Flaounes are the traditional Easter cheese breads we make in Cyprus. Traditionally they are made on Good Friday and it’s not an easy job. The preparations usually start from the previous day and on Friday most female members of the family get up from the crack to dawn to start preparing them. I have memories when I was young when we all used to help making them and then we had to take them to our neighbourhood’s “fourno” which was a traditional bread bakery with wood oven and we had to wait patiently for our turn to have ours baked.
These cheese breads are made with a very flavourful bread dough and filled with a cheese called “Pafitiko” made during the Easter period for flaounes. However, this can be substituted by a mixture of other Cypriot cheeses such as halloumi or kaskavalli or the Greek cheeses ladotyri Mytilinis, graviera, kefalograviera and some kefalotyri. Kefalotyri is usually very salty, so don’t add too much. We usually make more dough than necessary to make some koulouria, which is a very aromatic bread.
I have just finished the procedure of making them and I made 12 medium-sized flaounes with the quantity of flour used and there was some left to make two koulouria.
Tags: Breads, Cheese, Cypriot, dough, Greek cheese, made with phyllo, pies, Traditional
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
More Cyprian delights! I don’t recall ever eating these but they sound really tasty with all that cheese Ivy.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Never had these either, but yours looks great!
April 24th, 2008 at 12:11 am
I’ve never had these, but I sure would like to try them as they sound absolutely wonderful. Another winner, Ivy!
April 24th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I’ve also never been exposed to this before but wow they sure look good. It seems that nearly every “Greek” restaurant I’ve eaten at growing up has not done Greek food justice. This looks really tasty
April 24th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
These look and sound delicious Ivy. I love learning so much about traditional Greek dishes from your blog.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I think they look wonderful. Perfect for an Easter celebration!
April 25th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Ivy these look stunning so perfect for your Easter celebration
Rosie x
April 25th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Aglaia taught me to prepare mahleb. These breads sound so delicious I may try them when I get some of the cheese. I saw some kasseri in the shop the other day:D
April 25th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Thanks everyone for commenting.
Val, Kaseri is not suitable for Flaounes as it is a cheese that melts.
November 25th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I lived on Cyprus for a few months including Easter. My dad was a Greek Cypriot and our family loved the experience. These Flaounes may look and sound good, but unless the locals did something wrong, they really didn’t taste that good. We’ll have to try this recipe and see how they turn out.
There was actually a version filled with sweets that was really good.
Every time we went somewhere during the Easter season, the relatives were giving us more Flaounes than we could eat … a lot of fun.
If you want a treat … go to Cyprus. It is a beautiful island paradise and the folks are wonderful.
March 1st, 2010 at 11:38 am
hi, we make flaunes every easter, the recipe i have has been handed down from my mother its very similar to yours. we use peccorino cheese thats available and mix with halloumi and other cheeses. we are a big family and we all get together in one home and all help including the very young members of six years and make it a fun day we produce over 250 flaunes and get the male memebers to do the mixing of the dough and also the making, and baking. we also make a large ammount of koulouria. we wish you all a happy easter
March 1st, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Nice to meet you Christa. Pecorino would be a lovely substitue for the Cypriot cheese.
Yes, that's how we used to make flaounes as well. All the family helping. I am really happy you are still keeping our traditions.