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)