Spanakopita is an iconic traditional Greek Spinach Pie made of perfectly crispy layers of phyllo dough and a comforting filling of spinach and feta cheese with flavours of fresh herbs and aromatics. A delicious savoury pie loved not only in Greece but around the world. Suitable for every time of the day, as an appetizer or starter, a main dish or a snack!

This is the authentic Greek spanakopita recipe with all the instructions you will need, step by step so it will be very easy to follow for you to recreate this traditional delight from scratch.

You can use store-bought phyllo pastry but the result will not be the same. The rustic homemade dough for spanakopita makes all the difference so I strongly recommend you to try it. There is nothing better than these layers of golden, crunchy and flaky pastry dough, baked until crispy perfection.. Simply amazing!

Ingredients

For a baking tray with a diameter of 42 cm

For the dough

• 650-700 g all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 450 ml lukewarm water

For the filling

• 1 kg of fresh spinach or 500 g frozen
• 500 g feta cheese
• 3 eggs
• Salt and pepper

Optionally you can add:

• 1 onion
• 1 leek, the white part, will give sweetness
• Fresh herbs such as spring onions and dill

Also

• 1 to 1.5 cups olive oil
• Cornstarch to stretch the phyllo sheets

In wild greens pies, we always use oil and not butter. Olive oil, not seed oil, is by far the best choice both in terms of nutrients and in terms of taste and aroma. For a lighter result, simply reduce the amount of olive oil. Although the truth is, this pie needs a considerable amount. But you need to make sure it doesn’t get greasy. The oil will make the phyllo sheets crispy and shiny, but it should be totally absorbed when you take the tray out of the oven. A pie that swims in oil, doesn’t look appealing.

Preparation

For the filling

The filling of the spinach pie can be made in two ways:

Raw filling

In this case, you need fresh spinach.  Rinse the spinach and keep the leaves only. Sprinkle some salt.

Massage the spinach to wilt and start releasing its water.

Let it sit for an hour and squeeze out the remaining water. Drain the water and add the herbs, the eggs, the crumbled feta cheese and the pepper and stir.

Sautéed filling

I always prefer sautéed spinach, as it gets sweeter and adds more flavour to the pie.

Finely cut the onion and leek. Add some olive oil (2-3 tbsp) in a pan and sweat the onions and leek in low heat until soft. Tip in the spinach and sauté until wilted, if it is fresh, or until all the water evaporates, if frozen. Add the finely chopped herbs and sauté some more. Finally, season with salt and pepper and let it cool down.

Once cool, add the eggs and feta cheese and stir.

• In my opinion, the eggs are not necessary. They go into the fillings to give consistency but I have a feeling it gets juicier without them. But since the traditional recipe says eggs, we will put them in too.
• You can crumble the cheese or grate it on the grater. But you can also add it in thin slices, peels, using the vegetable peeler, something I really like because it distributes the taste evenly and gives a special taste without standing out. Keep this detail that might seem trivial, but it really makes a difference! Some people like large pieces of feta cheese in the filling, so choose the way that best suits your taste.

For the dough

In a mixer or a mixing bowl, combine the water, oil, vinegar and salt. Gradually add the flour, kneading until you have a soft and elastic dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl and sticks slightly to your hands. Cover it and let it rest for an hour.

How to assemble

When the time is up, the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Divide it into 12 pieces and make balls. Cover them with a towel to prevent them from drying out. Take one ball, sprinkle the surface of the counter with cornstarch and, using a rolling pin, roll it out to a size slightly larger than your baking pan. Generously grease the pan and spread it out so that it sticks out all around. Drizzle it with olive oil. Repeat with the next four balls.

Over the 5th sheet, spread 1/3 of the filling.

Roll out the 6^th sheet and spread it wrinkled so that it covers the filling but does not protrude from the baking pan.

Add another 1/3 of the filling here and there and spread the 7th sheet on top.

Pour the last 1/3 of the filling and spread the last 5 sheets on top, wrinkled and without protruding from the baking pan, always drizzling with oil in between.

Crimp the edges of the pie and cut the surface into pieces without reaching the knife all the way down. Grease the surface well and bake the pie in a preheated oven at 200C for about 40 minutes but this depends on the oven.

Tips

• The rolling pin used to open the phyllo sheets must be a thin, elongated and cylindrical rod. The standard rolling pin with handles is not suitable for this job. To roll out the sheet you need to sprinkle the kitchen counter or table with plenty of cornflour. Press the ball to make it flat, pour corn flour on it as well and roll it out so that the diameter is about 20 cm. Again, pour cornflour and wrap it around the stick, moving back and forth as you wrap it while gently pressing it. Spread it out and repeat until it reaches the desired size. Each time you roll it, pick a different side of the sheet so that it rolls around. Whenever you feel it’s sticking, sprinkle with cornflour.
• The pie is ready when it’s nicely browned on top and well-cooked underneath, and the edges are coming off the pan. To make sure the bottom is cooked as it should be, I usually put the tray in the bottom of the oven for 15 minutes first and then move it up. But if your oven has very strong heating elements on the bottom, then don’t do this.
• Because of the way this pie is assembled, it becomes thicker but not “bready”. Instead, it’s crispy on the outside, juicy and puffy on the inside. When you wrinkle the phyllo sheets and divide the filling into 3 parts with a sheet in between, the air is trapped inside. This gives height and volume to the pie. But if you prefer it thinner, then you will divide the sheets, half on top, half at the bottom, place them straight, not wrinkled, and put the filling all together in the middle.
• If you don’t eat it the same day, the next day you can reheat it in the air at 160C and it’s as if you just baked it!

Enjoy!

Nanà…