Spanakopita

Authentic Greek Spanakopita in a Bread Dough:

My Greek family’s way of Enjoying Spinach!!!

Making Spanakopita in a bread dough is WELL WORTH THE EFFORT!!! I’m sure that if you try making my mother’s Spanakopita in a bread dough it will be the BEST AUTHENTIC GREEK SPANAKOPITA YOU HAVE EVER TASTED IN YOUR LIFE!!! Spanakopita in a bread dough is not the kind of Spanakopita you usually find in a restaurant or store in the United States; those kinds of Spanakopitas are typically made with a phyllo dough because Spanakopita made with a phyllo dough is a lot easier to mass produce. Spanakopita in a bread dough is made mostly by families in their homes all over the country of Greece and is a very traditional and authentically Greek kind of Spanakopita! It is typically used in Greece as an appetizer; however I LOVE to eat it for lunch with a Greek salad or as a source of nutritious vegetables for dinner as well! In addition, Spanakopita in a bread dough is easily frozen and stored making it very easy to take to work for lunch!

Here are a few links to the products I used in my YouTube video called which made Spanakopita making a little less laborious and time consuming for me!!!

Red Star active dry yeast

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Star-Active-Yeast-Pound/dp/B005KR0MZG

Helen Chen Asian Kitchen Spider Strainer

https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Kitchen-Stainless-Strainer-Natural/dp/B000PKQ3YW

Colander/Strainer/Mesh Sieve Set (I typically use 5-6 colanders when making Spanakopita!!!)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Farberware-Professional-Stainless-Steel-Mesh-Sieves-Set-3-Piece/301720691

Potato Ricer

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/home-and-decor/kitchen-utensils-and-gadgets/kitchen-utensils-and-gadgets/6130389 or

https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=fox%20run%20potato%20ricer&cat_id=4044

Another way to make the Spanakopita making process less time consuming is to split up the Spanakopita making into two days. I often do split the process into two days and this is the way I present the process in my video. Typically I will make the Spanakopita filling on Day 1, refrigerate the filling overnight, and make the bread dough and bake the Spanakopita on Day 2. Each day I spend anywhere from 3 to 4 hours on the Spanakopita. I have split my video into two main parts (Part A Spanakopita filling and Part B Spanakopita Bread Dough) because I do frequently make Spanakopita over a span of two days! But if you are very ambitious and would like to make Spanakopita all in one day, make sure to skip to the bread dough part of the video first and make the Spanakopita filling while the bread dough is rising; note that the bread dough in this video must rise twice giving you plenty of time to make the filling while the bread dough is rising!!! If you make my full recipe for Spanakopita (about 30 Spanakopita) all in one day make sure you have set aside an entire day to do so (about 8 hours or so!!!) Some other ways to make the process less time consuming are to involve other family members in the assembly of the Spanakopita (putting the filling into the Spanakopita). I have also involved my children in the process of kneading the dough and making the dough into dough balls before assembling the Spanakopita. One can also use a food processor to chop the dill in the recipe to save a bit of time. Also, using frozen spinach will be quicker than using fresh spinach because frozen spinach does not need washing or chopping. Lastly, one can cut the recipe shown in the video in HALF (making 15 Spanakopita instead of making all 30 Spanakopita). I HAVE WRITTEN OUT THE INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING HALF THE RECIPE as well for those who have less time on their hands!!! (See below). I have found, however, that freshly baked Spanakopita are generally eaten very quickly by a family and even the 30 that I make in the video never stay around for very long! Also, because they can be frozen so easily I always like to make at least 30; Cutting the recipe in half, however, is always an excellent option!!! You will find that Spanakopita in a bread dough is a lot more convenient to take on the go (for example it is easily taken to work for lunch) than the typical Spanakopita found in a phyllo dough sold in stores in America. This is because the bread dough does not flake easily like the phyllo dough does, though I love to eat Spanakopita in a phyllo dough as well! In the video I also show you what to do if you happen to have extra filling (more filling than bread dough) or if you happen to have extra bread dough (more bread dough than filling), SO YOU REALLY CANNOT GO WRONG trying this DELICIOUS AUTHENTIC GREEK recipe!!!

