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Spinach Pie - Spanakopita
Cummulative Rating
Servings
Makes 24 servings.
Difficulty
Involved |
Ingredients
For phyllo:
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
3 to 3-1/2 cups of gf flour (Schar Mix B)
For spinach pie (Spanakopita):
2-3pounds fresh spinach (4-5 bunches)
3 large eggs
600-800 grams feta - crumbled (3-4 Valbreso Feta packages), crumbled
3 Talespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1-1/2 teasspoons dry mint (more or less - to taste)
4 Tablespoons fresh italian parsley - chopped
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Directions
To prepare phyllo:
In the work bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together eggs and milk. Attach dough hook to your stand mixer, and gradually add flour, with machine on low, until dough is no longer sticky. Cover dough in a mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 2 hours.
Remove dough from bowl and cut into 8 equal pieces. Generously dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with corn starch to prevent dough from sticking as you roll.
Using the palm of your hand, flatten 1 piece of dough to about 7”x5”, making sure dough thickness is fairly uniform. spinach-pie-2.jpg>Using the rolling pin, make 4-5 passes (front to back, then back to front) over dough. Roll phyllo up onto rolling pin, then put it back down again sideways (now it should be lying side to side). The goal is to have a nice rectangular sheet of phyllo (approximately 18”x14”). Continue to roll out dough as many times as you need to get it to desired size. Remember to dust work surface and rolling pin frequently with corn starch to prevent sticking.
Note: Only roll out one phyllo at a time, as you are ready to use it, to avoid having it dry out and become brittle.
Prepare spinach pie (Spanakopita):
Wash and coarsely chop spinach. Blanch spinach in boiling salted water for 30 seconds. Drain and let cool on a baking sheet.
While spinach cools, combine eggs, olive oil, dry mint and parsley in a large bowl. Squeeze out as much water as possible from spinach, add to bowl, stirring to blend. Fold in half the feta, then add remaining half. Try not to over-mix – you don’t want the feta to break up too much.
Lightly brush a baking pan with olive oil. Roll out phyllo and lay it in pan (the easiest way is to roll phyllo onto the rolling pin and then starting at one end of the pan, unroll it into the pan). Press phyllo onto oiled side of pan. Lightly brush olive oil on the phyllo sheet (this keeps the phyllo layers from sticking to each other and becoming one thick, doughy layer).
Note: If the phyllo is bigger than you need, let the extra hang over edge of pan – you may need some of it to cover tears or holes in subsequent layers.
Roll and apply two more phyllo layers (for a total of three). Don’t forget to brush the top of each layer with olive oil.
Using a third of the spinach-feta mixture, spread it on the phyllo in the pan. Spread it out evenly, making certain it gets in all corners.
Roll and apply a phyllo layer on top of the spinach-feta mixture. Brush top of phyllo with olive oil.
Repeat the last step two more times. You should now have 3 layers of phyllo on the bottom, 1 layer of spinach-feta, 1 phyllo, 1 spinach-feta, 1 phyllo, 1 spinach-feta. Top off with the remaining three phyllo layers (a total of 8 phyllo layers for the complete spinach pie). Remember to brush tops of each phyllo with olive oil.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cut off all excess phyllo hanging over sides of pan. This is best done by pushing a sharp knife through layers down to the pan. Using the point of a sharp knife, score the pie pieces (2”x2” in size) making sure the point of the knife goes all the way through to the bottom of the pan. Scoring the pie now rather than later is done for two reasons:
a)making cuts will allow steam to release during the cooking process;
b)phyllo is easiest to cut before baking. If you cut it after it is baked, the phyllo is crusty and runs the risk of falling apart.
Bake the Spanakopita (Spinach Pie) in oven at 350°F for 50-60 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove pie from pan within ½ hour after taking it out of oven.
Spanakopita can be served hot or cold. It will keep well on the counter for 2-3 days. Refrigerate if you plan on keeping it longer.
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Tips
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We used Schar’s Mix B for the gf flour in this recipe. |
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