Gluten Free Swiss chard pies also known as Spinach fatayer or swiss chard fatayer are a very traditional Lebanese dish. They are super heathy and delicious. I can guarantee you that your whole family is going to love them. The dough for these gluten free pies is a sourdough recipe which makes these pies extremely healthy. They are also vegan – dairy free, egg free, and vegetarian!
INGREDIENTS
- Swiss chard I love to use bright lights swiss chard because I find that they taste better than the traditional swiss chard, and their stalks are thinner and easier to work with.
Traditionally spinach is used in this recipe, but I prefer the taste of swiss chard over spinach. If you choose to, you can use spinach instead of swiss chard. You can add kale to the mix as well. - Yellow onion has a sweet flavor.
- Red onion has more of a spicy flavor. It also has extra antioxidants that are only present in red onions. These antioxidants are known as “anthocyanins”.
- Lemon used to brighten up the flavor of the pies and make them extra palatable.
- cumin provides a depth of flavor and something to look for and anticipate as you are bighting into that piece of pie.
- sumac has a lemony flavor that is not exactly the same as lemon. It adds that needed note of acidity that does not disappear when it’s cooked.
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil for an added depth of flavor.
- cayenne pepper you can choose to skip this one, or even add more than suggested. I’ll leave this up to you!
- Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza Dough This dough is everything. It has a great texture, it can be rolled and shaped into whatever you want to shape it into, and it has an amazing flavor!
- lime for serving. I love to make a small opening in the pie after it has been cooked and squeeze that lime into it. It adds richness of flavor and a wonderful swiss chard pie experience.
UTENSILS
- Medium bowl
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Rolling Pin
- Silicone mat, used to roll the dough on
- Pizza pan or a cookie sheet
- fine sieve
- Spoon
A TRADITIONAL RECIPE
Swiss chard pies are a version of the original Mediterranean spinach pie recipe. Spinach pies are a big thing in Lebanon and in the Mediterranean in general. When spinach was not available swiss chard was used in it’s place.
I personally favorited the swiss chard over the spinach because I found that it has a more intense flavor than that of spinach. Spinach seems to become so bland if slightly overcooked.
Whether you are camp spinach or camp swiss chard, these pies are absolutely amazing and are overloaded with nutrients and antioxidants.
Just because the tradition says that it’s a spinach pie, does not mean that you have to stick to it.
You can mix and match your greens as you like. I have tried this recipe using a mixture of both kale and swiss chard, and it turned out amazing. If I had spinach, I would have added it to the mix as well.
PREPPING THE GLUTEN FREE DOUGH
You can follow the link to the recipe Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza Dough to prep the dough for the swiss chard pies.
An important thing to note before you begin making the dough is that you will need to use a little less water than the original recipe suggests in order to make the dough “rollable”.
You’ll want to test the texture of the dough as you mix it in order to gage the amount of water that is needed that will allow the dough to be rolled out, but also prevent it from being super stiff. I talk more about this in the original dough recipe.
Another tip that I would add is to use psyllium husk rather than flaxseed powder. Psyllium husk gives the dough a more pliable texture before baking which allows you to manipulate it better. Psyllium husk also has a deeper, richer flavor than that of flaxseed powder.
I would also suggest that you do allow the dough to ferment before using it as this step does give the pies a richer flavor, and we cannot forget the added benefits of the fermentation process.
However, if you are in a hurry, you can simply skip the fermentation process and go right to making the pies.
PREPPING THE INGREDIENTS
There is a little bit of prep work involved in making these pies before the actual process of shaping them.
You could if you want dice up all the ingredients, put them in a bowl, add the seasoning, and mix. However, one down side to this technique is that you will end up with a ton of liquid in the bowl. This liquid can prevent the dough from sticking to itself when shaping the pies, and it can result in soggy pies, and a runout of liquid in the pan while baking.
To prevent the previously mentioned from occurring, you will need to prep the swiss chard ahead of time.
Simply dice the swiss chard, sprinkle some salt over it, squish it between your hands and allow it to sit for 30 minutes. During that period of time, the swiss shard will let go of most of the liquid that is present in it.
Meanwhile, as you wait for the swiss chard to render its liquids, you can dice the rest of the ingredients.
Once the swiss chard has rendered most of its liquids, you can then strain it in a fine mesh strainer and gently press out any excess liquid.
