They say madness doesn’t take to the mountains. Perhaps—but you can always take the madness you carry inside you and head for the mountains yourself. And that is exactly what I did. When I was invited to visit a guesthouse in the mountains of Epirus, where Katerina makes a truly magnificent pie and was more than willing to show me her method and technique, I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So off I went, travelling all the way to the other end of Greece, near the Albanian border. That spur-of-the-moment decision was destined to reward me not only with an exceptional recipe but also with a unique travel experience, which you can read more about here.

Katerina lives in a remote village in Epirus with just ten residents. She shares her childhood home with her brother. Perched on the mountainside, the house commands breathtaking views of both the village and the surrounding mountains. Everything gleams with cleanliness, and her kitchen is as spotless as a sterile operating room. Whenever Katerina walks past, she leaves behind the delicate scent of fragrant soap.

The house also has a cistern where rainwater was collected in years gone by—something I had never seen before. Then there is the room that belonged to her mother, Kostarou, who raised nine children and lived to a very old age, almost reaching one hundred. She passed away peacefully in her sleep one night, leaving behind the wish that nothing in her room should be disturbed, especially the photographs of the members of the Royal Family whom she held so dear. And so the room has remained untouched, like a sacred shrine visited by her children and grandchildren.

We did not, however, make the pie at Katerina’s house. We made it at the property of another of her brothers, a little farther down the mountain, where there were wood-fired ovens. I have prepared a video so that you can follow the entire process too.

As for the pie itself, I must confess that I had never tasted anything quite like it. A little masterpiece! I made it myself as soon as I returned to Thessaloniki, and everyone was delighted. But having tasted Katerina’s pie as well, I must admit that hers was simply unforgettable. The reason is clear: it was made with ingredients they produce themselves—butter, cheese and eggs—and baked in a wood-fired oven. What other pie could possibly compare?

🎬 Δείτε το βίντεο της συνταγής και κάντε εγγραφή στο κανάλι μου για περισσότερες νόστιμες συνταγές!

🛒Ingredients

Here are the ingredients exactly as Katerina and I measured them—although, what did you expect? She measures absolutely nothing; everything is done by eye…

For the enormous baking tray you can see in the photos and the video, she used…

For the dough

• 🥣 8 ladlefuls of flour (using the ladle we serve soup with)
• 🌽 1/2 cup corn oil
• 🧂 1 Tbsp salt
• 💧 Water as needed, until the dough no longer sticks to your hands

For brushing the filo sheets

• 🧈 1 cup butter
• 🌽 1 cup corn oil

For the filling

• 🧀 500 g goat’s milk feta
• 🧀 500 g myzithra cheese
• 🥚 10 eggs
• 🥣 1/2 cup of the butter and corn oil mixture

👩‍🍳Instructions

I will also give you the written instructions because, until Katerina had finished making the pie, there were certain stages when even I couldn’t quite understand what she was doing. So, let’s get started…

Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and gradually add water until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Add the corn oil and continue kneading until it is fully absorbed into the dough.

Divide the dough into eight pieces. Roll out four of them into sheets the same size as the baking tray you will be using. Leave them to dry slightly—not until they become completely dry, but just long enough for the excess moisture to evaporate. If possible, use the oven to help them dry, especially during the winter.

And as you can see, now that I had found a true master of the craft, I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to roll out a sheet myself and ask for her advice.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and mix it with the oil. Katerina recommends using corn oil for cheese pie but olive oil for savoury greens pie.

Crumble the cheeses and mix them with the eggs. Add half a cup of the butter and oil mixture and stir well. Hmm… from now on, I’ll call it “butter-oil” for short!

Next, add enough water to make the filling pourable but not watery. You can also see the consistency in the video.

Brush the baking tray with the butter-oil mixture and roll out one of the four remaining pieces of dough. Make this sheet slightly larger than the tray. Lay it in the tray and drizzle it with some of the butter-oil mixture.

It was extremely hot that day, and Katerina rolled the sheet so thin that small holes gradually began to appear. If this happens to you too, don’t worry; the next sheet will cover them.

Roll out the second sheet to the same size as the first, so that it also extends beyond the edges of the tray. Place it over the first sheet and drizzle with more of the butter-oil mixture.

Next, use the four sheets you rolled out and left to dry earlier. Add some of the butter-oil mixture and one quarter of the filling between each sheet, repeating the layers four times: one sheet, butter-oil and filling.

At this stage, you will have two pieces of dough left for the final two sheets. Roll out one piece to the size of the baking tray and lay it over the filling. Before rolling out the final sheet, fold the overhanging edges of the two larger bottom sheets inward. Drizzle with the butter-oil mixture.

Roll out the final piece of dough to the size of the tray and use it to cover the pie. Spread the butter-oil mixture over the entire surface and sprinkle with a little water. Do not cut or score the pie before baking.

The pie was baked in a wood-fired oven, and during baking they rotated the tray so that the other side would bake evenly too. Those of us using an electric oven, where the heat circulates all around, do not need to rotate the tray.

Enjoy!

Nanà…✍️