Spinach Fatayer

Close up of lebanese spianch pie broken in half with more in the background.

Spinach fatayer are delicious Lebanese spinach triangles, made with an easy fatayer dough recipe for flavorful little parcels. You'll love this!

Course Bread

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Diet Halal, Vegetarian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 12

Servings

Calories 115kcal

Author Farah Abumaizar

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 1/4 cup lukewarm water, divided 300ml
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 cups flour (divided) 313g
1/4 cup olive oil 55g
1 teaspoon salt

For the spinach filling:

16 oz fresh spinach 400g
1 red onion, finely diced
2 teaspoon sumac powder
1/2-1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoon olive oil (plus a little extra to brush the top of the pastries with) 26g

Instructions

For the dough:

Mix together 1 cup of water (240ml), instant yeast, sugar, and 1 cup (125g) flour until combined. Set aside for 10 minutes for bubbles to form.
Add the olive oil, 1/4 cup water (60ml), salt and 1.5 cups of flour (188g) Mix with a wooden spoon until well combined, kneading a few times with your hands to make sure all the flour is incorporated and dough is shaped into a ball.
Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for 45 min- 1 hr until puffy and nearly doubled.
After this rise, divide dough into 16-18 balls about 40-45 g each. Let these dough balls rest for another 10 min or so, meanwhile prep the filling and preheat oven to 400F (205C). Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.

For the spinach filling:

Wash the spinach and drain thoroughly, squeezing out as much water as you can, and chop.
Add the spinach to a bowl with the red onion, sumac powder, salt, black pepper, lemon juice and olive oil and mix to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning.

To assemble:

Roll out the dough balls into thin 5 inch (12-13cm) circles.
Place a big heaped tablespoon of spinach filling in the center of a dough circle. Fold together two sides (left and right) and pinch to close, bringing up third side to make a triangle. Pinch tightly to close so triangles don’t open up, some dough should overlap in the center. Watch the video to see this in action.
Place the pastries on the prepared baking sheets, brush lightly with olive oil and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Video

Notes

Make sure you get as much moisture as you can out of the spinach so the pastries aren't soggy. If using frozen spinach instead of fresh spinach, thaw, drain, and squeeze out all the water you can.

Taste for seasoning, and if you want to add a little more salt, go for it!

You can also fill the same dough with cheese, meat or labneh, or roll into little pizzas and top with zaatar, cheese or regular pizza ingredients.

Make ahead instructions:

You can prep the spinach filling in advance and place it in the fridge for 1-2 days tightly covered.

To make the dough a day in advance, put the dough in the fridge tightly covered. The next day, take it out and let it come to room temperature before dividing the dough into balls and rising for another 10-15 minutes.

Storing leftovers and freezing the fatayer:

Leftover fatayer will last in the fridge 3-4 days in a tightly covered container. Reheat in an oven or gently in the microwave- they'll taste better reheated in the oven.

Lebanese fatayer freeze so well. Whatever you don't think you're going to eat over the next couple of days, pop onto a baking sheet into the freezer in a single layer until frozen solid, then pile them together in a freezer bag or container. Reheat in the oven or microwave.

Nutrition