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Plăcintă cu Branza (Romanian Cheese Pie)

Plăcintă cu Branza (Romanian Cheese Pie) is a traditional Romanian recipe for classic fried bread dough pies with feta cheese fillling. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Romanian version of: Romanian Cheese Pie (Plăcintă cu Branza).

prep time

60 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

80 minutes

Makes:

10

Rating:

Tags : Vegetarian RecipesBread RecipesCheese RecipesRomania Recipes

This is a direct descendant of Greek and Ancient Roman placenta a layered dish of pastry and cheese sometimes sweetened with honey. Many sources, including Wikipedia name these dishes as the antecedents of cheesecake, and, indeed, name them as such. However, cakes containing cheese are not the same as cheesecakes and I think this dish makes this quite plain. Indeed, I would say that those ancient Greek and Roman dishes are more like tiropita with the sweet versions giving rise to modern baklava, which could in no way be described as cheesecakes!

Ingredients:

500g (4 ¼ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 sachet instant dry yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
250ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
350g (12.3 oz) feta cheese, preferably sheep's milk feta
3 spring onions
1 small bunch dill
fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
a little oil for frying

Method:

Begin with the Yeast dough: In a large bowl, mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Slowly start adding the lukewarm water, mixing with a fork until the ingredients come together as a soft sough (you should need most of the water).

Continue kneading for about 10 minutes until the dough stops sticking to the sides of the bowl (flour your hands during kneading as necessary). Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set aside to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.

For the filling, finely crumble the feta cheese (but do not mash to a paste). Chop the spring onions and dill very finely then mix in with the cheese. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

to make the pies, knock the dough back and knead briefly. Divide into 10 equal portions and shape these into balls. Roll out on a floured work surface into thin circles. Make sure to sprinkle the rolling pin with flour or the dough will stick.

Place some of the filling mixture in the centre of each circle then bring the edges of the pastry together, forming a half moon with the filling in the centre. Press lightly to seal the edges all the way around.

Gently roll the pasty to flatten. Sit on a sheet of baking paper and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

To cook: heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush with a little oil and use to fry the pies for 2-3 minutes on each side. Cook them in two or three batches, as necessary.

Place the finished pies in a warm oven as you cook the next batch.

Serve immediately.