Peinirli is always a winning meal choice for kids, but this recipe puts a vegan twist on the classic. Not only does it add some much-needed veggies, but your children won't even taste the difference. The combination of sweet Santorini aubergine, homemade marinara, mushrooms, peppers, cherry tomatoes, almond cheese, plus the fluffy boat-shaped bread is sure to be an instant childhood favourite. Experiment with different fillings; the whole family can be involved in preparing their own fillings for this savoury pizza-boat. Serve with horta salad and elevate Sunday dinnertime to a Pontian gastronomic experience.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Passive Time | 2,5 hours |
| Servings |
6 peinirli
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Ingredients
For the dough
- 1+½ cups water lukewarm, preferably filtered or purified
- 1+½ teaspoons yeast dry
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 4 cups durum wheat flour fine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil Greek extra virgin
My favourite vegan filling
- 1 aubergine (eggplant) large, white aubergine or Santorini aubergine
- 3 mushrooms portobello
- 1 bell pepper large, green
- 1 red pepper large, Florina pepper
- 20 cherry tomatoes
- 6 tablespoons marinara tomato sauce homemade
- almond cheese homemade
- ½ cup Kalamata olives whole, pitted
Ingredients
For the dough
My favourite vegan filling
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Instructions
For the dough
- Stir the yeast and sugar into ½ cup of lukewarm water, until completely dissolved. Place plastic wrap over your bowl, set aside for 5’-10’ to bubble.
- Add the flour and olive oil to a large bowl, then rub them together by pressing them between your fingertips.
- Once the flour feels moist make a well in the middle of it and add the remaining lukewarm water and yeast, adding them gradually.
- Using very clean hands place the dough onto a work surface and knead by hand for about 15’, until you have a velvety smooth dough.
- Roll the dough into a ball. Grease the bowl with some olive oil, then rub the ball with some olive oil and place it seam side down in the bowl.
- Place plastic wrap over the bowl and let the dough prove at warm room temperature for 1-1.5 hours, until doubled in size.
- Tip the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface, cut into 6 pieces. Shape the pieces into 6 balls. Place them on a lightly floured work surface, cover them with a clean tea towel, and leave to prove at room temperature for 30’.
- On a lightly floured surface, slightly roll out each piece to an approximately 1/5 inch thick (0.5 cm) small roughly oval. (The boat-shape is very forgiving!) Slightly fold the lengthwise sides inwards, then pinch the upper and bottom edge to seal creating a boat-shaped mini pizza.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and dust lightly with flour. Place your peinirli onto the prepared tray, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove for 30’.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (428°F).
- Add the filling of your preference, brush the boat-shaped dough with some olive oil and bake for 15’-20’.
My favourite vegan filling
- Wash the aubergines, trim off the stems and peel off the skin. Cut them into 1 cm or ½ inch disks. Fill a large bowl with cold water, add 1 tbsp salt and stir until it dissolves completely. Submerge the disks in the salted water. Let the aubergine disks sit in the brine for at least 20'. Rinse the aubergine disks, gently squeeze out the water. Sprinkle them with ¼ tbsp salt, a pinch of pepper and 2 tbsps olive oil and mix by hand. Arrange them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 230°C (446°F) for 20’, until they are until they are tender and with slightly brown edges.
- Wash and drain the mushrooms. Pat them dry with paper towel and thinly slice them. Gently squeeze the slices.
- Cube the peppers.
- Halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Spoon 1 tbsp of homemade marinara tomato sauce into each peinirli, then fill with aubergines, mushrooms, peppers, cherry tomatoes and olives.
- Bake for 15’-20’.
- Garnish while hot with chunks of homemade almond cheese.
How to serve
- Serve with horta salad or raw green salad on the side.
Recipe Notes
The Gastronomic Heritage of Pontos
Peinirli
Peinirli has been one of the most favoutite dishes of the Greeks from Asia Minor and the Black Sea. Peinirli is a quintessentially Pontian Greek working-class dish. What did Pontian Greeks use to take to work for lunch until the 1910s? Yes, you guessed it… Peinirli was the most common work lunch for labourers. Peinirli is one of the many culinary and cultural traditions from Pontos. The dough is shaped like a boat and the possibilities of fillings are found to be innumerable. Greek bakeries in Smyrna and Constantinople were also selling Pontian peinirli as a traditional delicacy. Greeks from the mainland traveled quite often to these Greek cities and enjoyed the regional tastes. After the Greek Genocide (1913 -1922), pogrom survivors preserved their byzantine gastronomic heritage. This is my veganised version of this very popular Greek dish. Its recipe makes for a hearty Pontian feast!
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