Back to Snacks
Feteer Meshaltet
Serves 4 Prep 1 hr 15 min Cook 30 min Total 1 hr 45 min Type Snack Origin Egyptian

Feteer Meshaltet

Egypt's pillowy pastry: paper-thin dough folded with ghee into a square and baked till amber, the layers steaming soft inside.

Serves 4 Prep 45 minutes (plus 30 min rest) Cook 30 minutes Units Rate

Overview

A soft elastic dough rests; divides into 2 balls. Each ball stretches paper-thin on a heavily-oiled / ghee-buttered surface (similar to msemen or yufka, translucent dough). Layered with melted ghee between folds: stretch → ghee → fold into thirds → quarter-turn → stretch → ghee → fold. Repeated 3 times per ball. The two folded packets place stacked on top of each other in a buttered round dish (about 24 cm). Baked at 220°C 25-30 minutes until amber, golden, and the layers have separated dramatically. Served warm with honey, soft cheese, or molasses-and-tahini (the Egyptian classic dip).

Ingredients

Dough

  • 400 g plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar
  • 1 egg (large)
  • 60 ml whole milk (warm)
  • 200 ml water (warm)
  • 1 teaspoon fast-action yeast (optional; some recipes skip; gives slightly puffier result)

For laminating

  • 150 g ghee (or unsalted butter, melted, Egyptian feteer traditionally uses samna, which is clarified butter / ghee)

Sweet topping (choose one or assemble at the table)

  • Honey (or date molasses)
  • A drizzle of tahini whisked with the molasses
  • Soft white cheese (like a mild Egyptian areesh, or substitute ricotta)
  • Sweetened condensed milk
  • Powdered sugar dusting

Savoury topping (optional - for the assembled meshaltet)

  • 150 g feta cheese (crumbled)
  • 50 g melting cheese (mozzarella, grated)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill (chopped)

Method

Stage 1 - Dough

  1. Whisk flour, salt, sugar and (if using) yeast in a wide bowl.
  2. Whisk milk + water + egg in a jug.
  3. Add wet to dry; mix to a soft sticky dough.
  4. Knead 10 minutes by hand - the dough should be very soft and elastic. Add a tablespoon of water if too dry, or a tablespoon of flour if unmanageably wet.
  5. Rest in an oiled bowl, covered, 30 minutes.

Stage 2 - Divide and oil

  1. Divide into 2 balls.
  2. Cover each with a generous layer of melted ghee. Let stand 10 minutes (the ghee softens the dough surface for stretching).

Stage 3 - Stretch first time

  1. Heavily ghee a wide work surface.
  2. Take one ball; flatten gently with palms; pull and stretch outward into a paper-thin square / circle 40 cm across (similar technique to filo / yufka - translucent in the centre).
  3. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of melted ghee across the surface; spread with fingers.

Stage 4 - Fold (lamination)

  1. Fold the stretched dough into thirds (like a letter): left edge over centre, right edge over.
  2. Drizzle 1 tablespoon ghee.
  3. Quarter-turn (90°).
  4. Stretch again into a smaller rectangle (about 30 cm × 20 cm).
  5. Drizzle ghee.
  6. Fold into thirds the other way.
  7. Drizzle ghee.
  8. You should now have a thick packet about 12 cm square.

Stage 5 - Repeat with second ball

Stage 6 - Final assembly

  1. Heat oven to 220°C (200°C fan).
  2. Ghee a 24 cm round oven dish (or baking tin).
  3. Place one folded packet in the centre.
  4. Gently flatten with your palm into a disc 20 cm across.
  5. Drizzle ghee.
  6. Stack the second packet on top; flatten to match.
  7. Drizzle ghee generously over the top.

Stage 7 - Bake

  1. Bake 22-28 minutes until deep golden brown on top, with visible flaky layers at the edges and dramatic puffing.

Stage 8 - Serve

  1. Cool 5 minutes.
  2. Cut into wedges with a sharp knife.
  3. Set out toppings: honey, date molasses, tahini, ricotta-style cheese.
  4. Tear and dip, or layer toppings inside the warm wedges.

Notes

  • Stretch paper-thin: The signature of feteer is the dramatic flaky-layered cross-section. That happens only if each ball is stretched truly translucent - you should see your hand through the dough. Tears are fine; they fold over.
  • Ghee, generously: Don't be timid with the fat between layers. Feteer is rich by design; sparingly-oiled feteer is flat and bread-like.
  • Hot oven, short bake: 220°C is right. Lower temperatures give pale, undercooked layers. The bake is short (~25 min) because the dough is already thin.

Storage

  • Best within 4 hours of baking.
  • Refrigerate 2 days; warm at 200°C 6 minutes (microwave makes it soggy).
  • The layers stale relatively fast; freeze cooked feteer wrapped tightly 1 month; warm at 200°C 12 minutes from frozen.

More like this

1 / 4
Goghal

Goghal

A spiced flaky pastry from Azerbaijan's tea table, traditionally baked for Novruz alongside pakhlava and shekerbura, eaten with strong sweet tea any time of year. You make a yeasted milk-and-egg dough and let it rest for an hour, while you build a savoury-sweet spice mix from black pepper, caraway, fennel, saffron and a hard cheese-like crumble (Azerbaijani gurut, or a substitute). The dough rolls thin, brushes with butter, gets a scatter of spice; folds, rolls, sprinkles again, repeated three times in the same lamination motion you'd use for puff pastry. The final dough rolls to a centimetre thick, cuts into rounds with the rim of a glass, takes an egg wash for shine, and bakes at 180°C for twenty-five minutes until deep golden. Eaten with sweet black tea and a small dish of jam on the side.

Snacks 2 hours 25 minutes Serves12
Arancini

Arancini

Cold risotto (saffron Milanese-style is traditional in arancini "alla Milanese"; plain works too) is mixed with grated parmesan and beaten egg to bind. Filling, a stew of beef-and-pork ragù with peas, OR a cube of mozzarella, sits in the centre of each ball. Hands wet with water shape the rice around the filling into a tight orange-sized ball (or cone, for the Catania style). Each ball is rolled first in flour, then in beaten egg, then in fine breadcrumbs (or in the doubled-up "panata" mix of flour + water for the Sicilian original). Deep-fried at 180°C in 4-5 cm of oil for 4-6 minutes per ball until deep gold. Drained on kitchen paper; eaten warm.

Snacks 45 minutes Serves4