Turkish Cheese Flower Shaped Pies
I hope these daisy-shaped pies will impress you as much as they impressed me. They are actually feta cheese pies, with a very original shape and I tell you from my own experience they are also extraordinarily good. Yes, also simple to make!
Below you can find the original recipe with feta cheese, I think it's the best and the simplest. But you can play as you want with the filling, on condition it's not too runny.
Variants of salty fillings: mashed potatoes, finely chopped sauerkraut, cooked minced meat etc.
Variants of sweet fillings: well drained cow's cheese mixed with egg yolk and a little sugar/vanilla, thick jam mixed with nuts, nuts with a little sugar and cocoa or cinnamon, cooked apples or pumpkin etc.
In a deep bowl, pour the warm milk (not hot!) Add the yeast and mix well.
Add salt, sugar, one egg and softened butter.
Put flour and start mixing the dough with your hands.
Finaly, you should get a soft, non-sticky dough.
Leave it to rest and rise for 30 minutes in the bowl, covered with a towel.
While the dough is rising, prepare the cheese filling. It's very simple. Crumble or grate the telemea or feta cheese into small pieces.
Now turn the dough out onto the floured table and divide into four equal pieces.
Then cut each of the four large pieces into three smaller ones, so we get twelve equal pieces of dough.
Shape into balls and let rest on the table for ten minutes.
Now we actually start to make the daisies:
- take a ball of dough and flatten with your hands, pressing more on the sides.
Place one tablespoon of cheese in the middle.
Glue the edges together and bring the corners toward the middle.
Try to make the edges thinner, not very thick.
So, bring the corners to the middle and give the pie a round shape, as much as possible.
Now turn it upside down and notice that we have a ball again, but this time filled with cheese.
Press with your hands to flatten into a round 7-8mm thick pie.
Make four slashes into the pie, without cutting the middle.
Then make two other slashes on each of the four parts of the pie. This way we'll have twelve daisy 'petals'.
Carefully move the pie in the baking sheet. You can use your hands or a spatula, to make it easier.
As you make them, arrange in the sheet lined with baking paper.
I had two sheets of six daisies each.
Allow to rise for another ten minutes in the pan before baking.
After that, brush with egg wash. You can use only the yolks if you want them even more colorful.
Sprinkle over in the middle with sesame, poppy or nigella seeds.
Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 25 minutes, or until nicely browned.
Let cool for at least 15-20 minutes before serving, if you can wait :)
Here is a delicious section, they are very tender and fragrant.
They were just as good hot and cold. There was fight over each one of them till the last bite.
Enjoy!
