By Katerina Kazantza
This is by far my most popular pie from the days I used to operate my home baking business. And although I thought I perfected this recipe a long time ago it’s still a work in progress. So in the future I might post my other perfect recipe but for today this is how it goes:
Crust (with a Greek traditional feel)
100g self-rising gluten free flour (I used Doves farm)
150g gluten free buckwheat flour
(if you don’t like the taste of buckwheat or you can’t find any use only self-rising gluten free only you will need 250g in this case)
50g plain organic yoghurt
60g butter
1 organic egg
pinch of salt
Filling
500g spinach
2-3 leeks
4 spring onions
100g organic feta
100g goats cheese
pinch of salt pinch of black pepper (if you like it)
dill ( a fresh bunch or dried one if you don’t have any)
Method
-Firstly make the filo: Melt the butter and let it cool slightly, and mix with the egg and yogurt. Add the flours and knead for a couple of minutes until you have a nice dough which doesn’t stick to your fingers. You might need to add extra flour ( a few tablespoons) to achieve the right consistency. Put the dough aside
-Make the filling: Cut the leeks and the onions in small pieces and wash them thoroughly in a sieve. In a big saucepan add some olive oil the leeks and the onions and saute for about 10 minutes. In the meantime prepare the spinach, wash it in case it needs washing. Add the spinach and cook everything together for another 5 minutes. It really doesn’t take long for the spinach to be soft.
-Preheat your oven at 180C with fan if you have.
-Take the saucepan to you window or balcony and let it cool down (That’s what I do – no wonder why the neighbours think I am a weirdo! ) If you have a good half an hour you can also leave it in room temperature.
_Cut the dough in half and make two filo’s the same size of your tray. Use a large piece of baking paper and extra flour on top to roll the dough. The result should be thin but not to the point that it start making wholes. (If it doesn’t work the first time don’t get disappointed do it again – or send me an email and we’ll figure it out. Stay tuned in the future there will be some cooking classes!) With this amount of filo I am only using a small tray but of course if you double the recipe you can use you big oven trays.
–The most important step of the recipe Once the filling has cooled down squeeze out as much water as possible, this will give your pita a nice crispy bottom (otherwise it will go watery stodgy doughy etc )
-Add the feta, goat’s cheese and dill in the filling (you can skip the dill if you don’t like it)
-Almost there! Take one filo with the baking paper and transfer it to your tray. Spread the filling on top evenly so you don’t have gaps. Transfer your second filo with the assistance of the baking paper , once you are on top of the pita flip the filo on top.
-Bake for 25min or until filo looks golden crispy.