*My YouTube video called “How to Make the Best Greek Spinach Pie: Spanakopita in a Bread Dough!”as well as this written recipe is dedicated to quite a few very special people; first to my wonderful, talented, hard working and loving mother Antigone who created this authentic Greek recipe; to my son John who was willing to edit my video and who enjoys eating my Spanakopita; to my other two children Emily and Timothy who also love to eat Spanakopita; and to my four wonderful friends Madeline, Margaret, Pam, and Lori. Madeline and Margaret were both kind enough to taste my mother’s Spanakopita, and both of them have said that my mother’s Spanakopita is the best Spanakopita they have ever eaten in their lives!!! Pam has helped me by taste testing the recipe on several occasions to help me figure out the best ratio of dill to onions in the recipe! Lori liked the picture I posted on Facebook of my mom’s Spanakopita so much that she decided to try making Spanakopita herself! She made a very tasty looking Spanakopita in a phyllo dough!!! These four friends have inspired me to share this recipe with others both in written form and in the form of a video!!!

NOTE* This written recipe for Authentic Greek Spanakopita in a Bread Dough is designed to accompany my YouTube video called “How to Make the Best Greek Spinach Pie: Spanakopita in a Bread Dough!” It will be MUCH EASIER for you to make this kind of Spanakopita if you set aside about 34 minutes to watch my YouTube video!!!

* A few brief words about PREVENTING salmonella or Ecoli poisoning when dealing with fresh spinach: Always wash your bagged fresh spinach well especially if the bag does not indicate that the spinach has been washed! Make sure to blanche the spinach as shown in the video. If saving the nutritious liquid squeezed out from the spinach (as I do in the video) for smoothies, soups, and stews, feel free to boil it a few extra minutes: boiling kills Salmonella and Ecoli. I blanche my fresh spinach for 40 seconds to a minute and boil the spinach liquid (if saving) for 4 extra minutes to make sure it can be safely put into such things as smoothies. Obviously cooking the Spanakopita as shown in the video will totally eliminate any risk of Salmonella or Ecoli poisoning from fresh spinach! Frozen spinach has already been cooked so it should not contain any of these germs. Honestly as many years as we have been eating my mother’s Spanakopita WE HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED salmonella or Ecoli poisoning from eating cooked fresh spinach in Spanakopita!!!!

Authentic Greek Spanakopita in a Bread Dough: Full Recipe (Makes About 30 Spanakopita)

Time if Made by 1 person and using fresh spinach leaves: About 8-10 hours on one day or about 4 hours on each of two days as explained above

For the Filling:

4 16oz bags of fresh spinach (can use frozen instead of fresh or a combination of both)

1 large bunch of dill

1 large bunch of green onions

5-8 large yellow onions chopped (Through making this recipe many times I have found that the

more yellow onions you use the sweeter the Spanakopita will be; Use at least 5 as in the video but no more than 8!)

1 cup olive oil

1and 1/4 tsp salt plus 1 and 1/2 tsp of salt for chopped onions and 1/2 tsp for spinach blanching process

1/4-1/2tsp pepper to taste

For the Bread Dough:

1 5lb. bag of unbleached flour plus one Tablespoon for yeast activation

7 cups of filtered water

6-7 tablespoons of sugar plus 1 Tablespoon of sugar for yeast activation

6 and 3/4 tsp of Red Star Active Dry Yeast (I used Red

Star Active Dry Yeast in my YouTube video—see link above) or 3 envelopes of any Active Dry

Yeast appropriate for bread dough (2 and 1/4 tsp each)

1 tablespoon salt

3/4 cup vegetable oil of your choice such as Canola oil

For Spanakopita Assembly/Baking Process:

Extra unbleached flour for forming dough into balls, rolling out dough

Baking sheets (I like to use 12 by 18 inch stainless steel baking sheets)

A few teaspoons of Canola oil or any vegetable oil for greasing baking sheets

A few extra tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil for brushing tops of Spanakopita after they come out of the oven!!!

