Eliopitakia: Greek Mini Olive Pies

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Greek Elopitakia are mini olive stuffed pies. They are traditionally made vegan, but of course, you can stuff them with your favorite ingredients. They’re like little pizza pockets you can serve as an appetizer at your holiday party, and people will go crazy!

You have to make these

• Toasty golden brown bread pocket
• Juicy, briny olive and herb filling
• Creamy feta
• Easy mini olive and herb-filled pies for any time of the day!

Activating the yeast

Rarely do I end up with inactive yeast, but it can happen, and I always like to share how to check it. You want your bread to rise and create a soft pocket for your pie filling. So, be sure to check your yeast. Combine lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Set it aside for about 8-10 minutes. At the end of the time, you should see a puffy, bubbly cloud on top of the liquid. That means your yeast is active, and you’re ready to make your bread dough!

 

Mini Pie Ingredients

The Dough:

• Active dry yeast
• Granulated sugar
• Water
• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Olive oil

The Filling:

• Olive oil
• Onion –finely chopped
• Scallions –thinly sliced
• Kalamata olives –you can sub any combination of olives from Kalamata to green
• Finely chopped fresh parsley –substitute your favorite herbs -basil, rosemary, or dill would be good
• Finely chopped fresh mint
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Optional: crumbled feta cheese –always from a block to avoid tasteless pre-crumbles

Topping:

• Olive oil
• Black or white sesame seeds

Filling Options

Add some crushed red pepper flakes, harissa sauce, or sliced roasted red pepper straight from the jar. If you don’t want to keep it vegan, you can add feta cheese, roasted chicken, or any meat you like. I prefer to keep my pies on the vegetarian side, but you know I have to add feta cheese to at least half of them. Since these are basically pizza pockets, you don’t have to keep them Greek. You could do tomato sauce with mozzarella or any of your favorite pizza toppings. Let me know how you make your mini pies!

How to make Elopitakia -Mini Olive Pies

Make the dough:

• Whisk together the yeast, water, and sugar in the bowl of a tabletop mixer that has been fitted with the dough hook attachment and set aside to proof for about 8 minutes.
• Then, combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk them together.
• Add the flour mixture and a quarter cup of olive oil to the mixer, and then knead on low for 10 minutes.
• Transfer the dough to a large bowl with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and toss the dough to coat.
• Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise. The dough should double in volume for best results –about 2 hours.

Make the filling:                 

• Add the onion and olive oil with a pinch of salt to a pan heating over medium heat.
• Cook the onions for about 7-8 minutes until soft and golden, then add the scallions and warm through until softened.
• Remove the pan from the heat, then add the olives, herbs, black pepper, and feta if using.
• Stir together and set aside.

Assemble the pies:

• Preheat the oven to 400 °F, 200 °C.
• Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into 16 equal pieces.
• Roll each piece into a ball, and then press each ball into a 4-5-inch circle.
• Place a tablespoon of filling on one-half of each circle, then fold over and press the edges together.
• Press the edges with a fork to seal and create a decorative edge.
• Next, place the pies on two baking trays that have been lined with parchment paper.
• Brush the tops of the pies with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Bake for 30 minutes, alternating the pans halfway through baking.
• The pies are ready when they are golden brown.
• Allow the pies to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Serving

These mini olive pies are an excellent appetizer for parties. They are delicious and automatically offer individual servings. But since bread, cheese and olives is a classic Greek breakfast, putting it all together makes an even better breakfast. The marinara sauce with harissa that I make for my Feta Filled Star Bread would be absolutely perfect with these little pies. If you’re in love with tzatziki like I am, serve them with some tzatziki for a cool, fresh option. You can’t go wrong with either sauce. Kali orexi!

More Delicious Bread Recipes:

• Feta Star Bread
• Spinach & Feta Pull-Apart Bread Rolls
• Horiatiko Psomi: Greek Country (Village) Bread
• Homemade Greek Olive Bread