Mixed pepper tart with gougère crust

I really didn't know what I was in for with this recipe.  A cheesy choux pastry turned into a tart crust and topped with vegetables?  It's a bit intimidating going into a recipe with no idea what the outcome should be, not even a photo.  On the other hand, it's liberating not having any expectations-- it eliminates disappointment.  So did I make the recipe correctly?  I have no idea.  But did I like the outcome?  You bet.

I made the recipe without any significant changes.  The only issue I had was with the pan-- I didn't have an 11" tart pan, so I used an 11" cake pan, which was considerably deeper than a tart pan and might have affected how it baked up.  Also, it was black.  Fearing it would over brown the tart, I covered it in aluminum foil.

Here's what I used:

3 medium red, yellow, and/or green sweet peppers, sliced

1/2 of a red onion, sliced 

1 clove garlic, minced 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil 

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

3/4 cup milk 

5 tablespoons butter, cut up (unsalted)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour 

4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled 

4 eggs 

1 oz. blue cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup) 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom; set aside. In a large skillet cook peppers, onion, and garlic in hot oil over medium heat until tender. Stir in basil and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.

In a small saucepan combine milk, butter, salt, and pepper.  Bring to boiling, then remove from heat and, using a wooden spoon, vigorously beat in flour.  Reduce heat and return saucepan to heat.  Stir for 2 minutes.  Transfer dough mixture to a large bowl and add the 4 ounces of blue cheese.  (The large bowl is necessary because bits of dough go flying, and also so the batter isn't too deep, otherwise it climbs up the beaters.)  Using a hand mixer, beat on high speed for 2 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed after each addition, until each egg is fully incorporated.

Spread dough evenly in the prepared pan.  Bake 10 minutes.  Spread vegetable mixture over dough.  Bake 40 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.  Sprinkle remaining blue cheese over tart before serving.

I didn't have fresh rosemary, so I used dried (1 teaspoon), but that wasn't very nice.  I should have added it early into the peppers so it could absorb some moisture and soften, but I added it at the end, as directed.  It ended up as sharp little sticks and probably didn't add much flavor.  

With all the cheese, I was concerned about its being too salty, so I used unsalted butter, but then added 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  This was a little too salty for a sizable serving, but adequate for a side serving.  Ultimately, you can add salt as desired, or use salted butter.  Generally, I like something salty with something bland, so either a salty crust and bland topping, or salty topping and bland crust.

The dough didn't rise much, which actually didn't surprised me.  I'm not sure why it's baked first for 10 minutes, but I suspect it's to firm the surface a bit.  After 10 minutes, my batter was still wet in the middle.  (This might have been due to using a deeper pan.)  I contemplated leaving it in long enough to dry the surface, but plodded ahead as directed and dumped the peppers on the raw batter.  In the end, I baked it about 15 - 20 minutes longer than called for; it didn't even show the slightest hope of rising until after 45 minutes.  I don't know that the batter would have risen much anyway under the weight of the peppers.  The end result was a moist and soft but firm crust, sort of like cold polenta.  It cut easily with a fork and held up to a stab, but not a slice you could pick up with your hands.

Conclusion:  This was a happy surprise, much like a cheesy vegetable pizza with a soft, supple crust.  It wasn't too rich, which I'd been concerned about.  With a green salad, it would make a nice light lunch.  Other soft vegetables, such as mushrooms, would be a good addition.

Recipe:  "Mixed Peppers in a Gougère Crust" via Better Homes and Gardens magazine, September 2010
(Also see this recipe for a gougère tart.) 

Mieliepap (cornmeal) with eggs, turkey bacon, and cheese

Mieliepap is a South African breakfast dish of cooked cornmeal.  If I had a category for comfort food, this would definitely be in it.  It's warm and soft, a little sweet and a little savory.  And there's cheese and salty, smoked meat.  I served it drizzled with maple syrup.  Reading through the recipe, I thought it was going to be a rich, heavy, meal-in-a-bowl, and probably too greasy; it was nothing of the kind.  I hadn't anticipated the cornmeal would expand so much, turning the bacon and cheese into mild flavorings rather than substantial meal components.  In fact, I initially left the cheese out, but when I saw what a small proportion of cheese there was relative to cornmeal, I added it in.

