Albanian Pite - salt

Method

• Dough: 1.
• Mix salt, water and 2 tablespoons oil together in a medium-sized bowl.
• Slowly add in flour until mixture forms a dough.
• 2.
• Knead on a floured surface for about 5 minutes, or until the dough becomes smooth, not sticky.
• 3.
• Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let sit for 1/2 an hour.
• (Preferably in a warm place.
• I usually turn my oven on warm and let the bowl sit on the range during this time.
• It works like a charm!)
• Butter Mixture: 1.
• Melt together 4 Tablespoons each of butter and olive on the stove over low then set aside until needed.
• Putting it all together: 1.
• After dough has risen, place it on a floured surface.
• 2.
• Roll it with your hands into a snake-like shape (think kindergartners playing with clay!)
• 3.
• Cut off golf-ball sized pieces (I got about 28 out of my snake of dough).
• 4.
• Form the pieces into balls by folding the edges of the dough inward.
• Flip over so the smooth side of the dough balls faces up.
• 5.
• With a rolling pin, flatten the dough balls into about 3-4 circles/ovals (you want the dough as thin as possible).
• 6.
• Take each dough circle and individually stretch it out even further by hand (think pizza-making!).
• 7.
• As you stretch out each circle, you want to start stacking them on top of each other and sealing the edges of each together.
• In between each layer, brush on some of the butter mixture.
• So, itll go:
• -Stretch one circle of dough, lay it on the table -Brush on butter mixture (cover the entire surface) -Stretch another circle of dough -Lay the second circle on top of the first, and pull the edges of the second circle so it aligns with the first circle -Press edges together so they fuse -REPEAT
• Youll want to make three piles of these stacks of dough circles.
• One pile will have 5 layers; this will be your inner layer of the pie.
• The other two piles will be your bottom layer and top layer of the pie.
• These two stacks should have about an equal amount of dough layers just split the remaining the dough circles in half after making your first stack of the inner layer.
• NOW you get to assemble the actual pie.
• Preheat your oven to 375F.
• 8.
• Brush a little of the butter mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 baking sheet.
• Move your bottom layer of dough (stretch it further as you move it) and place on the baking sheet.
• Stretch the dough so it covers the bottom of the pan and pinch the edges of the dough directly to the pan so it sticks.
• 9.
• Squeeze the water from your spinach and then spread half of it evenly on the dough.
• 10.
• Sprinkle some feta evenly on top of the spinach.
• Amount is to your taste.
• 11.
• Drizzle a little of the butter mixture over the spinach and feta.
• 12.
• Repeat steps 8-11 with your thinner middle layer of dough and the remaining spinach and feta.
• 13.
• Place the top layer of dough on top and pinch the corners of the dough together so all edges of the pie are sealed.
• 14.
• Brush MORE butter on the top of the dough.
• 15.
• Place dough in oven and bake until the top is nice and brown (my oven took about 45 minutes for this, yours will probably be different!).
• 16.
• Slice and serve immediately.
• Leftovers are quite delicious too!