Clean kitchen tea towels for covering Spanakopita dough

Wax paper for covering baked Spanakopita

Plastic wrap for wrapping Spanakopita after they are cool

Large Ziplock bags for storing Spanakopita

Directions for Making Spanakopita Filling:

1. Wash dill and green onions. Allow to drain over colander.

2. Wash all fresh spinach and allow to drain over colander.

3. Peel and wash yellow onions. Chop yellow onions into small pieces as seen in video. Let drain over colander. Sprinkle 1and 1/2 tsp of salt over chopped onion as sits in colander. The salt will help draw the water out of the onions and make the filling less watery.

4. Blanche all Spinach (see video). Fill medium stockpot halfway full with filtered water and add 1/2 tsp salt. Bring water to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium (4 or 5) and use spider strainer to drop small batches of spinach into salted boiling water for 40s to 1 minute each. Remove blanched spinach using spider strainer and put immediately into iced water bath to stop cooking process. Then allow blanched spinach to drain over colander (see video). Continue until all spinach is blanched.

5. Dry spinach well using potato ricer. (Perfectly fine to use your hands to wring out spinach or to use a kitchen tea towel to dry spinach if you prefer, but I do prefer the potato ricer!!!) Spinach drying is VERY IMPORTANT to the Spanakopita making process!! Do not skip this step though it will be very tempting to do so!!! Spinach that is too wet will make the Spanakopita hard to fill later!! (See video). Liquid that is squeezed out from either fresh or frozen spinach is very nutritious and can be saved for soups or smoothies!!! (See video).

6. Chop all fresh spinach into smaller pieces using knife (See video).

7. Chop dill and green onions into small pieces.

8. Combine all filling ingredients in large stockpot or bowl including olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. (See video) Cover and refrigerate overnight if you are making the Spanakopita in 2 days as I typically do!

Directions for Making Spanakopita Bread Dough

1. Fill medium saucepan with 7 cups of filtered water. Warm water on stove over low medium heat (I generally use a 4). Warm water to the temperature of a baby’s bath water or until it is warm and not hot to the touch. Turn off heat.

2. Remove 1 cup of the warm water and put into medium sized bowl (see video). Dissolve 1 Tablespoon of sugar into the cup of warm water stirring with spoon.

3. Add 6 and 3/4 tsp of Red Star yeast (the yeast I used in my video) or 3 envelopes of Active Dry Yeast (2 and 1/4 tsp each) to the bowl containing the dissolved sugar and water. Stir gently with spoon. Allow yeast to activate by letting it sit in warm place for about 10 minutes watching for it to begin bubbling and expanding. To make a warm place for the yeast to activate and for the bread to rise I often turn my oven to the lowest setting for a few minutes and then turn it off making sure the oven is not hot to the touch; if it is too hot open the oven door until it is warm but NOT hot. The oven should NOT be hot enough to burn your finger in any way.

4. If yeast is activated (bubbly and expanding…see video), then add 1 Tablespoon of flour to yeast. Stir gently with spoon and allow to sit in warm place again for about 10 minutes. Flour should cause yeast to look more foamy and bubbly. If yeast will not activate throw out yeast and start again. YOU MUST HAVE ACTIVATED YEAST TO MAKE A DELICIOUS BREAD DOUGH!!! I have had a lot of success with Red Star yeast!!!

5. While yeast is activating pour 5 lb bag of unbleached flour into a large bowl.

6. Add 1 Tablespoon of salt to flour.

7. Add 6 Tablespoons of sugar to bowl containing flour.

8. Whisk dry ingredients together and make a hole in the middle of these dry ingredients with a spoon in which to start adding your wet ingredients.

9. Whisk 3/4 cup canola oil with 1 cup of the warm water. Add mixture to large bowl containing flour and sugar in hole you made for wet ingredients.

10. Add active yeast to wet ingredients in bowl.

11. Mix all ingredients together with hands. Add warmed water gradually until all flour is incorporated into the dough and there is no flour remaining on sides of large bowl. I usually use all but 1/2 cup of the warmed water but the amount you use will vary. Knead dough for about 15 minutes. Dough should still be somewhat sticky to touch (See video). Cover dough with tea towel and allow to rise in warm place (about an hour or until doubles in size).

