Pitta buke

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 500 g wheat flour (type 405)
• ½ tbsp salt
• 3 tbsp oil, neutral (e.g. sunflower oil)
• ½ cube of yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 5 tbsp milk
• 300 ml water, lukewarm
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 200 g feta cheese made from cow’s milk
• 200 g sour cream
• 150 g butter, melted
• Flour for the work surface
• Grease for the tray

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Albanian-Macedonian Pite – recipe with yeast dough

You’ll also need a rolling pin, a baking sheet with high sides (preferably a round Tepsi), and a large tea towel. For the dough, briefly warm the milk in a cup in the microwave, but don’t let it get too hot. Then stir in the sugar and crumble in the yeast. Let the whole thing stand for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put the flour, oil, and salt in a bowl and heat the water to lukewarm. Now add the yeast to the bowl and knead it with the water until you have a smooth dough. If there’s too little water, just add a little more; if there’s too much, just knead in a little more flour. Cover the dough and let it rise for about an hour. For the filling, simply slice the spring onions into rings, not too coarsely. In a bowl, add the sour cream and grate the feta cheese over it or mash it with your fingers. Mix well and season with salt if desired, if the feta cheese wasn’t too salty. Divide the dough in half and cut one half into 8 equal pieces on a floured surface. Shape each half into round rolls with your hands. Roll out these rolls to a diameter of approximately 15-20 cm, dusting them with a little flour to prevent sticking. Brush each roll with melted butter and stack the rolls on top of each other. Roll out the stack to the size of the baking sheet and place it in the greased dish. Spread the filling evenly over the dough and coat with a little butter. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough as described above, placing it on top of the filling. Cover the baking sheet with a cloth and let it rise for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 250°C. When you can see that the pâté has increased in size slightly, use a knife to cut it into squares or diamonds (approx. 5 cm), coat with a few spoonfuls of butter, and place it in the oven, but reduce the temperature to 200°C. Once the pitta is nicely browned, heat the remaining butter (about 4-5 tablespoons) in a pan until lightly browned, add the same amount of water (careful: it might splash!), and add a little salt. Spread this mixture evenly over the pitta, cover with a cloth, place a plastic bag or some cling film over it, and let it stand for at least 10 minutes. This is necessary so that the steam softens the pitta as it cools. The dough will be far too hard to enjoy straight from the oven.