Crustless pie with pumpkin
Zymaropita / Batzina
The zymaropita/batzina is a dough pie without a pastry sheet, from Thessaly and especially from the area of Karditsa. Its materials are as simple as its origin.
A simple pie in Thessaly was made from flour, cheese, milk, eggs. When pumpkin/zucchini was added, a pie called zymaropita/batzina was created. The word batzina comes from the word batzos which is a Greek white, hard goat and sheep cheese, originating in Western Macedonia. It has a thin dough, baked in the oven, as a result of which it becomes crispy. The traditional zymaropita/batzina is quite thin (one finger), for two reasons. First to cook quickly and second to remain crisp for many hours or even days. Its preparation made it ideal for all occasions. It is the meal that the farmers took in the fields, wrapped in a towel. It is the snack that the parents gave to the children for school. It is ideal for breakfast.
Ingredients
- 250gr graded pumpkin or zucchini
- 4 eggs (beaten)
- 400gr milk
- 400gr feta (crumbled with your hands)
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 5 tbsp maize flour
- all-purpose flour (as much to get a dough a little more watery than cake mix)
- salt, pepper, turmeric
- olive oil
- butter to grease the baking pan
Method
- Preheat the oven at 180oC.
- Take a large bowl, add the eggs and beat them with a fork.
- Dissolve the dried yeast into the milk.
- Add the pumpkin or zucchini, the milk (with the dried yeast), the feta, salt, pepper, turmeric and stir (with a fork or a marise).
- Add maize flour and stir well.
- Finally add slowly as much flour it will take to get a dough a little more watery than cake mix.
- On a baking pan, lay a no-sticking baking paper, and grease the baking paper with some butter.
- Pure your pie mix and cover well the baking pan (the pie must be about 1 finger thick).
- Pure on top some olive oil, and bake at 180oC for about 40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and after 10 minutes, turn the pie upside-down to cool well (you can cut it in large pieces so you can turn it more easily).
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