Kourou is a type of phyllo which I would describe it somewhere between a plain phyllo (flour, oil, salt and water, sometimes vinegar), and puff pastry. Kourou phyllo does not expand as puff pastry nor is it crispy like the plain phyllo. It is an unleavened phyllo but light and flaky due to the butter it contains. In Greece you can get tyropita (cheese pie) with a plain dough phyllo with puff pastry, with bougatsa pastry or with kourou pastry. Each one has a very different texture and taste but each one is better than the other. The filling is usually made only with feta. However, a mixture of other cheese like anthotyro, xynomyzithra or goat cheese takes it to another level. I added NOTHING at all in the filling. No eggs, no cream, no pepper NOTHING, just to highlight the taste of the cheese. If your cheese tastes good, then your tyropita will be perfect.
This is another entry which goes both to the Savory Pies Event which is until the 30th of September, 2008 and to the World Food Day Event, which my blog sister Val, of More than Burnt Toast and I are co-hosting. This entry represents Greece and I will be posting another one for my country Cyprus. The deadline for this event is the 16th of October.
Ingredients for 4 layers of phyllo
Preparation time: 30 minutes + 15 to rest
Baking time: 45 minutes
Yields: 15 pieces
For the Dough
- 600 grams of self rising flour
- 250 grams of margarine or butter
- 200 grams of Greek yoghurt
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- olive oil
For the filling
- 600 grams of Greek feta
- 400 grams of other cheese (I used xynomyzithra, a Cretan cheese) (or just use 1 kilo feta)
Directions
Bring yoghurt to room temperature and mix with the egg and lemon juice.
Cut the butter into small pieces and mix with the flour, salt and sugar in the mixer’s bowl. You can either mix the dough by hand or with the mixer hook. Add yoghurt mixture and mix until you have a soft dough which does not stick on the mixer bowl and on your hands. Cover with cling film and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven at 180 degrees Centigrade and grease a baking tin 30 x 25 cms with olive oil.
Flour your working surface and divide dough into four pieces. The two pieces which will be on the bottom must be slightly bigger as they will cover the sides of the tin.
Roll the dough out into a phyllo about 0,3 centimetres, trying to give it the shape of the tin. I use my Tupperware rolling surface as it is easy to invert the phyllo into the tin. You may roll it out on parchment paper.
After placing the first phyllo, brush with olive oil and then add the second phyllo. Spread the cheese on the phyllo and continue with third (brushing with oil) and the fourth. If your phyllo is bigger than the edge of the tin cut it with a knife and then you must join all phyllos together, trying to shape them. This is usually done with the fingers but I used tweezers to do this.
Finally brush the last phyllo with olive oil and slightly carve with a sharp knife.
Bake until golden brown.
See in above picture where you can cut the phyllo.
You may also make loukanikopita (sausage pie) with this phyllo: Encase a Frankfurt sausage in the phyllo, brush with egg or oil and bake, et voila.
Tags: Food events, made with phyllo, phyllo, Traditional
September 19th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
this looks exceptional Ivy! it makes me homesick:)
September 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Hi, Heart. Glad to see you at the English site as well.
September 19th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Ivy, did you have the ladies over for “tsai”? The array is making me hungry…especially the sausage roll.
September 19th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Peter, just a hungry family.
September 19th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
wow looks so yummy!! Lovely pics!! thanks for sharing it..lovely entry to the event
September 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Wonderful Ivy! Great pita done with painstaking care, and i liked the loukaopita as well. Bravo!
September 19th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Thank you Sam. It’s much easier than it looks and I also love loukanikopita and some times make it with the small cocktail sausages (forgot to mention that).
I also forgot to mention that you can buy ready made kourou phyllo but I am not sure if you can get it abroad. However homemade is much better.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I love the one you made with feta filling. It kind of looks like cheesecake with a crust on top. Lovely Ivy.
And the crust dough looks so flaky…
September 19th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Ivy you are one talented lady and this is just another example of your talents, absolutely delicious!
Maria
x
September 19th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I only knew about phyllo.
And you made your own pastry. That itseld had to be delicious.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:25 am
That dish looks so delicious! I love feta and Greek food!
Cheers,
Rosa
September 20th, 2008 at 2:46 am
My mouth is watering Ivy! I love that pastry and especially that loukanopita…mmmm
September 20th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Hi ivy
learned a new recipe..thanks to you..simply amazing and quite a process, eh !
September 20th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Ivy, what a beautiful dish. You did an excellent job of creating it. The phyllo and the filling are just so delicious. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us.
September 20th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Beautiful, Ivy! I especially would like to make the loukanikopita. I can’t get loukaniko here though. I don’t suppose you’ve posted a recipe for it? (I know, very few people make their own sausage, so I shouldn’t even ask, it’s just that I have such confidence in you!)
September 20th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Thanks everybody for your love comments.
Lulu, I haven’t made actual sausages yet.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Ivy, I have tagged you for a meme on my blog on today’s post. Have fun!
September 20th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
How delicious! I’d love a slice of this Ivy.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Looks tasty,Bookmarked.but I have a question?Is spanakopita another version of this.I have heard a recipe “spanakotyropita”-is there such a dish.Please do confirm.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Hi Sweatha and welcome. Spanakopita means spinach pie and is a pie with spinach (some other greens can also be added, such as silver beet or Swiss Chard and some herbs). This is our lenten version. On other occasions we add cheese (tyri) usually feta, and although we call that spanakopita as well, some people want to call it spanakotyropita to emphasize the use of cheese in it. The phyllo for spanakopita is the plain one mentioned in my post.
This is totally different than spanakopita as the phyllo is different and of course the filling.
http://kopiaste.org/2008/02/sp.....pe-phyllo/
and the lenten version
http://kopiaste.org/2008/04/sp.....en-cyprus/
September 20th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
This is an excellent dish to represent Greece sis. Thank you so much for participating in our attempts to bring attention to World Food Day and to feed the world!!!!
September 20th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Val. what are blogging sisters for if we don’t help each other. I am now working on the post for my entry for Cyprus.
September 20th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
That’s really interesting–I’ve never seen a pie like this, but it looks absolutely delicious! I wish I could get my hands on a high enough quality cheese to make this. One of these days, for sure
September 20th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
THANKS A TON,IVY
September 21st, 2008 at 1:37 am
I have never had this kind of dough, Ivy, but wow does it look good. Your pita has my mouth watering with all that creamy cheesy filling!
September 21st, 2008 at 11:05 pm
How I would love to eat at your house. I’m just drooling over that delicious feta. What a delightful dish!
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:57 am
i’ll submit my entry for your event this week, ivy. am not well at the moment, but hey… i’m managing. looks a great pie!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am
Hey Arfi. Hope it’s nothing serious. Get well soon and thanks.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hey Sis…today is World Food Day!!! I wanted to thank you wholeheartedly for sharing this experience with me. Come on over and join our conga line!!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 am
Ooh a phyllo and pastry hybrid… Sounds so interesting!
November 6th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Thanks for the step by step instructions. It really helps people like me who rarely bake.