Tahinopita

Rolled thin, spread, and coiled flat like a snail so the layers separate rather than baking into one.

Vegan.

Ingredients

the dough

• 500 g plain flour
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 280 ml warm water

the filling

• 300 g tahini, well stirred
• 150 g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

to finish

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Method

1. IT IS ROLLED THIN, SPREAD, AND COILED FLAT LIKE A SNAIL, so the layers separate rather than baking into one. The dough is taken out to a large thin rectangle, smeared with the tahini paste, rolled up into a long rope, and then that rope is wound round itself flat on the tray and pressed down. What that produces is a spiral of dozens of thin layers with tahini between every one of them, and because tahini is pure fat and sesame solids it behaves like the butter in a laminated pastry: it keeps the layers apart in the oven. Pulled apart warm, a tahinopita comes away in coils. Made as a simple filled round instead, the same ingredients bake into a sweet bread with a seam of tahini in it, and the whole character is gone.
2. THE TAHINI IS STIRRED THOROUGHLY BEFORE IT IS MEASURED. A jar separates into solid paste at the bottom and oil on top, and which part you spoon out changes the filling completely: the oil alone soaks into the dough and disappears, the paste alone is stiff, tears the thin dough while spreading, and will not keep layers apart. Stirred back together to an even cream, it spreads.
3. IT IS SPREAD TO THE EDGES ON THREE SIDES AND NOT THE FOURTH. A clear border along the far long edge only, so the rope seals when it is rolled up. Spread right to every edge and the filling squeezes out of the ends as it is coiled; left short all round and the outer layers are dry.
4. THE COIL IS PRESSED DOWN FLAT BEFORE IT PROVES. Firmly, to about two centimetres. Left tall it bakes into a dome with a raw middle; pressed flat the heat reaches the centre and the spiral stays visible on top.
5. IT IS BAKED LONGER AND COOLER THAN A BREAD. 170°C for forty minutes. The filling is a third of its weight in sugar and will scorch at bread temperature before the layered middle is cooked, and a scorched tahini filling is distinctly bitter.
6. The dough made: flour, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil and warm water, kneaded 10 MINUTES to a smooth soft dough.
7. Covered and risen 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES.
8. The tahini STIRRED THOROUGHLY in its jar until the separated oil is fully worked back in, then beaten with the sugar, cinnamon and cloves.
9. The dough rolled out on a large surface to a thin rectangle about 50 by 35 cm.
10. The tahini mixture spread over it, right to the edges on THREE sides, leaving a 3 cm BORDER along the far long edge.
11. Rolled up from the near long edge into a long tight rope, finishing on the clear border so it seals.
12. The rope COILED flat on a lined tray, round and round from the centre out, like a snail.
13. PRESSED DOWN firmly to about 2 cm thick.
14. Covered and proved 45 MINUTES.
15. Brushed with the tablespoon of olive oil and the sesame scattered over.
16. Baked at 170°C for 40 MINUTES, until deep golden.
17. TESTED: pulled gently at the edge, it should come away in COILS rather than tearing like bread. Cooled on a rack; keeps 4 days.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Cyprus · All recipes