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Spanakopita with Homemade Phyllo (Horiatiki)
Spanakopita with Homemade Phyllo (Horiatiki)
Spanakopita Horiatiki, a Greek Spinach and Greens Pie with herbs, Ricotta and Feta Cheese. While everyone knows the beloved Spanakopita, with layers and layers of Filo Pastry, which is truly one of my favourite dishes to cook and eat, but let me introduce you to something a little different. My mum always makes it with her homemade phyllo and it truly takes this dish to another level of deliciousness. I often asked her, but what are the ingredients for your Phyllo and she would say "a little bit of oil, some vinegar, flour.. you know" but no one could ever get the correct measurements from her, until this last few weeks where I sat down with her and we went through step by step and measured the exact ingredients to create her beautiful homemade phyllo that we have been enjoying during both our childhood and adult life. So know I have the absolute pleasure to share with you my mums recipe for Spanakopita with Homemade Phyllo (Horiatiki), I hope you enjoy this pie as much as my family does.
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen Aid Mixer
- 1 Dough Attachment
- 1 Paddle attachment
- 1 Rolling Pin
Ingredients
For the Phyllo
- 1 Kilo All Purpose Flour
- 10 gram Salt (2 teaspoons)
- 6 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 4 Tablespoons White Vinegar
- 2 Cups Luke Warm Water (500ml)
For the filling
- 1 bunch Spinach Leaves (500 grams)
- 4 Spring Onions finely chopped
- 1/2 bunch Coriander finely chopped
- 1/2 bunch Dill freshly chopped
- 1kg Ricotta Cheese
- 500 grams Feta Cheese (crumbled or grated)
- 4 whole Eggs
- 3-4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
For brushing the top
- 3/4 cup Olive Oil
- 5 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
- Sesame Seeds for garnish
Instructions
For the Phyllo
- In your Kitchen Aid mixer, attach the dough hook
- Add Flour, Salt, Oil, Vinegar and Water all in your mixer bowl, start on low and allow your mixer to combine all the phyllo ingredients together. Knead until the dough comes together and is smooth and elastic. Turn your mixer up a level and allow the mixer to knead your dough for about 5 minutes. If the dough is dry, add 2-3 tablespoons of water and knead until it comes together.
- Put the dough into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or put the lid on your bowl if it has one. Allow to rest at room temperature for about an hour or in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Make the Spinach Filling – while your dough is resting
- In an oil pan, lightly sautΓ© the spinach and spring onion, remove from heat, put in a strainer and allow any liquid to drain out while it cools.
- Break up Ricotta and place in large bowl, crumble or grate Feta Cheese. Add in chopped mint and dill, mix well. Crack eggs in a separate bowl, add salt and pepper and whisk thoroughly. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and give this a good mix. Add Spinach and Spring Onions into the bowl and combine well.
Roll out dough
- Divide the dough into 2 pieces, roll out each dough piece into same shape as your baking tray, I like to use a rectangle baking dish, lightly grease with oil and brush oil all around tray. Take one ball of dough at a time and start rolling out with a rolling pin, using corn flour to avoid your dough sticking. I like to have a fairly thin dough, so its not too thick once you have cooked it. Continue until both dough balls, have been rolled.
Assemble the Pie – Preheat the oven to 180 C
- Position the rolled out dough in centre of tray and allow a few inches all around the edges.
- Add in your filling, spoon out and spread filling into the pan over the bottom layer of phyllo.
- Fold up over hanging dough from base piece of pie.
- Add top layer of phyllo, by placing it over the filling, I like to loosely add this top layer to allow for a bit of a decorative effect. Drizzle with oil/butter mixture and sprinkle sesame seeds all over.
- Score the top layer of the pita with a sharp knife, either into square or diamond shapes and bake until golden.
- Once Pita has cooled slightly remove and put on cooling rack and then cut through each scored piece. Enjoy whilst Pita is still warm.
Notes
The phyllo dough recipe will make 2 large trays or 50 pastie shapes
Sourdough Foccacia
Sourdough Focaccia
Equipment
- 1 Large Oven Dish
- 1 Dough Mixer (hand)
Ingredients
For the Focaccia
- 594 gram Warm Water
- 22 gram Salt
- 22 gram Oil
- 118 gram Active Sourdough Starter
- 742 gram All Purpose Flour
For the tray
- 1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
- Oil
For the topping
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- few sprigs fresh Rosemary
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine water, salt, and oil. Stir to dissolve the salt. Add starter and mix until water is milky in color, use sourdough hook whisker.
- Add flour. Mix just until combined, until you cannot see any dry flour. It will be shapeless.
- Cover with the lid or with a damp tea towel and let the dough rest on the bench.
- After the hour, fold using a stretch & fold technique, stopping when the dough is smooth. Ensure the seam side is down and smooth side is up.
- Let rest, covered on the counter, for another 1 hour.
- Coil fold the dough by using wet hands to get under the dough on both sides and gently pull up, allowing one side of the dough to unstick from the bowl and fold onto itself. Rotate a half turn and repeat. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Rotate a half turn and repeat, for four total folds. Let rest, covered on the counter, 1 hour.
- With wet hands, fold the dough again using the coil fold method. Let rest, covered on the counter, 1 hour.
- After the last coil fold, place the dough back into the bowl, cover it with the lid, and place it in the fridge. (you can leave it in the fridge for 2-3 days before baking, keep an eye on it as your dough will continue to rise further).
- When itβs time to bake, take the dough from the refrigerator and place it into an oiled pan that you have sprinkled with bread crumbs. Give it at least an hour in the pan, lightly covered with a tea towel, before baking.
- Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees
- Pour oil all over your focaccia and with your fingertips dimple the dough all over. Sprinkle salt and cracked black pepper all over. Scatter chopped fresh Rosemary over the focaccia.
- Lightly cover your tray with alfoil and cook in oven for 35 minutes.
- Remove foil after 35 minutes and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the top is golden and crunchy.
- Remove tray from oven and remove your focaccia from the tray, ensure you are using oven gloves to pop your focaccia out of the tray and place onto a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool for 1 hour before cutting into your Focaccia.
- Enjoy your warm focaccia by dipping into some beautiful Extra Virgin Olive Oil, my favourite This is Vendema Princess Oil is my favourite.
Notes
Cold proof in the refrigerator overnight or for up to 2 days for increased digestibility and a more sour flavor. Use warm water (~87ΛF/30ΛC) in the recipe for a target dough temp of 80ΛF (27ΛC) and follow the same directions as above except rest somewhere warm instead of on the counter between folds. Do not cold proof in the pan as this will increase the chances of the focaccia sticking to the pan. Sprinkling a layer of bread crumbs over your oil before you drop your focaccia into the tray will ensure you have a crunchy base on your focaccia.
