1 tsp curry
salt to taste

Saute onions with olive oil until onions are clear. Add ground beef and cook with fork until color just turns. Remove from heat and add seasonings. Salt to taste. Add pine nuts. Fill bread with about a 1-2 tsp of the meat mixture per bread circle.

Cheese Filling:
3/4 lb american brick cheese, grated
1/4 cp olive oil
3/4 chopped fresh parsley, Italian
pine nuts, optional
Mix together and put 1 -2 tsp in the bread circles.

Sweet filling - if desired as a variation:
2 T. cinnamon
1/3 cp sugar
2 tsp grated orange peel
1/4 tsp nutmeg.
About a tsp in each bread circle, etc.