Fatayer

Fatayer are the PERFECT thing for parties and even to keep in the refrigerator or freezer and heat up whenever you need a snack. I love these because there are so many different kinds of fatayer, zaatar, cheese, meat, spinach, sausage and pizza. In this post i am showing you how i make my fatayer dough and the fillings or toppings. Feel free to change anything you want to your taste. One day i am going to buy a pizza stone and then hopefully they will be more like the yummy fatayer in salhiyeh. Oh and if anyone is reading this and knows how to make those fatayer they make in Syria (mhammara) the spicy ones with cheese on top please let me know.

Well of course we start off with yeast and sugar

Add in the warm water and wait until it starts to activate (about 3 to 5 minutes)

Once the yeast is activated add in olive oil and flour and salt (mix the salt with the flour so you don't kill you yeast)

slowly mix in the flour until you get a soft dough that it wet but isn't sticking to your fingers.

Place it in a greased bowl and let it double in size. Usually i turn my microwave on for 30 seconds and THEN i place the dough in there.

oooo look at that big bubble! Ok so i don't punch down my dough but feel free to if that's what you like.

I roll out my dough and using a biscuit cutter i cut all my fatayer to the same size

This is an option on how to shape a cheese fatireh. I made all of mine flat because i wanted to freeze them and it takes up less room.

So for the spinach filling you need either baby spinach or regular spinach that is cut. Make sure to wash your spinach well and let it dry. Sprinkle salt and begin to squeeze the spinach. I actually got exact measurements from, none other than Najats Kitchen on youtube, however most people add the same stuff except different amount.

It is going to start to look like cooked spinach and will release A LOT of water.

SQUEEZE!!!!!!!!!

I did this 3 times and i got about a cup of water each time. Just keep squeezing until you cant get any more water out.

Then mix in the onion, lemon juice, olive oil, sumac, cumin, arabic spice and pepper.

I found pomegranates at the market and couldn't resist so i halved my spinach mixture and in one i added pomegranate seeds and the other i added red pepper flakes. These two additions are totally optional but i like them.

So after the dough is rolled out (roll the dough for the spinach a little thicker that for cheese and meat pies because when they cook they will release more water and if the dough isn't thick it will break and leak water everywhere.

Pinch the two sides together

Then fold up the last side so that the spinach pie is a triangle...DONE

Now i am not sure how to make the meat mixture but this is how i make mine. I take ground beef and mix it with pomegranate molasses, arabic spice, salt tomato paste and a little oil (i use lean beef)

Take the circles and press down to make them thin and long, then press in the meat mixture and decorate with pine nut (pomegranate optional)

To distinguish between which spinach pies have pomegranate seeds and which ones are spicy i sprinkled some sumac on top of the pomegranate spinach pies.

Written Recipe:

Dough:

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of yeast

1 cup of warm water

1 tablespoon of sugar or honey

salt

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Spinach: Modified from Najats kitchen on youtube

spinach sprinkled with salt and squeezed until 3 cups of spinach are left

1/2 cup of onions

1/4 cup of lemon juice (I use citric acid to lessen the moisture in the pies)

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 tablespoons of sumac

1/4 teaspoon of arabic mixed spice

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/4 teaspoon of cumin

red pepper flakes and pomegranate seeds optional

Meat:

1 cup of lean ground beef (or 80/20 if you don't want to add oil)

2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses (dibis rimman)

1 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon of arabic spice

1/2 tablespoon of tomato paste

salt to taste

(suggestion, cook up a little meat and taste it because some pomegranate molasses is sweeter or more sour than other)

Cheese:

Any cheese that will melt

sprinkle with black seed (optional)

PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA dough

Pizza Dough...mmmmm why buy pizza when you can make your own at home..it really is very easy just whip up some dough in the morning or the day before and you can have pizza whenever you decide! Also its good to have a good pizza dough recipe because you can use it for so many other dishes like monkey bread, crazy bread, flat breads...the list could go on and on. Here is a very simple pizza dough recipe.

First i Add my yeast in the bowl that i want mix my dough in, you can do this either by hand or with a kitchenaide mixer

Add in warm water (it should feel warm to the touch but not too warm or it will kill the yeast) and i add honey to feed the yeast.

After about 5 or 10 minutes depending on the kind of yeast you have (instant or not) it should foam up like this, now you can finish your dough.

Add in flour (either bread or all purpose) and some extra virgin olive oil. Mix until everything is well combined. Once everything is combined you can either knead the dough with your machine or by hand. I find that by hand work well for me when there isn't a big amount. Another thing i want to point out is the hook on the kitchenaide, in the picture i used a paddle hook because this is a very small amount of dough but normally you would use a dough hook which is one curved line.

After the dough has been kneaded enough (it should be smooth and elastic) place it in a greased bowl for 2 hours and let it double in size.

I ended up baking two batches because i didn't think it would be enough (but for us 3 it was more that enough) So after the dough has risen you COULD use it now but if you want a really good dough i would let it rise one more time. The more it rises the chewier the crust. Another option would be to refrigerate the dough overnight and then 2 hours before you want to make pizza you take it out and let it rise.

And it is as easy as that to make pizza dough...i know it might seem like alot but trust me all you do is mix for a few minutes and the rest of the time it is just sitting there rising. Try it this dough came out very chewy and nice. When you cook the dough, if you want a crunchy chewy crust like a pizza oven then either use a pizza stone OR place it on a baking sheet with cornmeal or flour at the bottom and place it at the bottom of your hot 450 degree over for about 5 to 8 minutes (until the bottom is lightly brown) and then move the pizza to the middle of the over and let it continue to cook for 10 more minutes.

Written Recipe:

1 teaspoon yeast

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)

1 1/2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus 1 tablespoon for coating