12. After dough has risen punch dough down and knead another 10-15 minutes. Allow dough to rise A SECOND TIME by covering dough with tea towel and putting dough in warm place (About an hour or until dough doubles again in size).

13. After dough has risen a second time divide dough into two large parts (Dough 1 and Dough 2).

14. Cover Dough 2 with kitchen towel while working with Dough1. Divide Dough 1 into 3 large balls of dough about equal in size. Use small amounts of extra flour as needed when dividing and shaping dough.

15. Form each of the 3 large balls into a log around 15 inches long. Score log into 5 equal sections with knife (about 3 inches each). Divide log of dough into 5 equal sections by gently pulling dough apart with hands. Roll each of the 5 sections into small balls using flour as needed to keep dough from sticking too much to hands!!!

16. After all dough from Dough 1 is rolled into balls you should have 15 small balls formed. Cover them with towel.

17. Repeat ball making process with Dough 2. Now you should have 30 small balls of dough made. Cover them all with kitchen towels.

How to Assemble and Bake Spanakopita

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Oil a baking sheet by brushing it with a vegetable oil such as Canola oil. (I end up using 4 baking sheets and then using one of them twice in order to bake all 30 Spanakopita). I find that about 5 Spanakopita fit easily on a baking sheet.

3. Dust a rolling pin with unbleached flour. Use rolling pin to roll out a dough ball into a 6-7 inch circle.

4. Remove filling from refrigerator. Spoon a few tablespoons of filling into one half of the circle leaving about a one inch border around the filling.

5. Fold one half of dough over the filling onto the other half of the dough (You should now see the dough is in the shape of a half moon or semi circle). Use your fingers to seal the edges of the Spanakopita shut as shown in video!

6. Continue filling Spanakopita until 5 Spanakopita are on one baking tray.

7. Bake tray of Spanakopita for 20-35 minutes at 350 degrees or until all Spanakopita are golden brown on top. After 20 minutes keep checking the Spanakopita every 3 minutes until you see the beautiful golden brown coloring. Different ovens will behave differently!!! There is nothing like the smell of Greek Spanakopita baking in the oven!!!

8. After Spanakopita is golden brown brush each Spanakopita with olive oil. Cover with wax paper. Don’t forget to taste one or two! Or more!! They are SO DELICIOUS after they first come out of the oven!!!

9. Continue filling and baking Spanakopita until all 30 Spanakopita are baked.

10. After Spanakopita are cool turn them over so that they will be less moist: in this way they can be stored for a longer period of time.

11. If you have extra Spanakopita filling or extra bread dough DO NOT PANIC!! That happens to me sometimes, though most often this recipe comes out exactly right! But if you happen to have extra filling simply sauté the extra filling as shown in video. If you have extra bread dough simply bake extra balls of dough as shown in video and brush with olive oil after baking.

12. After Spanakopita are COMPLETELY COOL ON ALL SIDES wrap each individually in plastic wrap as shown in video. Then put them in groups into large Ziplock bags. Put in refrigerator for about a week or in freezer for about a month. Enjoy!!! Remember each time you make Spanakopita the process will become easier and easier!!! Congratulate yourself on making TRULY AUTHENTIC GREEK SPANAKOPITA!!!

Authentic Greek Spanakopita in a Bread Dough: Half Recipe (Makes about 15 Spanakopita)

Time if made by 1 person and if using fresh spinach leaves: About 5 hours total on one day

*When Making half the recipe I usually make the bread dough first (See part B of Video), and Make the Filling (Part A of the Video) While the Bread Dough is Rising!!!

For the Bread Dough:

10 cups of unbleached flour plus 1/2 Tablespoon for yeast activation

7 cups of filtered water (better to have more than you need than not enough)!