Mix all the ingredients together, and the filling is done.
CREATING THE GLUTEN FREE SWISS CHARD PIES
You’ll want to start by rolling out the dough onto a silicone mat, but before you do, make sure to give the matt a light oiling. This will allow you to easily lift the dough off the matt after it has been rolled out.
You’ll also want to oil your hands, and the rolling pin. I like to use extra virgin olive oil for this step because it’s extra added amazing flavor.
You’ll also want to oil the dough ball slightly before rolling it.
A manageable size dough ball that I like to work with is the size of a tennis ball. You can make them smaller if you wish to, but that would mean extra time spent in making these pies, and for me, time is precious.
Roll the dough into a circular shape of about 1/8 of an inch thickness. You do not want the dough to be any thinner than this because it will start to tear.
Place some filling in the center of the dough ball. I cannot tell you exactly how much because I did not measure it, and your dough might vary in size than my dough. So the filling amount might be different to you than it would have to be for me.
What I can tell you however, is that you’ll need to leave about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of exposed rim around the filling. You need this to be clean with no filling touching it otherwise it will not stick to itself.
You’ll want to make a triangular shape with the dough. Take the right and left side of the dough and pinch them together to form a triangular shape while leaving a base at the bottom.
Take the base, and pinch it to the bottom of the previously pinched pieces of dough in order to close of the base.
Repeat these steps with the remaining dough and filling.
BAKING AND SERVING
You’ll want to preheat the oven to 450 F because that is what is going to bake the dough into perfection.
Place them formed pies onto the baking sheet, and place the sheet into the preheated oven onto the bottom rack.
Bake the amazingly delicious pies for 18 to 20 minutes. They will be slightly golden brown when they come out.
You might get some liquid runout onto the pan, but all is good. The pies will still taste amazing.
To serve, make a small incision into the pie and squeeze some fresh lime juice into it. You can also add an extra sprinkle of cayenne pepper if you desire. You can also serve with some yogurt on the side.
FIND MORE RECIPES LIKE THIS
Vegan And Nut Free Gluten Free Soft Pretzels
Soft And Fluffy Vegan Gluten Free Burger Buns
Vegan Stuffed Swiss Chard Rolls (Mahshi Selek)
Gluten Free Swiss Chard Pies
Equipment
- Medium bowl
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Rolling Pin
- Silicone mat
- Pizza pan or a cookie sheet
- fine sieve
- Spoon
Ingredients
- 1 Large bunch Swiss chard diced, Spinach can also be used as a substitute
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 to mato diced
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons sumac
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon salt or to taste
- ¼ cup olive oil plus extra for rolling the dough
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza Dough
- 1 lime for serving
Instructions
- Place the diced swiss chard into a bowl and sprinkle with the 1 tablespoon salt.
- Using your hands, smush the swiss chard until it is tenderized. Allow it to sit for 30 minutes into an hour in the salt brine to render its juices.
- Meanwhile, you can dice the rest of the vegetables.
- Once the swiss chard has rendered its juices, place it into a sieve and drain the excess liquid.
- Place the swiss chard back into the bowl. Add in the onions, tomatoes, cumin, sumac, black pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, and olive oil.
- Preheat oven to 450 F
- Lightly oil the silicone mat with olive oil. Generously oil the rolling pin, and your hands with olive oil.
- Take about a tennis ball size gluten free sourdough pizza dough. Smush it in your hand a few times, then roll it into a ball. Place it onto the silicon mat and lightly oil the top of the dough with some olive oil. Roll the dough into a circular shape of about 1/8 inch in thickness.
- Fill the center of the dough with the filling avoiding the juicy part of the filling. Leave about 1 ½ inch to 2 inches of dough exposed.
- If you are using a pan that is likely to stick, you can butter it first to prevent the dough from sticking to it.
- Take the left side and the right side of the dough that are facing away from you and pinch them together to form a triangular shape. Take the base of the triangle or the part of the dough that is closest to you and pinch it together with the bottom of the triangle to form the base. Place the triangular shaped pie onto the baking pan.
- Repeat these steps with the remaining dough and filling leaving about ½ an inch between each pie to prevent them from sticking to each other.
- Place the pies into the oven at the bottom rack and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
Notes
If you have extra dough, you can place it in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to use it. This same technique could be used to make numerus types of gluten free pies.
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