Spanakopita, a Greek dish made with phyllo dough, spinach, and cheese, is easy to prepare but requires some tips. The spinach mixture should be dry, and the phyllo dough should be kept moist. Frozen spinach should be thawed and squeezed to remove moisture. Use a sharp knife or scissors to cut the dough, and score the top of the pie version before baking to make serving easier.
Spanakopita, a Greek dish made with phyllo dough, cheese and spinach, is a popular appetizer for gatherings and is relatively easy to prepare. Some of the best tips for doing this include making sure the spinach mixture is as dry as possible and keeping the phyllo dough moist as you work with it. When making triangle-shaped spanakopita, always use sharp kitchen shears or a very sharp knife, and pie versions of this dish should be trimmed before cooking to make serving the spanakopita easier.
Excess moisture can inhibit the cooking process of the phyllo dough; therefore, the spinach mixture should be free from extra water. This is relatively easy to do with fresh spinach, although using it can be expensive as it reduces the bulk considerably. Frozen spinach is a great and cheap alternative, however it’s usually really wet. One of the best tips for making spanakopita is to fully thaw and squeeze all the moisture out of the frozen spinach, then cook it in a skillet to evaporate any additional moisture. This will ensure that the phyllo dough puffs up and develops the light, buttery layers so commonly associated with this dish.
Like most pastry doughs, air is phyllo’s worst enemy. This product can dry out quickly when left uncovered, making it difficult to work with and ruining the texture of the finished dish. To avoid this problem, cover any pieces you aren’t working with with a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap, then cover it with a damp kitchen towel. This will keep the dough moist without exposing it to water. As you work, take one sheet at a time and cover the phyllo dough quickly to keep the sheets pliable and soft.
A sharp knife or pair of scissors is essential for making triangle-shaped spanakopita. Because of the several layers of dough this dish requires, you’ll need to cut a good amount of it, and doing it quickly and cleanly will keep the pasta from drying out and give you an evenly spanakopita. A dull cutting tool can press the layers of dough together at the edges, making them harder to work with, and can take longer to the cutting process.
While the triangle versions come out of the oven in individual servings, the traditional pie variety doesn’t; therefore, you should always score the top of the dough before baking. Because phyllo puffs up so significantly during the cooking process, it can be difficult to cut through it without messing up the layers after everything is cooked through. Just before placing the spanakopita in the oven, cut off the top of the phyllo until you reach the filling, cutting the pieces into the size you will be serving the dish. This will allow the top, fluffy layer to cook in separate sections while still allowing the filling to cook together as a whole. After you take it out of the oven, you can use these scoring marks to cut the spanakopita completely before serving.
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