Tyropitakia

Here is the much promised post for the recipe of tyropitakia (deriving from the words "tyri"=cheese and "pita"=pie).
Cheese, and more specifically feta is very popular in Greece. As a consequence, it is of course used in many ways and enjoyed in various dishes. You can mix it in your salad (especially choriatiki salata, which is the typical "Greek" salad), you can cook it, you can have it as a side dish for a variety of dishes such as stuffed tomatoes, lentil soup etc., or just have it there with a nice plain old bread and olives. You can even roast or barbeque it by wrapping it in kitchen foil and adding onion, pepper, tomato, oregano and olive oil to that wrap. And then there is the typical spinach and cheese pies (spanakotyropita and tyropita). You can find those in small and various versions in many bakeries or cook large sized pies for a group to enjoy. My own version of tyropitakia (which is lots of little cheese pastries) which have fed many and is the perfect finger food for parties and gatherings, comes from a family friend who first showed me years ago how to make them. They are very easy and quick to make once you know what you're doing! I have to say I buy ready made pastry, cause let's face it: if I had to make that as well I wouldn't be making them that often...
So without further ado, here is the recipe!

Ingredients (for 16 tyropitakia, easily doubled)
250gr puff pastry
200gr feta (I like to add slightly more if I have it, so they can be nice and fat!)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
pepper for seasoning and giving them a slight kick
flour for dusting
melted butter (about 20-30gr)

In preparation have a large working surface nice and clean, to roll out the pastry. Butter your baking tray. I like to first line the baking tray with baking paper and buttering that instead. This makes washing easier and the pastries don't stick to the surface while baking. Tip: take the pastry out of the fridge about 30 minutes before as it will be easier to shape and handle.

Preheat oven at 180°C.

In a bowl crumble the feta with your fingers. 

Break the egg and mix it with the feta. 

Season with pepper according to taste and mix all the ingredients with a fork (mushing the slightly larger bits of feta that might have got away). Your filling is now ready. 

Split your pastry into 2. If you're working with pre-rolled pastry, just cut it in half.

Dust your hands and work surface with some flour. Take the pastry, roll it into a ball and flatten it out with a rolling pin, shaping it into a pizza shape.

Cut the rolled out pastry into 8 "pizza slices".

Now take a small spoonful from the filling and place it on the wide end of the "slices".

Take the sides from the wide end of the slice and fold inwards toward and over the filling.

Then roll from the top toward the smaller end to shape into a croissant type shape.

 

Repeat with all the pieces and then place them on your buttered baking tray. Repeat the whole process with the other half of your pastry.

With a brush, butter the top of the rolled cheese parcels.

Once they are all buttered take the egg yolk and brush the parcels. This will give them a nice golden colour when baked.


Place the tray in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until cooked through.
Leave to cool for a bit, resisting the temptation to bite into them, as they will be piping hot!

A little alteration that I experimented with last time I made these was to add some chopped sundried tomatoes to the filling and it was yum.

Acknowledgements:
Photos taken by the wonderful Pau.
The batch I made for the illustrations was actually for 32 pastries (so that I could give some away and still have some for ourselves :p)

Enjoy :)