By Carmel Karni — See the Flakey Yogurt Dough recipe See the Spinach-Pesto Pockets recipe
I believe that having a great flaky dough recipe is a wonderful asset to have in your back pocket if you love to cook, bake, and host. You can make so many things with it—fill the dough with spinach, mushrooms, or pizza toppings for a quick appetizer or a light meal. Roll it with cheese to make cheese puffs, or use it to cover a pot pie. The list is endless.
This dough is my grandmother’s recipe. It is easy to make, light, and so flavorful. The biggest trick is not to overwork the dough and to freeze it before baking. I will publish my sweet version of it next month. Give it a try!
Notes: The yogurt amount is ½ cup, but it’s best to thin it out with a little water while keeping the total amount to about ½ cup. If you use Greek-style yogurt, use less yogurt and mix in more water. It’s a forgiving dough, so you don’t have to worry about being absolutely exact.
Flakey Yogurt Dough
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup (8 TBS, 1 stick) cold butter, cubed and kept cold
- ½ cup minus 3 TBS plain, full fat yogurt.
- 3 TBS ice-cold water
In a food processor, combine the flour and salt and pulse once or twice to mix. Add the cubed butter and pulse 10 times, until you have pea sized pieces of butter. Mix the yogurt with the water. You should have quite a thin yogurt. Pour the yogurt into the food processor and pulse about 4 times. Test the dough- it wont form a ball but it should pinch and hold together. If it doesn’t, add a tiny bit of ice water, 1 TBS at a time. Turn the dough onto your counter, gather it and fold over itself a couple of times. Shape into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 2 days.
Spinach-Pesto Pockets
Ingredients
- 1 recipe dough
- Pesto
- Cooked spinach, squeezed dry and chopped (you can use frozen)
- Grated gruyere cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
Roll the dough into a rectangle roughly 16” × 12”, about ⅛ inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 equal rectangles. Put a teaspoon of pesto in the bottom third of each rectangle, pile a little spinach and some cheese on top, then fold each rectangle over, pressing the edges shut. Transfer to a baking sheet covered with parchment, and press the tines of a fork around the folded edges to crimp them shut. Brush with the beaten egg and freeze for at least two hours and up to a month. The frozen pastries can be bagged and kept in the freezer until you are ready to bake them.
When ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the frozen pastries (without thawing them first) for about 25 minutes, until they are puffed and golden. Serve.