The Joe Pastry web site has two entries for this recipe:  one with just the recipe (and some photos), and another that walks you through the steps, including photos along the way.  I followed just the recipe, since it seemed so simple, and was baffled why I didn't get the same results.  Then I found the step-by-step and could see the difference.  (I also think there might have been a little cheating with quantities to make the dish appear richer than it is-- more bacon, more cheese.)

I don't do pork, so I substituted smoked turkey leg.  I accidentally left out the baking soda.  I've modified the directions slightly to be more helpful and to simplify.  If you want this for breakfast, I recommend making the cornmeal mixture the night before, as it takes quite a while to cool if using a full cup.  Here's what I used:

1 cup cornmeal*
3/4 cup milk
2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 1 cup chopped slab bacon smoked turkey leg

2 eggs lightly beaten
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

maple syrup, for drizzling (optional) 

In a saucepan, combine the cornmeal, milk, buttermilk, butter, (sugar-- see below), honey, and salt, and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened (like hot cereal); allow to cool enough so it won't cook the eggs. Meanwhile, slice the turkey meat thinly, then fry in some oil until lightly crisp; reserve half and fry the remainder to your liking.

 

Using the measuring cup used for the dairy, lightly beat the eggs, then add them to the cornmeal mixture along with the soda, the fully-crisped turkey, and half the cheese; stir to combine. Lightly butter an 8" cast iron skillet or an 8″ x 8″ pan. Spoon in the batter and bake at 375 for 20 minutes; remove from the oven and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and reserved turkey bits. Bake another 10-15 minutes until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Scoop into bowls and drizzle with maple syrup.

Lots of issues with this recipe.  The first is that sugar is called for in the directions, but there is none listed in the ingredients.  It's probably 1-2 tablespoons, depending on your taste.  It's very mildly sweet with just the honey and no added sugar, and since I added syrup when serving, I was happy with the results.

*Pan size and baking times are cautionary: I feel confident there is an error in the amount of cornmeal-- it should probably be more like 1/2 cup. It's not fatal, but it has an impact. I thought I was making a meal, and what I got was really a tasty but very starchy, high glycemic, low nutrient side dish. Where to start? Well, the first clue was that he has you heat your oven at the start, but the cornmeal took at least 30 minutes to cool (maybe more like 45) and there's no need to be running an empty oven that long. Less cornmeal would have cooled faster. The next clue was that my cornmeal cooked up to be very thick, and continued to thicken into a solid mass as it cooled. His photos show a hot slurry and a cooled porridge. (He even states that this dish is like a cooked porridge or custard-- mine certainly was not.) My mixture was so thick, I don't think baking soda was going to add any lift to it, so it's just as well I left it out. His photos show a substantially higher percentage of mix-ins; mine were fairly sparse.  But the biggest affect was on baking time. Had I used an 8" skillet, it would have been filled to the very top, but his photos show the mixture coming up only about half way. I used an 8" x 3" casserole dish and filled it to about an inch from the top (whereas my skillet is only 1.75" deep.) This affected heating and evaporation and lengthened the cooking time. Even after an extra 30 minutes in the oven, I still wasn't getting a clean knife, but the cheese and crust had become very brown. I really only needed the egg to be cooked and it was certainly hot enough for that, so I took it out. The result was soft and scoopable while hot, but became very firm once cool. What I essentially ended up with was scrapple, which is fine, just not what I was expecting.

 

Because of how long it took for the pan of cornmeal to cool (yes, I could have spread it out on a sheet pan, but then that's more to wash, and there are already too many pans for this simple recipe) and then the extended baking time, this wasn't out of the oven until at least 2 hours after I'd started. That's too long to wait for breakfast! Especially when you're holding off drinking your coffee so you can have it with your meal. By the time I ate, I was so hungry I ate too much of it, and then felt guilty, and thus was forced to eat cabbage salad as the only other meal of the day, with a protein shake for dessert. "Yum", she says sarcastically.