3 tablespoons of sugar plus 1/2 Tablespoon of sugar for yeast activation

3 and 1/2 tsp of Red Star Active Dry Yeast (I used Red Star Active Dry Yeast in my YouTube video—see link above) or a little less than 2 envelopes

(2 and 1/4 tsp each) of any Active Dry Yeast appropriate for bread dough (measure out 3 and 1/2 tsp!!! )

1/2 tablespoon salt

3/8 cup vegetable oil of your choice such as Canola oil

For the Filling:

2 16oz bags of fresh spinach (can use frozen instead of fresh or a combination of both)

1/2 of a large bunch of dill

1/2 of a large bunch of green onions (I use about 4)

4 large yellow onions chopped

1/2 cup olive oil

3/4 tsp salt plus 3/4tsp of salt to sprinkle over chopped onions and 1/2 tsp for spinach blanching process

1/4tsp pepper

For Spanakopita Assembly/Baking Process:

Extra unbleached flour for forming dough into balls, rolling out dough

Baking sheets (I like to use 12 by 18 inch stainless steel baking sheets)

A few teaspoons of Canola oil or any vegetable oil for greasing baking sheets

A few extra tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil for brushing tops of Spanakopita after they come out of the oven!!!

Clean kitchen tea towels for covering Spanakopita dough

Wax paper for covering baked Spanakopita

Plastic wrap for wrapping Spanakopita after they are cool

Large Ziplock bags for storing Spanakopita

Directions for Making Spanakopita Bread Dough: Half Recipe

1. Fill medium saucepan with 7 cups of filtered water. Warm water on stove over low medium heat (I generally use a 4). Warm water to the temperature of a baby’s bath water or until it is warm and not hot to the touch. Turn off heat.

2. Remove 1/2 cup of the warm water and put into medium sized bowl (see video). Dissolve 1/2 Tablespoon of sugar into the cup of warm water stirring with spoon.

3. Add 3 and 1/2 tsp of Red Star Active Dry Yeast (the yeast I used in my video) or a little less than 2 envelopes (2 and 1/4 tsp each) of any Active Dry Yeast (measure out 3 and 1/2 tsp) to the bowl containing the dissolved sugar and water. Stir gently with spoon. Allow yeast to activate by letting it sit in warm place for about 10 minutes watching for it to begin bubbling and expanding. To make a warm place for the yeast to activate and for the bread to rise I often turn my oven to the lowest setting for a few minutes and then turn it off making sure the oven is not hot to the touch; if it is too hot open the oven door until it is warm but NOT hot. The oven should NOT be hot enough to burn your finger in any way.

4. If yeast is activated (bubbly and expanding…see video), then add 1/2 Tablespoon of flour to yeast. Stir gently with spoon and allow to sit in warm place again for about 10 minutes. Flour should cause yeast to look more foamy and bubbly. If yeast will not activate throw out yeast and start again. YOU MUST HAVE ACTIVATED YEAST TO MAKE A DELICIOUS BREAD DOUGH!!! I have had a lot of success with Red Star yeast!!!

5. While yeast is activating pour 10 cups of unbleached flour into a large bowl.

6. Add 1/2 Tablespoon of salt to flour.

7. Add 3 Tablespoons of sugar to bowl containing flour.

8. Whisk dry ingredients together and make a hole in the middle of these dry ingredients with a spoon in which to start adding your wet ingredients.

9. Whisk 3/8 cup canola oil with 1/2 cup of the warm water. Add mixture to large bowl containing flour and sugar in hole you made for wet ingredients.

10. Add active yeast to wet ingredients in bowl.

11. Mix all ingredients together with hands. Add warmed water gradually until all flour is incorporated into the dough and there is no flour remaining on sides of large bowl ( the amount of water you use will vary). Knead dough for about 15 minutes. Dough should still be somewhat sticky to touch (See video). Cover dough with tea towel and allow to rise in warm place (about an hour or until doubles in size).

12. While dough begins to rise, start making your Spanakopita Filling!!!

Directions for Making Spanakopita Filling:

1. Wash dill and green onions. Allow to drain over colander.

2. Wash all fresh spinach and allow to drain over colander.

3. Peel and wash yellow onions. Chop yellow onions into small pieces as seen in video. Let drain over colander. Sprinkle 3/4 tsp of salt over chopped onion as sits in colander. The salt will help draw the water out of the onions and make the filling less watery.

