Home-made Cretan

Home-made Cretan "agnopitakia" (cheese-pies)
4.3/5 rating (6 votes)

Ingredients

  • For the dough

  • all-purpose flour: 500g
  • dried yeast: 2 tsp
  • fresh milk: ½ glass
  • lukewarm water: 1/2 cup
  • olive oil: ½ glass
  • salt: pinch
  • For the filling & the frying

  • egg yolk: 1
  • feta cheese: 100 g
  • anthotyro cheese*: 250 g
  • olive oil or seed oil for frying

Directions

  1. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Pour the flour into a mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast, the milk and the oil into the well adding a pinch of salt. Knead with your hands until you get a soft and smooth dough that doesn’t stick to your fingers. Set aside to rest for 25΄-30΄.

  2. Crumble the feta and the anthotyro cheese in a bowl and stir in the egg yolk. Take small chunks of the dough and shape them into small spheres. Make a hole in each ball with your finger, fill with a little of the cheese mixture and seal the edges shaping it into a patty or a ball.

  3. Heat a generous lug of olive oil or seed oil and fry the agnopitakia until golden brown on all sides. Drain on absorbent paper and serve.

    *Anthotyro Cheese is a traditional fresh cheese produced in Greece, commonly in Thrace, Macedonia, the Ionian Islands and Crete. It is white, soft, with a sweet, creamy taste and has no salt.