If you want a warm dish of comfort, this is it. If you want a dish with more substance, reduce the cornmeal (or increase the mix-ins.) If you don't care what it looks like, you could probably cook the whole thing in one pan on the stove on low heat, stirring occasionally. Cooked grains are pretty forgiving-- you can mess with them to make them however you like. Use more liquid if you want it softer. Like scrapple, I've sliced my leftovers and am going to fry them up in a pan to heat and crisp.

Conclusion:  This had a surprising tartness, I guess from the buttermilk, that I didn't care for, although sourdough fans might love it.  (Perhaps the baking soda was included to temper that tartness.)  It was still good, but not something I'm likely to make again as is. I'm not diabetic, but I don't want to be either. Cornmeal has a very high glycemic index and it throws off my blood sugar, not really filling me up and leaving me hungry a short time later despite being high in calories. This would be great at brunch served on the side with a good protein and a salad.  Alternatively, if it truly were more like a baked cornmeal custard, that sounds delicious and a little more balanced.

Recipe:   Mieliepap (recipe) and Making Mieliepap (guidance) via Joe Pastry (MIA)

Onion and sage rolls

I happened upon an episode of Hairy Bikers, and two of the recipes they made that day appealed to me:  parsnip and apple soup, and these savory rolls.  It's been rainy for days, and one of my new year's resolutions is to cook more.  At the time I was cooking, I did not know there were written recipes available, so I was going off the video of the episode.  They weren't entirely clear in the video of everything they were doing, but nothing left unclear was terribly critical.  Maybe.  (See asterisk.)

The rolls they made had seemed rather small (and didn't use a full loaf's worth of flour), so I made the full recipe, which actually resulted in 8 fairly good-sized, though quite fluffy rolls.  My only known deviations from their recipe was the flour and adding cheese.  Here's what I used:

150ml (0.6 cup) milk
150ml (0.6 cup) water
1½ teaspoon rapid rise yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
400g (2½ cups) bread flour
200g high-protein white whole wheat flour
200g high-protein AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter*
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, grated or crushed
approximately 12 large sage leaves, finely chopped*
large pinch of black pepper
approximately 1 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese

Heat the milk and water until quite warm; use about 1/4 cup to proof the yeast and sugar.  Once proved, add the remainder of  the liquid, along with the yeast mixture, to the flour and salt.  Knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.  Form into a ball; place in a greased bowl and allow to rise, covered, until doubled-- about 1 - 1½ hours.  Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a medium frying pan; add the onion and garlic and sweat over low heat for 10 minutes until soft and transparent, but not browned.  Add the sage and pepper and cook for another 2 - 3 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Punch down the dough; remove from the bowl and flatten out on work surface.  Spread the onion mixture (and cheese, if using) over the dough, then roll up so all the filling is contained.  Knead the filling into the dough until it is evenly distributed, sprinkling with flour where it becomes too wet.  Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces; roll each into a ball.  Arrange the dough balls in a greased baking sheet in a circle with one in the middle and edges touching.  Cover lightly with oiled plastic film and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F (to 400F).  Before baking, brush each roll lightly with milk, then top with a single, small sage leaf.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Move to a rack to cool.

*Their written recipe calls for "1/2 ounce" of butter (1 tablespoon - I'm sure they used more on the show) and "15 - 20 sage leaves" (probably what I should have used, given the size of my leaves.)

They mixed their dry yeast, salt, sugar, and flour all together, then added the warm liquid.  I decided to proof my yeast first, since I was using less.  The butter and oil measurements weren't given; their pan of onion was liberally oily, but I didn't know the ratio of butter and oil, so I estimated.  (I assume just a small amount of oil is present to prevent the butter from browning.)  The yeast was given as "1 sachet", which is presumably 2¼ teaspoons, though I chose to use a little less.  Their sage leaves were quite large and I suspect I didn't use nearly as much.  They probably had at least 1/3 cup of chopped sage, if not 1/2 cup.  (It was certainly a manly handful.)  I noticed their rolls had probably twice as much green speckled throughout as mine did.  Their oven instructions were for "190C to 200C" (375F - 400F).  I've never seen a recipe with a range for the oven temperature, and both of these are higher than I normally see in a bread recipe.  I don't know why they didn't provide a single temperature.  (He probably couldn't remember the correct temperature at the moment of filming.  The written recipe indicates 200C, which I think would have been better than 190C.)  My oven does not maintain a stable temperature; it was 400F when I was ready to bake, but I tried to cool it down a bit after putting the rolls in and then worked to keep it at 375F.  They looked done at 20 minutes, so I took them out.

