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white cheese pastries
4.50 from 2 votes

White Cheese Pastries (Fatayer Jebneh)

Traditional Middle Eastern soft pastries filled with white cheese
Author Diana

Ingredients

  • Dough:
  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast mixed with a little bit of warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • sesame seeds optional
  • Filling:
  • 1 ½ cups feta cheese or any other salty cheese
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley If you don't like parsley substitute with nigella seeds/black cumin

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 200°.
  • Gently mix instant yeast with warm water and sugar in a cup (yeast should become bubbly, if it doesn't it means that it has gone bad and you should replace it with another package).
  • In a medium sized bowl mix feta cheese with the minced parsley and/or nigella seeds. Put aside.
  • In another bowl mix the dough ingredients and blend well. Leave the dough for 30 minutes to rest in a warm place and cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap (it should double in size).
  • Cut the dough into egg sized balls and cover again with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.
  • Roll each dough ball into oval shape then add filling to the centre.
  • Fold the dough to cover the filling and press the edges to seal it.
  • You can brush the pasties with some olive oil or an egg to give them a golden colour when they bake. Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds (optional)
  • Bake in the oven until the tops are golden.