The Best Greek Spanakopita (Updated Video)

[Music] hi guys to another episode of dimitra's dishes today i'm doing an updated version of one of the most popular videos on this channel spanakopita the entree version now this is a big hit this recipe it's my mom's recipe and it is probably the best spanakopita recipe on the internet it's fresh it's delicious because you don't have to cook the filling and it's super easy to put together because you don't have to cook the filling the top is crispy and i get so many pictures of your recreations on instagram and on facebook that it makes my heart so happy but one of the major problems that you guys run into is a soggy bottom the feel on the bottom does get a little bit soggy so we're gonna tackle that problem in today's video let's get started okay so we're starting off with a pound of baby spinach leaves i've roughly chopped most of it and i'm just going to show you how i do it very simple in the first video i kind of crumbled it all with my hands by like using my hands and massaging it that's how my mom taught me but i found a few shortcuts since then and this is one of them roughly chopped over here i have three scallions that i've thinly sliced and the way you the way you clean scallions you slice them and then you put them in a bowl of cold water so all of the dirt goes down to the bottom you never want to pour this into the strainer because then the dirt that sinks down to the bottom ends up back onto the scallions and then just lift them out and put them in a little strainer now this is a one of the very few times that i'm making this recipe and i'm not doubling it this is worth doubling up because it freezes well and it's just a treat to have in the freezer especially on those busy days shake off that excess water if you have everything ready to go the recipe moves super quickly that is good enough i'm just going to put the strainer in here so the shortcut that i've learned to use is if you have a stand mixer take it out and use it otherwise you can definitely mix everything you know in a big bowl with your hands with your clean hands you can look at my older video on how to do that just make sure to roughly chop the spinach first that's going to make life super easy so i begin with the cheeses i have a pound of feta cheese i always buy it and block chunk whatever you want to call it form because it is just very tasty that way you can use cow's milk feta for this because you're going to bake it of course if you use a sheep's milk fatty it's going to be absolutely delicious but sheep's milk feta does tend to be much more expensive the cow's milk fat that still gives you that great flavor so i'm gonna put the feta in there and then ricotta cheese i know i've gotten lots of comments that ricotta cheese is not something that's traditionally used but my mom taught me how to make it and she is as greek as you get so it works and it's delicious and we've sold this for we've used this recipe when we had our restaurant for 10 years and everyone loved it really good look at the old video look at the comments and you'll see that everyone who makes it loves it so you're gonna have to trust me on this it lightens it up because if you're gonna use all feta feta is a little bit more rich the ricotta lends some creaminess and it's just really nice if you live in greece you can use mizithra not the not that not the tangy one the creamy one so we have the ricotta and um the feta cheese in there i'm gonna add some black pepper freshly ground black pepper about a teaspoonful i'm gonna add just a little bit of salt about a half teaspoon because um the fat that is pretty salty you could always taste it later on and some dill so about three teaspoons of dill heaping it's about a tablespoon if you have fresh if you have fresh seal you can just roughly chop a small bunch of dill and that will work i'm gonna add three to four tablespoons of olive oil to this and i'm going to mix this until everything is mixed up and incorporated so while the mixer is going i'm going to add the spinach a little bit at a time but before i do that let me add the scallions it might seem like the spinach is not going to fit in here but it breaks up and it's all going to fit perfectly and if it starts to fly out everywhere you can just stop the mixer and add the spinach a little bit at a time okay so the last ingredient that's going in here is three whole eggs but before it goes in it's a good idea to go in and give it a taste and see if it needs a little bit more salt and pepper it's perfect it doesn't need any more for me i'm just going to give these a little mix and just put them in and just mix it one more time until it's all incorporated and then that's it the filling is done okay so now you just want to go in with a spatula and just mix everything one more time just to make sure that whatever stuck to the bottom is incorporated into the mixture so everything is going to have an even taste now when it comes to the kind of baking pan that you're going to use i like to use a half sheet baking pan like this it keeps the filling a little bit thinner and lighter now if you want a more heavy or more rich thicker filling you can use a 9 by 13 inch baking pan obviously the the thinner the the pan is the more the more the thicker the filling will be right so to keep everything nice and dry and perfectly cooked on the bottom put a layer of unseasoned bread crumbs just right on the bottom you're going to use about i would say a cup of them it's going to absorb all the moisture and it's going to help the bottom stay nice and crispy okay just a layer like that the other difference in this recipe from the from the first one is instead of using olive oil to butter the sheets the phyllo sheets i'm using melted salted butter i like using salted butter it has more flavor if you're using unsalted butter this is three sticks of unsalted butter or 12 ounces then i would add about a half a teaspoon of salt to it once it's melted that's done i have number four pillow pastry this is a thinner pastry make sure that it's thought out in the refrigerator overnight and then leave it at room temperature for at least an hour before you go to work with it it's going to make life so easy it's not going to start to break on you or crumble or fall apart or any of that okay so before we start i'm going to lay the phyllo out and i'm just going to reserve about seven sheets those are going to be the top that's about seven around maybe it's a few more if i'm running low i'll just grab some from here in a little bit any time you put filo on the side make sure you cover it with a clean kitchen towel to keep it from drying out okay so now i'm gonna layer a few sheets of phyllo right on the bottom of the tray over the bread crumbs and