Spinach Pies
I don’t know what it is with being locked indoors that makes everyone want to bake. Actually I do - you start to miss home. Not your physical home, but where your mind so desperately grasps onto the memories and moments that brought you so much joy and love. I immediately think of my grandmother’s house - cozy, warm and always the smell of home cooked food. I so strongly associate smell and taste with memories, and this one brought me straight back to childhood.
If you aren’t familiar with these pastries, they are usually eaten for breakfast/brunch and on occasion lunch with other small plates or mezze. These small plates usually include fresh vegetables and herbs, lebne, olives, cheese, eggs and jams.
Spinach Pies
Adapted from The Palestinian Table by Reem Kassis
Ingredients
Filling
500g spinach (washed and chopped small)
1 medium red onion (finely chopped)
2 tbsp salt
8 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sumac
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground all-spice
Pastry dough
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups plain yogurt (I used whole milk Bulgarian/European style yogurt)
1 cup olive oil (you will need extra for oiling the dough)
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp Turmeric (optional)
Directions
Chop the spinach to small pieces, some people prefer using the food processor but I like having bigger pieces of spinach. Toss with 2 tbsp of salt and put the spinach in a strainer over the sink and leave to drain for 1 hour. After the hour is up, squeeze out any extra water from the spinach and add to a large bowl with the remainder of the ingredients. This step is completely optional, cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for at least one hour to overnight to let the mixture marinate.
To make the pastry dough, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook and slowly bring up the speed to medium until it forms a dough ball. Once dough is ready, take it out and shape it into a ball and lightly slather with more olive oil. Return back to the bowl and cover with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 475F and prepare your baking sheets by covering them with parchment paper. I found it easier to use two large baking sheets so when one batch was done I could immediately but another one in.
Once the dough has doubled, make 30-40 small egg sized dough balls and set aside to rest for a few minutes.
Gently flatten the dough balls with the palm of your hands and roll out with a rolling pin to a circle spanning about 3-4 inches. The small the diameter the more doughy your pastry will be and the larger the diameter the thinner the dough will be - this is solely preference. I chose to roll them out around 4 inches.
I highly recommend using an actual tablespoon measurement to measure out the filling to ensure you have enough filling for your dough. I measured roughly 1 heaping tbsp of filling for each pastry. Place the filling in the middle. grab two sides, joining them together to form the top of a triangle and then join the bottom side with your fingers pinching down on the edges to create a full triangle. its okay if there is a small opening in the center where all three sides meet.
Place the pastries on the lined baking sheet with a little distance between them and bake for up to 10 minutes or until the tops and bottoms are golden brown.