I had concerns about the baps being too salty with added cheese, (I used salted butter with the onions, and the dough already tasted a bit salty), but in the end they were okay.  Salty, yes, but not too bad for a savory roll.  (If I used more cheese, I would cut down on the salt elsewhere.)

Conclusion:  Easy enough to make, but I wasn't thrilled with the result.  Surprisingly, they were a bit bland and tasted a little floury.  Something gave them a slightly bitter taste, perhaps the whole wheat flour or the cheese.  They also could have used just another minute or two in the oven-- baking at 400F likely would have been perfect.

Recipe:  Sage and onion tear and share bread via Hairy Bikers (season 1, episode 2 of Best of British)

Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings)

I made Chef John's Bohemian Orange Chicken the other night, but it turned out way too salty for my tastes. To help cut the salt, I made the recommended bread dumplings to accompany it.  His recipe makes two loaves; I reduced that by half to make just one.  I also cut the salt way back, just for this particular preparation, since the meal didn't need any additional salt. (Although I think even under ordinary circumstances I probably wouldn't use all the salt called for in the recipe unless the main dish was particularly bland. You can always add salt to your plate.)

Here's what I used:

1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1½ teaspoon white sugar
1³/₈ 7/8 cup quick-mixing flour (such as Wondra®) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 ³/₁₆ teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 large egg, beaten

Proof the yeast in the warm milk with the sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, and salt. Add the yeast mixture and egg to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and forms a dough, adding more flour if needed. Knead on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and slightly elastic, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, flipping the dough to coat the top in oil. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Transfer back to your work surface; press out the excess air and form dough into a relatively uniform ball, then roll into a log about 2 to 2½ inches wide. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let proof for 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a steady simmer. Carefully pick up the risen dough and transfer to the simmering water; bring back to a simmer. Cover tightly and let simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover, flip, and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and poke all over with a toothpick or wooden skewer, which releases the steam from the center. Use a piece of string or thread to cut into 3/4- to 1-inch dumplings. Transfer to a serving plate.

Chef John's Note:  You can substitute half all-purpose flour and half semolina flour for Wondra® if you can't find it.

These dumplings were indeed very absorbent and yet stayed firm, rather than getting soggy.  I wonder whether it's the egg that makes them like that, or the boiling? Chef John's note says you can use semolina, although I think in the video he calls out corn meal; probably either would work. I didn't really notice the corn meal when they were fresh, but after moistening day-old dumplings with water and heating gently in the microwave, they reminded me of spoon bread. One unpleasantness:  the loaf was a bit soggy in the area of the expansion crack. (The cracks are considered undesirable -- now I see why -- but I don't see how to avoid them unless the dough was completely risen before being placed in the hot water.) After finishing the chicken, I used the leftover dumplings semi-successfully as a hotdog bun. It was okay.

Conclusion:  Well, it's nothing to write home about.  It's basically a plain, white bread, even plainer than ordinary bread because of being boiled.  It does the job of providing a neutral base for the main dish, though it's way more filling than noodles or rice.

Recipe:  Czech Bread Dumplings (Knedlíky) via Food Wishes at allrecipes

Ukrainian cheese-filled buns (3 variations)

 
Ukrainian's eat a variety of stuffed buns as snacks, filled with everything from cabbage, to cheese, meat, and fruit.  I was intrigued by this recipe for a cheese-onion filling because of the photo of layers of buttery dough, but was also interested in one that showed soft buns stuffed with cherries.  Since it appears that every household has its own recipe, I figured I didn't have to be held to any particular one, so I made up my own variations.  