i'm gonna drizzle a little bit of butter right in between each layer so i'll do three layers these two are stuck together if your filo is stuck together don't try to fight with it and separate it it's okay just put the two sheets together so we have three on the bottom and now i'm going to take a sheet or two at a time and i'm gonna put most of it inside of the pan and about three quarters of it hanging outside of the pan if you're using a nine by 13 inch baking pan half will fit in the pan and the other half will extend out of the pan and go around as if you know as if you're standing in front of the clock you start at 12 o'clock then three o'clock then you go down here to six o'clock if that makes sense and just drizzle some butter in between each layer and go all around the pan like that okay we have the phyllo laid out now i'm gonna put all of the filling on top and i'm gonna spread it out so if you like more filling and you wanted to use a nine by 13 inch baking pan just make a double batch of the filling and it'll be higher okay so all of the filling is in now we're going to go ahead and fold the phyllo sheets on top of the filling the ones that are extending outside of the pan and we're going to drizzle butter over them now we're going to take the remaining sheets of phthalo and we're going to layer them on top and drizzle butter in between each layer these two are stuck together so they're staying together [Music] now here are the sheets that we reserved now i like to do a texturized top so what i do i take one sheet at a time let's make this let's get some room and i put it i lay it flat and then i just bunch it up together so it kind of looks like an accordion and then you just put it on top to create a beautiful pattern so i'm going to keep doing this until the whole top is covered this is going to make a really beautiful topping and it's going to be golden and crisp and just add extra texture and it's going to be so good and it doesn't take much effort to make it more beautiful okay that was perfect and now i'm going to take all of this remaining butter and first i'm going to drizzle it on top and then once everything's covered i might start pouring if i get a little lazy but if you drizzle on top try to get all of the corners all the nooks and crannies and especially the border of the pie as well now if you don't want to use the butter you can definitely use olive oil instead but butter adds a lot of flavor so i just like to add the butter now and then to make it easier to slice later on it's a good idea to score it before it's baked now you can cut the pieces as big or as small as you want and you want to go all the way down to the you can go all the way down to the bottom or all the way down to the filling it really doesn't matter as long as you cut the top layers that's what you want to do so that way when you go in to cut them later on they're not going to start crumbling and you know totally falling apart and i like to go all the way down to the filling so my oven is preheated to 400 degrees fahrenheit this is going to bake on the center rack for 45 minutes and then for 15 minutes more i'm going to reduce it down to the bottom rack so that way the bottom cooks a little bit more for about 15-20 minutes until it's perfectly golden on top you're going to see that the inside of the filling is going to have dried dried out a bit i'll show you what it looks like as soon as it's done every oven cooks differently so if your oven is very hot on the bottom then don't move it down to the bottom just cook it a little bit longer or maybe put it down there for a minute or two maybe five minutes max i don't want you to burn the bottom because i know when we had the restaurant the ovens that we had in there they would burn the bottom really quickly because all the heat would come to the bottom come from the bottom it wouldn't it didn't have a convection oven in the oven that i'm talking about in particular and so we would make sure to never move it down to the bottom so i guess work with your oven and just you know use your judgment so that way the pie doesn't burn i mean you went through all this work you don't want to burn the bottom but if your oven bakes evenly just move it down to the bottom for the last 15 minutes and then the bottom of the crust will be nice and crispy i'll show you what it looks like as soon as it comes out okay so the spanakopita took an hour and 15 minutes in my oven to bake it is beautifully golden i did cook it a little bit longer because i do like it to be very nice and golden and as you can see the bottom is definitely perfectly cooked it's not soggy at all let me show you what it looks like i can even pick it up and there's no juices dripping and that's because of the temperature that it was cooked at the bread crumbs that the bread crumb layer that's on the bottom which absorbed all the juices and even that got nice and toasted so you're not going to have anything soggy and then i did lower it and cook it on the bottom rack for 15 minutes but again it all depends on your oven and how it cooks but if you do have a pizza oven or a tile in your oven you can bake it on there on the lower third not all the way on the bottom but just in that lower layer closer to the middle and it'll cook perfectly you could leave it in there for an hour and 15 minutes or until that color is achieved and it'll be perfectly golden top and bottom when it comes out of the oven let it sit for about 10-15 minutes so it can settle and then go in and just cut it one more time where you have already scored it can you hear how crispy it is i'm going through let me tap on it so you can hear the crispiness and then you just go down and cut it into pieces i don't know if you could hear you want it to be that crispy that is a sign of a really good spanakopita put it on a plate and it's time to take a bite let me cut a smaller piece this one's going to create a huge mess hmm the phyllo is buttery i'll say crispy again and the filling is moist fresh and so delicious the exact measurements are on the website dimitra's dishes.com click the link below so you can go to the site and print out the recipe i hope you guys give it a try let me know what you think in the comments section and if you do make it share pictures with me on instagram and facebook i love seeing your recreations they make my day they put a smile on my face thank you guys so much for spending time with me today i'll see you all next time yes yes

Channel: Dimitra's Dishes

Views: 709,790

Keywords: cooking show, greek food, greek recipes, Dimitra Khan, euro bakery and cafe, easy recipes, spanakopita, spinach pie, spinach phyllo pie, spinach feta pie, pita

Id: Wyj4kpsjv4o

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Mon May 10 2021