With a pasta machine, making your own phyllo pastry dough isn’t too hard. I must admit, the dough is pretty difficult to knead initially, so I suggest using a stand mixer. The recipe I used from the Spruce Eats doesn’t mention a stand mixer, but it would be very helpful if you have one. The phyllo pastry has a few surprising ingredients that differentiate it from other doughs — lemon and white vinegar. I could smell it as I kneaded the dough. The recipe I followed uses more flour than other recipes, but it all came together in the end. Even with extra water, it didn’t come completely together when I was kneading, but I knew not to worry, as the pasta machine would fix it the next day. Whenever your dough — any dough — doesn’t come together too well, don’t fret. Let the gluten relax overnight and the pasta machine do the work the next day.
I was worried that the feta flavor would be too strong in this greek spinach pie, better known as spanakopita. However, the flavor mostly cooked out and it wasn’t a concern for my non-feta-loving family members. The recipe I referenced was from the Mediterranean Dish, but I ended up using fresh spinach, less parsley, and less feta. Since I was also using homemade phyllo pastry, instead of having giant sheets, I had long strips. I improvised and ended up doing three or so layers of dough below and above the filling. The advice from the Mediterranean Dish that stuck with me was to be liberal with the olive oil! It’s what makes your phyllo turn golden, and helps it not stick to itself, creating the delicate flakiness that surrounds the spanakopita filling. Another thing to note is that this bakes low and slow in the oven, to prevent the burning of the pastry I presume. So keep in mind that this has a one hour bake time!
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cups of hot water
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 lemon’s juice
- 1 bunch spinach, washed and chopped
- 1/2 bunch parsley, stems removed, finely chopped
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 8 oz quality feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 tsp dried dill weed
- freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
- The day before, for the phyllo, make a well in the flour, then add in hot water, vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice. Mix with a wooden spoon, then knead by hand for 20 minutes, or until the dough is smooth. (or use a stand mixer) Refrigerate the dough overnight.
- The next day, remove the dough from the fridge and allow to return to room temperature. Take a fist sized section of dough, press it into a disk, and run it through the widest setting of the pasta maker.
- Laminate the dough, press it together, then feed it through perpendicular through the pasta maker. Repeat until a smooth rectangle forms.
- Slowly increment the pasta maker until you get to the narrowest setting (setting 9 on my machine)
- To assemble the bottom, brush a casserole dish with olive oil. Lay phyllo strips along the bottom, long enough to go up the sides of the dish, brushing with olive oil between strips. Continue until you have around three layers.
- For the filling, combine all remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix until everything is evenly distributed. Add the filling to the phyllo lined casserole dish.
- To assemble the top layers of the spanakopita, first wrap the phyllo that is up the sides of the dish back over the filling, to seal it in a package. With more phyllo, assemble around three layers on top of the filling, liberally brushing with olive oil, and making sure to tuck in excess phyllo down the sides. The final product should look like a package.
- Bake for 1 hour at 325F. Remove from the oven and let stand for at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving, enjoy!
