Cheese Fatayer
- August 21, 2022
- 23 Comments
- Breads
Cheese Fatayer is the perfect addition to your Saturday morning breakfast. It’s a classic childhood staple for me that brightened up every weekend. It’s sure to steal the show and every bite is super tasty. You’re gonna love it!
Today we’re making Cheese Fatayer, a middle eastern savory pastry. With no special equipment necessary, these cheese pies will fill your home with a delicious aroma.
Here’s a video to guide you along the process.
Few tips:
- Lightly grease your work surface with olive oil and knead your dough. Using oil instead of flour will help keep the texture of your dough consistent. Adding a light amount of oil to your hands will help as well.
- Crust: Be conscious not to add too much mozzarella, or else it will rip your crust and take the light away from the main cheese filling.
- When rolling out your dough, add a little flour to your work surface to prevent sticking. Again, don’t be heavy-handed. Using too much flour to roll out your dough will make it difficult for you to pinch your crust closed later on.
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper! Prevents any cheese from burning directly on your baking sheet, and makes for a much easier clean-up.
- Serve fresh! They of-course will taste just as phenomenal the next day, but nothing compares to freshly baked cheese pies.
Process:
Cheese Fatayer
Nothing better than waking up in the morning, and smelling fresh cheese pies baking in the oven! A cherished childhood memory <3
Ingredients
Sponge:
- 1 tbsp Active dry yeast instant yeast will work as well
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 cup Warm water (lukewarm water from the tap)
- 1 cup All purpose flour 125 grams
Dough:
- 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour 188 grams
- 2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/3 cup Olive oil
Cheese mixture:
- 3 cups Freshly grated mozzarella (fill up your measuring cup without packing in your cheese)
- 1 1/4 cups Feta
- Handful Freshly chopped parsley
Garlic butter:
- 4 tbsp Unsalted butter
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
Egg wash:
- 1 Egg
- 2 tbsp Water
Crust:
- Handful Freshly grated mozzarella
Instructions
Prepare your sponge:
- Mix together your yeast, sugar, warm water, and flour in a bowl. Cover with a damp paper towel, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
Prepare your dough:
- After 10 minutes, add the rest of your flour (1 1/2 cups), salt, and olive oil to your sponge.
- Take a large wooden spoon and roughly combine dough ingredients.
- Now, you can use a stand mixer – but if you don't have one, with lightly oiled hands, knead your dough for 8-10 minutes on a clean and oiled work surface until smooth.
- Don't add any extra flour to this recipe. The dough will start off quite sticky, but after several minutes of kneading the dough on an oiled work surface – it will eventually come together beautifully.
- By limiting the amount of extra flour we add to the dough, we will be able to create a very fluffy, as well as airy bread for our cheese pies.
- Next, separate your dough into 10 dough balls (each around 62-65 grams in weight). Cover with a damp towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Shape your cheese pies:
- After 10 minutes, lightly sprinkle flour on your work surface. Roll out each dough ball about a half an inch thick.
- Once you've rolled out your dough – its time to build the crust.
- Add a light amount of freshly grated mozzarella to the edges of your dough ( just plain mozzarella, not the filling we made). Start folding your dough over the mozzarella, pressing down to seal the edges. Watch video above for guidance.
- Fold the edges of your crust into a diamond shape, pinching the top and bottom of your dough to enforce the shape even more.
- Preheat oven to 425°f (218°C)
Baking your Cheese Fatayer:
- Add your stuffed, and shaped dough to a lined baking sheet.
- Brush egg wash on your crust, and brush garlic butter in the center of your dough.
- Fill your cheese pies with your cheese filling. Be generous! Your cheese mixture should be completely used up after filling your last cheese pie.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Every oven preforms differently, keep a close eye on them. You want the bottom of your pies, as well as your crust, to be beautifully golden.
- Remove from the oven and allow your Cheese Fatayer to cool for a couple minutes.
- Serve fresh with a nice cup of tea, and anything else you may enjoy!
How to store them:
- Cover any left over cheese pies tightly, or store them in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for a couple days, or in the refrigerator for about a week.
23 Comments
Join The Conversation
this looks so good!!! Love all of your recipes and always look forward to seeing videos on TikTok and now so glad you have a website!!
this was actually INCREDIBLE and i suck at making bready things so that says a lot!!! do you know if i can reheat these after a couple hours or so? i noticed they taste much better hot and just out of the oven and was wondering if i could put them back in for a few minutes before serving? either way great recipe, thank you!
The dough recipe is by far the BEST recipe I’ve ever tried for making fatayer. My husband and my family loved it so much. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe 🥰
Please do a print format so that’s it’s easier to pin in the kitchen somewhere. I don’t want to touch me phone in the middle of cooking 😩💕
Would love to have the “print” button added to your recipes. ❤
These came out amazing! My oven runs hot and the sweet spot ended up being 410° (F) for 14 minutes, so I’d recommend keeping a close eye on them if you’re making them for the first time.
I loved this so much I could make it every day forever.
Perfect recipe! easy to make (for someone who doesn’t really like to make bread-recipes).
Such a great recipe with easy to follow instructions. Everyone loved them!! I added some tomato purée to the base with the garlic butter and chopped tomatoes on top!!
Made it today and it came out really well, the bread is so soft and flavourful! Thank you for this amazing recipe.
Amazingg!!! So quick and easy, i love how you dont need to let it rise for an hour and it still stays soft , delicious
I used the dough to make Palestinian style spinach pies. Everyone loved them and said the bread was nice fluffy 😋 May Allah bring peace and blessings to you Maryam.
Fatayer have been a childhood fave of mine but we always bought them from a bakery (and why wouldn’t we when we lived in the Middle East). But I moved overseas a while back to a city with little to no Arab influence and missing the food made homesickness a lil tougher. So I decided to channel my mama’s hosting spirit and cooked my Arabic feast for friends and made these! First and foremost I was so impressed with myself because they were so simple and they turned out so good! They were also a crowd favourite! Can safely say this recipe made homesickness a lil less tough so thank you!
can we leave out the feta? or maybe replace with cheddar cheese? also can i use vegetable oil instead of olive oil?
and is there a way to store them before they bake?
Can I follow the same instructions for this recipe as for the zaatar manakeesh??
I’ve made these twice now and they were incredible! I sent some to family who froze them and had them a few weeks later. She said that after heating them in the oven for a few mins they tasted as fresh as they day they were made!
This recipe was so delicious! I’ve just made it once so far and it’s already become a favorite in my house. They’re so soft, cheesy, and comforting. My 9 year old sister declared it her favorite food immediately. I will definitely be making them again 🙂
(Also, for those who don’t eat dairy, I used non-dairy replacements for the cheeses and the Follow Your Heart brand feta crumbles and Miyoko’s cashew milk mozzarella worked super well!)
This recipe is just as delightful as it looks. Hoping you and your family are safe <3
Just tried this after seeing it on Tik Tok, it was delicious! I had them in for only 15 minutes for my oven and they came out wonderfully. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
absolutely delicious!! made a double batch of these for my family, and they turned out amazing <3
First time making this and the entire family absolutely loved it! Sooo good! Thank you for sharing. Ramadan Mubarak!
I have tried your cheese fatayer recipe. It came out PERFECT. thank you 🙏
Delicious!