Flaounes (Traditional Cypriot Cheese Pastry)

It's Easter eve (Holy Saturday) and after seeing everyone post beautiful food on Facebook, I decided that I should make something. But what? Sweets are covered, lamb on the spit is out main course. Why not go back to my heritage and make flaounes? Flaounes are traditionally made on Holy Thursday before Good Friday. In Cyprus, the women of the village gather together and make huge batches of these time consuming pastries. Well worth it, but some recipes I've seen call for around 18 eggs. This the cheat's way, but they are still amazing!

Ingredients

• Yeast dough
  • 750g strong plain flour (bread flour will do)
  • 1 sachet dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil, water to mix
  
  
• Cheese filling
  • 250g cheese: you can use any Greek cheese, but my local Coles is small and didn't have any Greek cheeses so I used cheddar
  • 100g Haloumi,
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon crushed dried mint
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  
  
• To finish
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • sesame seeds

Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in the yeast, salt and sugar. Add the oil and enough water to make a firm dough. Knead for at least 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a plastic bag and leave in a warm place for an hour to rise.

For the filling, coarsely grate the cheeses, add the flour and baking powder then gradually stir in the beaten egg and seasonings until you have a stiffish paste (keep some of the beaten egg back if the mixture becomes too runny).
 

Divide the dough into egg sized pieces and roll these into 10cm discs.

Place a generous tablespoon of filling in the centre of each pastry disc, spreading it slightly. Pull dough up at 3 points to make a triangle, or 4 points to make a square. You should still be able to see the filling in the middle.

Press corners together to seal and leave to rise. Just before baking, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle some sesame seeds over the finished flaounes.

Bake in a hot oven at 230'C for 12-15 minutes until cheese filling is puffed and flaounes are golden.

Serve warm or cold.

Makes 12, but I easily made 16.

Kopiaste and Kali Anastasi!