Greek Spinach & Cheese Pie (Spanakotiropita)

The ingredients you need for the Spinach & Cheese Pie are:

For the dough:
600gr AP Flour
45gr Olive Oil
15gr White Vinegar
Pinch of Salt
300-310gr Lukewarm Water

Lots of Cornstarch for the spreading of the phyllos
110-160ml olive oil which will be applied between the phyllos

Filling:
Vegetables:
600gr Spinach
1 Leek, the white part cut into pieces
2 Spring onions cut into pieces
Lots of Dill
Salt&Pepper

Cheese mix:
Spearmint
Feta (I prefer Goat’s Feta)
Katiki Domokou or “Aleifoturi”. (If these are not available in your country you can mix Cream Cheese with Heavy Cream or Greek Yogurt and salt. The consistency you want to have, is that of a creamy cheese which is less dense than cream cheese but denser than Greek yogurt.)

Method
Mix together until you have a rough dough that it’s not sticky (~5 minutes)

Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare your filling.
Sautee the leeks and spring onions. Then add the spinach, dill and salt,pepper.

Sautee until the spinach shrinks and transfer them inside a drainer to drain until you are ready to use them.

Prepare the cheese mix by mixing them all together but don’t add them in the spinach mix yet because they will melt. You will add them right before using your filling.

If you want to bake the pita today, preheat your oven using the fan mode at 160-180C depending on your oven (most ovens need to be set at 160 when on fan mode or the pita will get burned, but my oven needs to be set at 180C)

Divide into 10 pieces and shape them into balls. You can make your pita using all 10 dough balls with  5 phyllos around the filling, but I use 4 phyllos and I make something else with the other 2. I will share how I use the other 2 phyllos pretty soon ^^

Dust your surface with cornstarch
Using a rolling pin, roll the first 4 dough balls into circles dusting with cornstarch before rolling each one.

Then dust heavily your surface with cornstarch again and the top side of first dough circle. Dust heavily the one side of the second dough circle too and spread it to go everywhere. Place the dusted side of the second dough on the first dough and dust the other side of the second dough too. Do the same with the other dough circles too.

Then with your rolling pin, start rolling the pile of your 4 dough circles until they become so thin you can see through them (if you stop listening to the sound of the cornstarch between the doughs, dust them again so that they don’t stick). Don’t roll forcefully or the doughs will stick! You should do it gently.

After they become thin enough, separate them (if they are stuck, don’t worry, it’s ok if they get ripped but separate them carefully so that they don’t rip a lot).

Spread olive oil to a 26-30cm pan and place the first phyllo on it. Your phyllos should be long enough to stick out of the pan (we will use the dough that is sticking out of the pan to seal the pita)

Sprinkle lots of olive oil on top of the first phyllo and then add the second on top of it.

Sprinkle lots of olive oil on top of the second phyllo too, and add the third one.

Again sprinkle the third phyllo with olive oil and add the fourth phyllo.

Time to add the filling!
Add the cheese mix to the spinach and mix them.
Add all of the filling on top of the fourth phyllo.
Cover well with a towel and set aside until you prepare your other 4 phyllos.

We prepare them the same way as before:
Roll them into circles, cornstarch your surface, heavily dust each one and place on top of each other. Roll into thin phyllos and separate.
Again add the 1st phyllo on top of the filling and sprinkle with lots of olive oil.
2nd phyllo, olive oil, 3rd phyllo, olive oil, 4rth phyllo, olive oil!
Now seal your pita, rolling the dough that is sticking out of the pan, inside the pan.

Sprinkle some olive oil on the “sealings” too.

Score the Pita into 8 slices (We want a deep scoring, that reaches the filling but not further. We don’t want to slice the bottom phyllo which holds the juices of the Pita inside! ^^)

Optimally, cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least an hour (I refrigerate for 8-12 hours). It will be way crunchier this way!
But of course you can bake it right away!

When ready to bake, transfer into the preheated oven and bake for 1-1.5 hours or until the top of the pita is a really deep golden color (the color shouldn’t be pale or else the phyllos will become hard and chewy after hours)
Let it cool in the pan (you want the bottom to keep cooking a little bit longer after removing the Pita from the oven).

When you slice into it, PLEASE tag me in a video of you cutting into the Pita slices and let me hear that amazing crunch sound they make <3

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