The Best Leek Pie

Zelnik is a savory pie which is very popular in Macedonia. It's pastry filled with cheese, spinach, leek or ground meat. My favorite is with leek and cheese, but during the Lent we make it with leek and soya crumbs, and it's equally delicious.

For this pie you will need:
700 g (4 and a half cups) flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried yeast
3 cups oil
1 and a half cup lukewarm water

For the filling
4-5 leeks
200 grams soya crumbs
some vegetable cheese

I always make the filling first. Soak the soya crumbs in hot water, leave them for five minutes and then drain them. Fry the leek (cut in small pieces) in hot oil until soft, add the soya crumbs and fry everything for 5 minutes. Season with some salt. Leave it aside.

Put the flour in a big bowl, add the salt and the yeast and pour in the water gradually, kneading constantly. You should knead it until a fine dough is formed. It shouldn't be too soft and sticky, but it shouldn't be very hard either.

After the dough is ready divide it in ten parts.

Take one part and roll it with a rolling pin on a floured surface. You should roll it until it is about 2-3 cm thick. You do the same with all ten parts of the dough.

Take 6 parts of the dough. These are going to be the bottom part of the pie. Put one part of the dough, brush it with some oil and put the second on top. Do the same with all the six pieces of dough. Then roll them with a rolling pin until you have a pastry that is very thin. The thinner the better.

Place the pastry in a greased pan.

Prepare the top of the pie the same way, with the remaining 4 pieces of the dough. Placing them on top of each other, brushing them with oil and rolling them with a rolling pin.

Spread the filling on top of the bottom pastry, add some cheese and cover the pie with the top pastry. You can put some of the cheese on top as well.

Bake the pie at 200 C or 390 F for about 30 minutes.

Bon appetit!