Greek Peinirli
Greek Pizza Boats
I am officially missing home. When that happens I try to compensate by getting in the kitchen and cooking the dishes that remind me of the places I come from. I grew up in Athens and spent my first 18 years there. It’s that place I instinctively call home and where most of my ‘homesick thoughts’ end up traveling, and Peinirli often end up starring in these thoughts.
Their origin in Greece dates back to 1922, when Greeks the who fled Smyrna (modern day Turkey) bought the recipe back home with them. Truth is that these delicious pizza boats — trust Greeks to turn a pizza into a boat! — are as common in Greece as they are niche and hard to find abroad.
I was seven when we moved into our current family house in the Northern suburbs of Athens. In the mind of a seven year old this kind of change always feels epic; everything around me was new and different. Funnily enough this is also when I first tasted Peinirli in a small taverna that was just a five minute drive from our new house. It was a classic rustic greek taverna. Plastic chairs and plastic tables scattered around a garden full of trees and covered with gravel.
The other thing I remember is how the waiters would open water and soft drink bottles and just always throw the lid on the floor. And over time, as we became regulars at this Taverna, it slowly became one of the few places where my mum’s strict rules around mealtime etiquette wouldn’t apply: my sister and I were free to explore the garden and collect said precious bottle caps.
Anyway, I digress: the point being that the Peinirli were delicious and those carefree Summer nights unforgettable.
Part Pizza, part boat, all delicious
Ingredients
For the dough
500g bread flour
7g of dried yeast (or 14g fresh)
120g lukewarm water
120g milk
3 tbsp olive oil
1tsp sugar
8gr salt
For the filling
200g grated cheese (something like grated mozzarella will do)
100g cream cheese
150g bacon
4 eggs
Salt & Pepper
30g melted butter for brushing
Step by step
For the dough
Mix the water, milk, sugar and dissolve the yeast in it. Let it rest 15min. If you are using fresh yeast do the same and just crumble the fresh yeast into the liquid and mix until dissolved.
In a bowl, add the flour, salt, oil, liquid ingredients previously mixed and mix everything until combined
When the dough comes together knead it for roughly 5 minutes
Drizzle some olive oil in a bowl and put your dough to rest covered in cling film
Let it rest until doubled. I let mine rest from roughly 1.5h but it can take less
The Filling
In a bowl mix the cream cheese with the grated cheese
You can decide if you want to put the bacon straight on the peinirli or if you like to cook it first. I like mine crunchy so I quickly put it in a non-stick pan and quickly cooked it with no added fat
Shaping & Baking
Take your dough & knock it down. This literally means you can punch it to deflate it. Quickly knead for a couple of minutes and divide in 4 equal parts. These will be your 4 Peinirli
Flour your bench and start rolling out the first Peinirli. Roll the dough out to be rectangular and roughly 4 to 5mm thick
Place your cheese filling in the centre of the rectangle
Fold in the short edges of your rectangle like in the pictures below. Now fold the long edges of your rectangle towards the centre of the rectangle. Your longer folded edges should partially cover the filling
With your hand try to shape the bow and stern of your pizza boats. Don’t be afraid to press with your hands to seal well the dough
The yeast will make the pizza boats grow in the oven and they might open up too much. To avoid this compress well your shaped Peinirli with your hands. the two long edges should almost touch each other leaving only a little filling uncovered. This is ok and I promise they’ll open up in the oven
Bake them for 20min in a preheated oven at 200C or 210C Fan
After 20min, carefully take them out of the oven and add an egg on top of each pizza boat. I recommend breaking the egg in a bowl first and then transferring it on the Peinirli with a spoon. Bake for further 5 minutes or until the egg is done and the crust is golden
Melt the butter and brush the crust as soon as you take them out of the oven
Enjoy!
Tips & Cheats
The most painful part is the shaping. Don’t despair and make sure you take your time to fold the edges well and press the tips. As you can see, one of mine has slightly open edges and I did try to shape them as carefully as I could. If that happens to you too don’t worry, it will taste equally good.
You can really fill them with whatever you wish! For example you can use the same mix of cheese, some crumbled feta, oregano, black olives and freshly sliced tomatoes.