Cheese Pastries (Peynirli Poğaça)

Although there are tens of different kinds of poğaça (savory pastry), none resembles anything like Italian focaccia, where the term poğaça derives from. There are two main ways of preparing savory pastry dough: with or without yeast. Non-yeast pastries are favored by many for their rich-in-butter-nature; yet, most people make pastries with yeasty dough because it requires less amount of oil. Since I don't bake poğaças very often, I see no harm in indulging myself with feta and butter.










makes ~25 cheese pastries
2 sticks of butter, melted
1 egg, white for the dough, yolk for brushing the tops of pastries
3 cups of flour
~1/2 plain yogurt
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup white cheese or feta crumbles
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
sesame seeds

-Mix cheese and parsley in a small bowl.
-Put flour in a bowl. Pour butter, egg white, and salt. Mix well.
-Start kneading and add yogurt as much as you need to make slightly soft, easy-to-shape dough.
-Roll walnut-size pieces in your hands to make balls. Press the ball between your palms to make a flat round, ~3-3.5 inches in diameter.
-Place a small amount of cheese+parsley filling in the middle of the flat round dough. Make it in to a ball by bringing the edges into the middle and covering the filling.
-Place on a cookie tray. Brush the tops with egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes.
-Traditionally poğaças are served with tea, but you can also serve them for dinner as a side. Although there are tens of different kinds of poğaça (savory pastry), none resembles anything like Italian focaccia, where the term poğaça derives from. There are two main ways of preparing savory pastry dough: with or without yeast. Non-yeast pastries are favored by many for their rich-in-butter-nature; yet, most people make pastries with yeasty dough because it requires less amount of oil. Since I don't bake poğaças very often, I see no harm in indulging myself with feta and butter.

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