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spinach fatayer broken in half
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4.50 from 2 votes

Spinach Fatayers

A classic Lebanese dish, spinach fatayers are miniature hand pies filled with a lemony spinach fililng.
Author: Sara Ayesh

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 2 teaspoon sugar
  • ½ cup warm water
  • 3 cups flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • extra 1 cup warm water
  • 16 oz frozen spinach
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • ½ tablespoon pepper
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 onion finely chopped

Instructions

  • In a small bowl mixing bowl combine the yeast, ½ cup warm water, and sugar.
  • Set in a warm place for 5 minutes until it gets bubbly.
  • While that is starting to bubble, in your stand mixer whisk together the flour, olive oil, and salt.
  • Attache the dough hook to the stand mixer and turn on low, add in the yeast mixture to the bowl.
  • Pour in the additional 1 cup warm water and mix on medium until the dough starts to form a ball.
  • Let it go in the stand mixer for 3-5 minutes to knead the dough.
  • Cover the bowl and set in a warm place to let it rise for 1 hour.
  • While that rises, defrost the frozen spinach in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes.
  • Squeeze the excess water from the spinach and add it to a medium mixing bowl.
  • Stir in lemon juice, salt, pepper, onion, and canola oil. This will be very lemon-y and salty but it will balance out once the dough is wrapped around it.
  • Once the dough has risen for 1 hour, punch it down and separate it into 16 equal pieces.
  • Roll out 1 small ball of dough into a circle. It should be about 4 inches in diameter. You can do this with a rolling pin or press with your hands and a small bit of flour.
  • Add 1-1.5 tablespoons of the spinach (or meat or cheese) into the center.
  • To fold, we want to pinch the circle together to create a triangle.
  • Pinch 2 sides of the circle together followed by taking the opposite side of the circle and matching it to the center creating 2 sides of the triangle.
  • Pinch together the last 2 sides and form your "pyramid" shape.
  • Preheat your oven to 425F and prepare a sheet tray by pouring ¼ cup of canola oil in the bottom until it fully covers the sheet (this will help cook the bottom of the pies)
  • Place 4-6 fatayers on the sheet pan and bake for 12 minutes until slightly golden brown on the top.
  • Serve with hummus or laban (strained greek yogurt)