Red Fox Pides

40 min 4

Ingredients

  • 300g/11oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
    1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
    1 tsp caster sugar
    1 tsp sea salt
    2 tbsp olive oil
    1 egg, beaten

    For the filling
    1 tsp olive oil
    1 white onion, finely chopped
    100g/4oz baby plum tomatoes, chopped
    1 tsp fennel seeds
    1 tsp cumin seeds
    ½ tsp allspice
    ½ cayenne pepper
    1 tsp ground coriander
    250g/9oz spinach
    Zest and juice of ½ a lemon
    Salt and pepper, to taste
    200g/7oz Belton Farm Red Fox cheese, crumbled
    2 tbsp chopped dill
    4 eggs, yolks separated, whites reserved for another recipe

The Cheese

Red Fox

Method

  1. Put the flour, yeast, sugar and sea salt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Stir in 80ml/0.3 cups of water and the oil to bring everything together into a firm, smooth dough. Add a little more water if needed.

  2. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to prove until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

  3. Meanwhile, make the filling. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the onion for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes, fennel and cumin seeds and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the allspice, cayenne pepper, ground coriander and the spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted and any liquid has evaporated – this will take about 5 minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice and season to taste. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

  4. When the dough has risen, heat the oven to 220c/200c fan/gas mark 7. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into four. Roll each piece into a ball, then each ball out into a rough oval, around 3-4mm thick. Transfer the dough ovals onto a couple of large non-stick baking trays.

  5. Spoon the cooled spinach filling into the centre of each dough oval, leaving a 2cm border around the edge. Sprinkle the Red Fox and dill over the filling. Carefully fold the sides of the dough in by about 1cm so they slightly overlap the filling, and bring the ends together to form a point. The ends may need to be slightly twisted and pressed down to fix them in place.

  6. When all four pide are assembled, brush the dough with beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and add an egg yolk to each pide. Return to the oven for 3-4 minutes. Finish the cooked pides with a little more dill.