Translating the recipe from the original Ukrainian was interesting -- I think someone has "interfered" with Google's Ukrainian-to-English dictionary, because the results were about as clear as if I'd used a random word generator.  Curiously, translating first into German (or French) and then into English worked almost perfectly.  (This was the case across all pages, not just this recipe.)  Some words, particularly those related to cooking, don't translate well no matter what.  Case in point is the "federation" of green onions.  When you think about it, it makes sense... but I had to think about it.  (Another interesting translation was the nutritional information that showed the amount of "squirrel" per serving; process of elimination indicated that had to be "protein".)  Measuring units or proprietary products particular to a country are always the biggest challenge; in those cases I research as best I can, then ultimately just have to use my best judgement.

These are the unit translations I used:

e    I never did figure out what this was, but logically it seemed to approximate a tablespoon
cube    Assuming this was fresh yeast, I couldn't find a product quantity, so used a standard amount of dry yeast
tl    teaspoon
el   tablespoon
federation    bunch

I had to measure flour by volume because my scale is broken.  Fortunately, the filling recipe and bread recipes in general are fairly forgiving, depending a lot on personal preference.  The biggest problem was not knowing what I was looking for with the bread dough. Initially, I assumed I was kneading to the window-pane point, but then I thought perhaps they don't want all that gluten development, since the recipe called for low-gluten flour. So should the dough remain sticky, more like batter?  Or should I add more flour until it's manageable, but knead only enough to get it smooth? In the end, I kneaded it to the window-pane point, but it was probably not as wet as it should have been since I didn't have any problems with sticking later, even without flouring anything.  The recipe lacked other critical information, like what size pan to use (although it does recommend a "round tepsi") and how long to bake it. (For reference, I put the original Ukrainian -> German -> English translation at the bottom of the page.)

I cut the recipe quantities in half and that is what is below. (I've shown the original quantities and their original units in parentheses.)  Then I split the filling into thirds and left one third with just the onions, one third with onions and spinach, and one third I sweetened and added tart cherries. Here's what I used:

2½ tablespoons warm milk (5 e)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast (½ cube)
½ teaspoon sugar (1 tl)
2 cups type 405 (pastry*) flour (500g)
1½ tablespoons neutral oil (3 el)
¾ teaspoon salt (½ el)
5 ounces warm water (300ml)
100g cow's milk feta cheese (200g)
100g sour cream (200g)
½ bunch (3-4) green onions, cut into small rings (1 federation)
salt to taste
5½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (150g)

Prove the yeast in a small bowl with the milk and sugar, then mix it together with the flour, oil, salt, and warm water; knead to form a smooth dough, adjusting flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough and let rise for about an hour. (It will triple in volume.)

For the filling, place the feta in a bowl and mash until smooth. Add the sour cream and onions; mix well and season with salt if necessary, along with any other herbs or spices of choice.

Lightly butter a 10 x 7.5-inch baking tray. Divide the dough in half. On a floured work surface, cut one of the halves into 8 roughly equal pieces and form into balls. Roll each ball out to a 4-inch disc, sprinkling with a little flour if necessary to prevent sticking. Brush each disc (except the last) lightly with the melted butter and stack them on top of each other. (Leave the top piece unbuttered.)  Roll the stack out to a 10 x 7.5-inch rectangle and fit it into the baking tray. Spread the filling evenly over the top almost to the edges (the cheese will burn against the sides of the pan) and brush with a little melted butter. 

 

Do the same with the second half of the dough as described above and place it on top of the filling. Cover the tray with a cloth and let it rise for about 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 480F (250°C). When the dough has risen slightly, cut it into small squares or diamonds (about 5 cm).  Brush with a few tablespoons of butter and place in the oven, immediately turning it down to 390F (200°C). Bake about 30 minutes, until golden brown.  

Brown the remaining butter (about 2 tablespoons) in a saucepan, then carefully add an equal amount of water (caution:  it foams and sputters!) and a little salt. Brush the browned butter (I strained it because the browned bits were unattractive) evenly over the crust and cover with a cloth and a plastic bag or cling film; leave to stand for at least 10 minutes. (The crust will be quite hard -- this helps to soften it.)  Recut through all layers of the bread.  Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

*I replaced 5 tablespoons of the AP flour with corn starch. This is a little more than the recommended substitute because my AP flour was already higher in protein than normal.

