Golden, bakery-style Middle Eastern cheese pies with a crisp shell and a creamy, herby center 🧀
Hook
Flaky edges, stretchy cheese, and a sesame–nigella crunch that feels like a street-bakery win ✨
Ingredients
Servings: 4
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Dough
🥣 360 g all-purpose flour (3 cups / 12.7 oz)
🧂 6 g fine sea salt (1 tsp / 0.21 oz)
🌾 7 g instant yeast (2¼ tsp / 0.25 oz)
🍬 8 g sugar (2 tsp / 0.28 oz)
🥛 120 ml plain yogurt (½ cup / 4 fl oz)
💧 150 ml warm water, 38–40°C (⅝ cup / 5 fl oz)
🫒 45 ml olive oil (3 tbsp / 1½ fl oz)
Cheese filling
🧀 250 g feta, crumbled (1⅔ cups / 8.8 oz)
🧀 200 g mozzarella, shredded (2 cups / 7 oz)
🥚 1 large egg (50 g / 1.8 oz)
🌿 15 g parsley, finely chopped (½ cup / 0.5 oz)
🌿 5 g mint, finely chopped (2 tbsp / 0.18 oz)
🌺 3 g ground sumac (¾ tsp / 0.11 oz)
⚫ 1 g black pepper (¼ tsp / 0.04 oz)
Finish
🥚 1 egg yolk
🥛 15 ml milk (1 tbsp / ½ fl oz)
🌾 10 g sesame seeds (1 tbsp / 0.35 oz)
🌑 6 g nigella seeds, optional (2 tsp / 0.21 oz)
🫒 10 ml olive oil for the tray (2 tsp / 0.34 fl oz)
Preparation
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Total Time
⏱️ Prep: 25 min
🔥 Cook/Bake: 18 min
🛋️ Rest: 45 min
⏰ Total: 88 min
Nutritional Value
🔥 Calories: ~320 kcal
💪 Protein: ~14 g
🌾 Carbohydrates: ~30 g
🧈 Fat: ~16 g
🥗 Fiber: ~2 g
🔥 320 kcal💪 14 g protein🍞 30 g carbs🧈 16 g fat🌾 2 g fiber
Macro Split (kcal)
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Macro grams
Advice
Seal hard, then crimp. Cheese expands when hot, and a weak seam is the only reason these ever leak.
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Why it works 💡
Yogurt keeps the dough tender, a short proof keeps it light, and the feta–mozzarella blend gives both salt and stretch without turning greasy.
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Twist 🌶️
Add 2 g Aleppo pepper (½ tsp / 0.07 oz) to the filling, or swap half the herbs for chopped dill for a sharper, greener bite.
Status
Crispy, golden sambousek with a creamy cheese center that tastes like it came straight from a Middle Eastern bakery 🥟✨ #grannyzen, #Pies_and_Doughs, #crispy_cheese_sambousek, #middle_eastern_cuisine
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