Spinach Pies
Spinach pies are one of my favorite Lebanese snacks. I could eat them everyday! Spinach pies, or Fatayer bl Sabanekh, is a popular breakfast dish or side/appetizer dish in Lebanon. Spinach pies make a perfect portable snack, you can pack them in your kid’s lunch box or eat them on the go.
The pie filling is a combination of spinach and onions, seasoned with salt sumac. Sumac is the basic ingredient to this recipe. You can feel free to experiment with this recipe a bit, for example by adding some feta cheese to the filling if you want.
Spinach Pies
Yield:
6
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
20 minutes
Additional Time:
30 minutes
Total Time:
1 hour
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup warm milk (heat it in microwave for a 20 seconds or so)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp active dry yeast or one package active dry yeast
- 3 tbsp warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
For the Filling
- 2 large onions – Cut into fine pieces
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 lbs spinach – Chopped into small pieces
- 1/4 cup sumac
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine warm water, sugar and yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes to foam.
- In a large mixing bowl with a lid, combine flour, salt, warm milk and vegetable oil. Work the mixture with your hands.
- Pour in the yeast mixture and continue mixing until a soft dough forms.
- Continue kneading the dough until its feels elastic, smooth, and no longer sticks to my hands, this step will take about 5 minutes.
- If after kneading, the dough is still too sticky for you, you can sprinkle just a tiny bit of flour and knead some more.
- Shape the whole dough into a round shaped dough.
- Pour 1 tbsp olive oil on dough and spread it so the whole top of the dough is covered with oil evenly.
- Cover the dough with a piece of seal plastic wrap and close the bowl with its lid.
- Wrap container with a large blanket and leave to rise for about 2 hours.
Preparing the Dough:
Prepare stuffing mixture:
- In a large bowl, add spinach, onions, salt, sumac and olive oil- mix well. The mixture will be overly salty and sour ( if you decided to taste), however after baking the final product should come out just right 😉
Preparing the pies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 ° F.
- Divide the dough in half, covering one half with a plastic wrap.
- On your counter top or your working area, sprinkle some flour and roll the first half of the dough until thin ( about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch).
- Use a 6 inch wide circle cutter to cut out the dough into circles (glass cups work great).
- Add 1 tablespoon filling in the center of each circle.
- Pinch together 3 edges of the circle over the center of the filling to form a triangular-shaped pie. Start by pinch two sides of each circle together and bringing the third edge a bit up to the center to close.
- Arrange the stuffed pies in a single layer onto a baking tray sprayed with cooking oil.
- Bake until golden, 15-20 minutes.
- Repeat the process with the remaining circles and the remainder of the dough.
- Let cool, serve and enjoy! 🙂
Notes
Any leftover spinach pies can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for around a week, or can be frozen for about 2-3 months.
Anonymous
Verry good hobi