Spinach option
Defrost and drain about 1 cup of frozen, chopped spinach.  Squeeze as much water out as possible, using a tea towel. You should have about 2 tablespoons. (You can use more or less -- it's really to taste.) Mix into the cheese and onion mixture, then follow the recipe as directed.

Cherry option
Soften about 2 tablespoons of dried, tart cherries in a little warm water; strain out any excess liquid. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the feta and sour cream mixture. (Omit the onions.) Spread the cheese mixture over the dough, then dot evenly with the cherries. Follow the rest of the recipe as directed. Sprinkle cooled pastry with powdered sugar.

Interestingly, the feta-sour cream mixture tasted remarkably like cottage cheese, which is a common bread filling in eastern Europe. I didn't get all the bread layers that others got, but this was never going to be a "flaky," pastry-like bake. However the bread was somewhat tough, and I'm not sure what causes this. I probably had too much flour in the dough, and I'm pretty sure I baked it too long.  (I baked it 35 minutes. The recipe stated until "nicely browned", which I took to mean well browned, but the photos of other bakes show it much lighter.) The wetter the filling, the more the bread softened and the better the buns fared the next day. So on day two, the cheese-onion ones were a bit dry and firm, the spinach ones were a little nicer, and the cherry ones were fine.  (The sugar made the filling much looser, and the cherries were wet.) Also, the sweetness of the cherry-cheese filling balanced the saltiness. The edge pieces were extra firm and had less filling, exacerbated by using a smaller pan; this recipe might be better made in a round pan and cut into wedges so that the edges are shared evenly amongst all pieces.

Conclusion:  I'm pretty pleased at being able to muddle through the recipe and end up with something that was very tasty.  Too salty for my tastes (try 1/2 teaspoon salt), and the bread texture needs improving (or just less time in the oven), but overall a nice snack. There are endless filling variations, even if just adding herbs and spices, like paprika, oregano, or black pepper.

Recipe:  Ukrainian Special "Pi" (пі спеціальний) via Food CORS

Original translation
You also need a rolling pin, a tray with a high edge (a round tepsi is best) and a large tea towel. 

For the dough, heat the milk in a cup in the microwave, but don't let it get too hot. Then stir in the sugar and crumble in the yeast. Leave it all for about 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, put the flour, oil and salt in a bowl and bring the water to lukewarm. Now put the yeast in the bowl and knead with the water to form a smooth dough. If there is not enough water, simply add a little more, if there is too much, simply knead in a little more flour. Cover this dough and let it rise for about an hour. For the filling, simply cut the spring onions into rings, not too coarsely. In a bowl, add the sour cream and grate or mash the feta cheese over it with your fingers. Mix well and season with salt if the feta cheese wasn't too salty. Divide the dough in half and cut one half into 8 equal parts on a floured work surface and form into round buns with your hands. Roll out these rolls to a diameter of approx. 15 - 20 cm and sprinkle with a little flour, otherwise they will stick. Then brush each flatbread with the melted butter and stack the flatbreads on top of each other. Then roll out this stack to the size of the sheet and place in the greased form. Spread the filling evenly on top and brush with a little butter. Do the same with the second half of the dough as described above and place it on top of the filling. Cover the tray with a cloth and let it rise for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 250°c. When you can see that the volume of the pite has increased a little, cut it into squares or diamonds (approx. 5 cm) with a knife, brush them with a few tablespoons of butter and put them in the oven. However, switch it down to 200°C. When the pite is nicely brown, brown the remaining butter (approx. 4 - 5 tablespoons) in a pan, fill up with the same amount of water (caution: risk of splashing!) and add a little salt. Then spread this mixture evenly over the pite, cover with a cloth and put a plastic bag or some cling film over it and leave to stand for at least 10 minutes. You have to do this so that the pite softens a little as it cools down. Straight out of the oven, the batter is way too hard to enjoy.