4. Blanche all Spinach (see video). Fill medium stockpot halfway full with filtered water and add 1/2 tsp salt. Bring water to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium (4 or 5) and use spider strainer to drop small batches of spinach into salted boiling water for 40s to 1 minute each. Remove blanched spinach using spider strainer and put immediately into iced water bath to stop cooking process. Then allow blanched spinach to drain over colander (see video). Continue until all spinach is blanched.

5. Dry spinach well using potato ricer. (Perfectly fine to use your hands to wring out spinach or to use a kitchen tea towel to dry spinach if you prefer, but I do prefer the potato ricer!!!) Spinach drying is VERY IMPORTANT to the Spanakopita making process!! Do not skip this step though it will be very tempting to do so!!! Spinach that is too wet will make the Spanakopita hard to fill later!! (See video). Liquid that is squeezed out from either fresh or frozen spinach is very nutritious and can be saved for soups or smoothies!!! (See video).

6. Chop all fresh spinach into smaller pieces using knife (See video).

7. Chop dill and green onions into small pieces.

8. Combine all filling ingredients in large stockpot or bowl including olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (See video)

9. After dough has risen the first time punch dough down and knead another 10-15 minutes. Allow dough to rise A SECOND TIME by covering dough with tea towel and putting dough in warm place (About an hour or until dough doubles again in size). Continue making filling if you need to do so while dough is rising the second time.

10. After dough has risen a second time divide dough into 3 large balls of dough about equal in size. Use small amounts of extra flour as needed when dividing and shaping dough.

11. Form each of the 3 large balls into a log around 15 inches long. Score log into 5 equal sections with knife (about 3 inches each). Divide log of dough into 5 equal sections by gently pulling dough apart with hands. Roll each of the 5 sections into small balls using flour as needed to keep dough from sticking too much to hands!!!

12. You should have 15 small balls formed. Cover them with towel.

How to Assemble and Bake Spanakopita

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Oil a baking sheet by brushing it with a vegetable oil such as Canola oil. (I end up using 3-4 baking sheets when I bake 15 Spanakopita). I find that about 4-5 Spanakopita fit easily on a baking sheet. The longer the dough sits under its towel before assembling the Spanakopita the larger the balls will become (due to rising) and the larger the Spanakopita will likely become!!!

3. Dust a rolling pin with unbleached flour. Use rolling pin to roll out a dough ball into a 6-7 inch circle.

4. Remove filling from refrigerator. Spoon a few tablespoons of filling into one half of the circle leaving about a one inch border around the filling.

5. Fold one half of dough over the filling onto the other half of the dough (You should now see the dough is in the shape of a half moon or semi circle). Use your fingers to seal the edges of the Spanakopita shut as shown in video!

6. Continue filling Spanakopita until 4-5 Spanakopita are on one baking tray.

7. Bake tray of Spanakopita for 20-35 minutes at 350 degrees or until all Spanakopita are golden brown on top. After 20 minutes keep checking the Spanakopita every 3 minutes until you see the beautiful golden brown coloring. Different ovens will behave differently!!! There is nothing like the smell of Greek Spanakopita baking in the oven!!!

8. After Spanakopita is golden brown brush each Spanakopita with olive oil. Cover with wax paper. Don’t forget to taste one or two! Or more!! They are SO DELICIOUS after they first come out of the oven!!!

9. Continue filling and baking Spanakopita until all 15 Spanakopita are baked.

10. After Spanakopita are cool turn them over so that they will be less moist: in this way they can be stored for a longer period of time.

11. If you have extra Spanakopita filling or extra bread dough DO NOT PANIC!! That happens to me sometimes, though most often this recipe comes out exactly right! But if you happen to have extra filling simply sauté the extra filling as shown in video. If you have extra bread dough simply bake extra balls of dough as shown in video and brush with olive oil after baking.

12. After Spanakopita are COMPLETELY COOL ON ALL SIDES wrap each individually in plastic wrap as shown in video. Then put them in groups into large Ziplock bags. Put in refrigerator for about a week or in freezer for about a month. Enjoy!!! Remember each time you make Spanakopita the process will become easier and easier!!! Congratulate yourself on making TRULY AUTHENTIC GREEK SPANAKOPITA!!!