Sunday 27 September 2015

Feteer meshaltet with cheese and olives (Egyptian stuffed flaky pastry)

I had a relaxing weekend planned, and my idea of relaxation usually involves cooking of some sort. I'd had a dream a few nights previously about feteer meshaltet, I'm not sure what triggered it but I woke up with the taste in my mouth and knew I had to make it...
For those unfamiliar with the dish, feteer meshaltet is an unbelievably delicious Egyptian pastry dish, it has the crispness of filo pastry and the layering and moistness of puff pastry. Layers of super thin pastry are smothered in clarified butter and stacked and folded upon themselves, sometimes it's stuffed, savoury and pie-like and sometimes just the pastry is baked and served with a dusting of sugar and honey. I prefer the savoury version and decided to go with a filling of feta and green olives (cheese is quite a common filling, often of the processed variety... Mmmmm)
I'm not a big maker of pastry, and I did wonder whether I would be able to re-create the transparently thin layers, and had bought some ready made puff pastry as a back up should it not work. However, the pastry was actually quite straightforward to make, the trick being to knead it well, and rest to allow the elasticity to develop, so I would encourage anyone to give it a go!

Ingredients
450g plain flour
250ml water (you may need a little less)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
100g margarine or ghee (melted)

For the filling
100g feta (crumbled)
1 handful green olives (roughly chopped)
1 tsp za'atar 

1. Pour the flour, salt and sugar and slowly add the water, I've said 250ml but you may need a bit less, orpossibly more. The dough should be quite wet and sticky, but still kneadable
2. Once the dough has come together in a smooth ball, knead for 10-15 minutes, then divide the dough into four parts. Drizzle with a little of the melted margarine (or olive oil), cover and leave to rest for an hour 
3. Once the dough has rested you're ready to make the feteer. Pour some of the melted margarine on a clean work surface and start pushing the dough flat with the heel of your hand, keep the dough well oiled for this. With the kneading and resting the dough should be quite elastic and you'll find it spreads quite easily. The idea is to get it as thin as possible, if you can see your work surface through the dough then it's think enough! As an aside, if you get the occasional hole, don't worry. It's going to be folded up so the odd tear doesn't matter

4.  Add the crumbled feta, olives and za'atar to the centre of the dough circle (or square/oblong/rectangle) and fold the sides in over the filling. Once it's encased put it to one side
5. Repeat the process with the second ball of dough, this time when it's reached the desired thickness carefully pick up your filled dough parcel and place it in the middle of the circle, and fold the pastry over it 
6. And repeat again with the third and fourth balls, you'll end up with a well wrapped dough parcel
7. Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown and crispy, I can't give temperatures as my oven doesn't have a temperature gauge, but 190C for around 20 minutes seems about right!

8. Eat, and then wish you'd made more!