Pastries and baking
ChefNada Hadraj
Dough for Fried Spinach Pies
A special dough for fried spinach pies — it doesn’t brown well in the oven, so it’s designed for frying. Try it with other fillings too.
Dough for fried spinach pies — truly wonderful: golden and crispy.
Ingredients
Start here, then move straight into the method.
- Dough
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk (add more if needed depending on the flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Filling
- Washed, chopped spinach
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- A pinch of sumac
- Lemon juice to taste
- Salt to taste
- Hot chili powder to taste (optional)
- Olive oil as needed
- Note
- This dough is baked first then fried because it does not brown well from baking alone — it’s specially made for fried pies. Since the spinach won’t be fully cooked by frying alone, we bake then fry.
- If the filling is something other than spinach (for example cheese or meat), you can fry them directly without baking.
- All-Purpose Dough is a recipe we recommend learning
- For more tasty pastries see: Sfiha Meat Pie
Method
Follow the cooking sequence without leaving the page.
- Start with the dough: mix all its ingredients together and knead well; add the liquid milk and knead as needed.
- Let the dough for the fried spinach pies rest for one hour to proof; cover and leave it in a warm place.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling: mix all the filling ingredients together and squeeze out excess water before filling so the dough doesn't become soggy.
- Roll out the dough and cut it into circles; fill them with the spinach mixture and fold closed.
- Place the spinach pies on an oiled baking tray and bake them in the oven, then fry them in oil in a skillet.
- Note:
- The reason for frying the pies after baking is that this dough does not brown in the oven — it is intended for fried pies. And because spinach doesn't cook through by frying alone, we bake the pies first and then fry them.
- If the filling is something other than spinach, such as cheese or meat, fry them directly without baking.
- A versatile dough — one of the recipes we recommend you learn.
- For more delicious pastries, here's the link: Lahm bi Ajeen (sfiha).
Recipe tags
Pastries and bakingInternationalVegetarianVeganDairy freeNut freeEgg free
Notes and serving ideas
- All-Purpose Dough
- Sfiha Meat Pie
