Feteer

You’ve heard of a cronut, right?  Some New York baker took a croissant and fried and glazed it like a donut and made bajillions?  Well, feteer is a cro-izza.  It’s flaky and buttery like a croissant; in fact, some think it was the ancestor to that noble pastry.  But it’s thrown, stuffed, topped, and eaten like a pizza.

It’s fiendishly simple, which is why I haven’t tried to make it yet.  I tend to do really badly with fiendishly simple things involving dough, because fiendishly simple dishes often require an expert technique or skill to make them terrific, since they don’t have the complex flavors that come from many ingredients or a more complicated process.

In this case, it sounds too easy to be true.  Flour, water and salt in a mixer to create a very sticky dough.  Roll into four balls and let sit in a bath of melted butter.  This sounds crazy and fattening, but it will make the flour much easier to roll out, and you’re going to use the butter anyway, so why not?

Take a ball, put it on a wide flat and floured surface, and roll it as thin as you possibly can.  If you can see through it, that’s ideal.  Put your stuffing, whether sweet or savory, in the middle, fold over the sides, and then do the same with the other layers. 

Try this, then let me know how it turns out!

Serves 4 at least

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups of white all purpose flour.
• 2 cups of water ( +/- depending on the type of flour you are using)
• A dash of salt.
• 1 cup melted butter
• Something savory to stuff inside (cheese, vegetables, meat) OR
• • Something sweet to stuff inside (chocolate, jam, custard)
• Something savory to top (cheese, olives, peppers) OR
• • Something sweet to top (powdered sugar)

STEPS

1. First, mix the flour and salt and add the first cup of water and knead very well then add the remaining bit by bit until you get a dough that is very elastic and sticky.
2. Divide the dough into 4 balls, grease a deep dish and put the balls in it.
3. Let it rest for 15 min. and turn your oven on to the highest degree possible, mine was 550 F.
4. Roll the first ball to be very thin that you can see your counter top through, brush the surface generously with melted butter.
5. Arrange your stuffing in the middle and carefully fold all 4 sides over the center.
6. Roll the next ball until very thin and brush as you’ve done with the first ball.
7. Place the already done one, folded side down, then fold the outer one and brush with more butter as you fold.
8. Repeat the process for additional layers. Brush generously with butter and add the suggested toppings if you would like to.
9. Place in a greased pizza pan - or any oven-safe pan - for 10-15 minutes until done.

Recipe adapted from https://amiraspantry.com/alexandrian-feteer-e-pizza-feteer