This is a treat that originates from Cyprus, a traditional (Easter-time) cheese pie that has saved its place in the pantheon of the proper cheese pies – and it is me telling this, that I have prepared a lot of them. The dough is not only delicious, but also it is foolproof to make, while the cheesy filling combines sweet raisins with fresh spearmint.
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Ingredients
For the dough-
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- 750 g hard flour ,
- 60 ml olive oil ,
- 1 teaspoon of dry yeast ,
- 400 ml water ,
- 1 pinch of salt
-
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- 400 g sweet graviera cheese ,
- 300 g haloumi cheese, grated ,
- 1 teaspoon of thinly sliced spearmint ,
- 1 teaspoon of mastic ,
- 1 teaspoon of mahleb ,
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon ,
- 200 g dates ,
- 3 eggs ,
- 80 g crystal sugar ,
- 80 g thin semolina
Instructions
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- Add the yeast to a bowl with the water and stir properly with a whisk. ,
- Allow one minute to set. ,
- Add all the ingredients of the dough to the mixer’s bowl. ,
- Beat with the hook of the mixer until you get a proper and floppy dough. ,
- Cover with a kitchen towel and allow one hour to rest in a warm place of your house. ,
- Preheat convection oven to 200° ,
- Stir all ingredients for the filling inside a bowl. ,
- Remove the dough from the mixer’s bowl and separate it into three parts. ,
- Flatten the dough into sheets of 2 millimetres. ,
- Cut into squares 20x20 cm. ,
- Fill the centres of the squares with the filling. ,
- Fold opposite sides of each square towards its centre without covering all the surface of the filling. ,
- Then fold the same way the other two opposite sides of each square. ,
- Using a fork, press the angles to stick to each other. ,
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.