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A traditional honey-and-cheese pie from Mykonos, scented with citrus and finished with generous drizzles of honey.
Chef: Maria Xanioti
Preparation & Cooking time: Preparation: 40 minutes Baking: 1 hour Resting time: 30 minutes
Serves: 20 slices
A wonderful dessert from the Aegean islands, Mykonos Melopita is traditionally made with a local cheese called tyrovolia, but you can also use other cheeses such as anthotyro, myzithra or petroma instead. This recipe was shared with us by Maria Chanioti from the island of Mykonos, who likes to decorate the pie by hand, embellishing it with beautiful patterns.
Method
Knead together all the ingredients for the dough, gradually adding the water and taking care to ensure that the dough is neither too soft nor too firm. Leave it to rest for 30 minutes.
Mix all the ingredients for the filling together, adjusting the amount of honey or sugar to taste.
Divide the dough into two portions, making one slightly larger than the other. Roll out each portion with a rolling pin into a sheet about 0.5 cm thick.
Generously oil a large round baking pan, about 38 cm in diameter.
Line the pan with the larger sheet of dough, allowing plenty to overhang the sides, and press the edges onto the rim of the pan. Add the filling and spread it evenly over the dough.
Fold the overhanging edges inward and then cover with the second sheet of dough, trimming any excess so that there is no overhang. Set that extra dough aside if you wish to use it for decorating the pie top.
Drizzle the pie surface generously with olive oil and score it with a knife into square or diamond-shaped pieces.
Pierce each piece 2-3 times with a fork, or make small snips with scissors for a more decorative effect. If you have reserved some dough for decoration, you can shape it into various designs – such as flowers shaped from small balls, braids of dough, spirals or the like – and decorate the surface. A thin decorative border around the edge also looks lovely.
Bake the melopita in a preheated oven at 200°C (top and bottom heat) for about 1 hour.
As soon as you remove the melopita from the oven and while it is still hot, drizzle it with the extra honey.
Originally published in Greek at gastronomos.gr.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 800 g all-purpose flour
- Water, as needed (about 400 ml)
- Zest of 1 orange
- Juice of 1/2 orange
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch sugar
For the filling
- 1 kg Mykonos tyrovolia cheese* (Alternatively, anthotyro, myzithra, or petroma may be used, although the final result will differ in taste.)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup honey, plus 1 additional cup for drizzling after baking
- 4 eggs
- 1 sachet vanilla powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Zest of 2 oranges
*A traditional fresh cheese from Mykonos.
