Flaky Cheese Pastries

Ingredients

• 500 g flour (all-purpose)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 300 milliliters warm milk, or as needed for the dough
• For the filling:
• Bramili cheese
• (A popular Egyptian cheese made from fresh milk; you can substitute any available cheese)
• Pickled black or green olives
• Shish tawook skewers
• Nigella seeds or sesame or za'atar or sumac
• For brushing the pastries:
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons milk
• Salt and pepper (black pepper)
• For the olive filling:

Method

1. Mix all the dry ingredients first (by hand or with a mixer, depending on what you have)
2. Add the milk gradually until the dough comes together and becomes soft
3. Cover the dough and leave it for some time to rise/rest
4. After the required time, roll out the dough into a rectangle, crumble the cheese and spread it over the rectangle (similar to a cinnamon roll), roll it into a log, cut it, and place the pieces on a baking tray lined with oiled parchment paper
5. Brush the tops with egg and sprinkle with nigella seeds
6. Place the skewers on a tray, brush the dough with egg, and sprinkle as desired with sesame or nigella seeds
7. Cover the skewers and let them rest and rise for about a quarter of an hour
8. Put the tray in a preheated oven at 200°C until they brown on the bottom and then on the top
9. Prepare a shish tawook skewer and thread four or five olives onto it leaving gaps between them, then roll a strip of dough and wrap it around the spaces between the olives