Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gplain flour
- 7 ginstant yeast
- 300 mlwarm water
- 60 mlolive oil
- 1 tspsalt
- 1 tspsugar
Spinach filling
- 800 gspinach, finely chopped
- 1onion, finely diced
- 2 tbspsumac
- juice of 1 lemon
- 60 mlolive oil
- 1 tspsalt
- 2 tbsppine nuts
- 1 tbsppomegranate molasses, optional
To glaze
- olive oil
Directions
- Make the dough by mixing the flour, yeast, salt and sugar, adding the water and oil, and kneading for 8 minutes into a soft dough. Prove for 1 hour.
- Chop the spinach finely, salt it heavily, and leave it for 20 minutes in a colander.
- Squeeze the spinach as hard as you physically can, in handfuls, until almost no liquid comes out of it at all.
- This squeezing decides everything. Wet filling steams inside the pastry, bursts the seams and leaves a green puddle on the tray, and it is the single reason home fatayer open in the oven.
- Mix the squeezed spinach with the onion, sumac, lemon juice, olive oil, pine nuts and pomegranate molasses.
- Roll the dough thin and cut rounds of about 12 cm.
- Put a spoonful of filling into the centre of each round.
- Lift three sides up and pinch them together into a triangle, sealing each seam firmly from the centre outwards.
- Pinch hard and pinch dry. Any filling caught in a seam stops it sealing, and that pie will open.
- Brush with olive oil and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with lemon.
Technique
- Sumac and lemon together are what make the filling taste Levantine rather than simply of spinach.
- They are baked for gatherings and during Lent, and they are just as good cold the next day.
- The triangle shape signals the spinach filling, exactly as the shapes do on Israeli bourekas.
Substitutions
- Chard or a mixture of wild greens in place of spinach.
- Frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed even harder than fresh.
Variations
- With labneh, za’atar or a soft white cheese, left open as boats rather than sealed.
- With minced lamb, onion and pine nuts, folded as sfiha.
- Made small, as canapés for a party.
History
Triangular pastries folded around spinach, sumac and onion, or za’atar, baked for gatherings and during Lent.
Frequently asked questions
What is Fatayer?
Fatayer is a bread & pastry from Palestine: folded triangle pies of spinach, cheese or za’atar. Triangular pastries folded around spinach, sumac and onion, or za’atar, baked for gatherings and during Lent.
How long does Fatayer take to make?
Fatayer takes 45 min plus 1 hr rising of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 24 pies. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Fatayer?
Yes, within limits. Chard or a mixture of wild greens in place of spinach. Frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed even harder than fresh.
What is the most important thing to get right in Fatayer?
Sumac and lemon together are what make the filling taste Levantine rather than simply of spinach.
