Peinirli Recipe (Pontic Boat-Shaped Cheese Bread)

Peinirli belongs to the same family of open, boat-shaped filled breads found across the wider Black Sea and Asia Minor region, brought into Greek cooking specifically by Pontic Greek refugees who resettled in Thessaloniki and other northern Greek cities after 1922, and it has stayed close to their own everyday and celebratory table ever since.

The distinctive shape, an open canoe with pinched, sealed points at both ends, exists for a practical reason: it holds a generous filling without spilling, while leaving the top open so the cheese can bubble and colour directly under the oven's heat rather than being trapped under a lid of dough.

Cheese alone is the simplest and most classic filling, though ham, a cracked egg added part way through baking, or sliced sausage are all common additions, each pressed into the open centre before the final bake.

Key preparation steps

1. Make and prove a simple, slightly enriched bread dough.
2. Shape each portion into a flat oval and pinch the ends into a boat shape.
3. Fill generously with cheese and any other toppings.
4. Bake in a very hot oven until the crust is deep gold and the filling molten.

The dough

A straightforward yeasted bread dough, flour, yeast, a little sugar and oil, water, needs a proper first rise, at least an hour, to develop enough structure to hold its shape once filled and folded into the open boat form.

Divide the risen dough into portions and roll each into a flattish oval, thicker at the edges than the centre, which gives the finished bread a slightly raised crust around the filling.

Shaping the boat

Fold the two long edges of each oval up and over slightly, pinching them together firmly at both pointed ends to seal, leaving the centre open along the top in a canoe or boat shape. This pinch needs to be genuinely tight, since a loose seal lets the filling leak out as it bakes.

Fill the open centre generously with cheese, traditionally a mix of a mild white cheese and a little grated kasseri or similar melting cheese, and add ham, a cracked egg, or sliced sausage now if using.

Baking hot and fast

Peinirli wants a very hot oven, as hot as your oven goes, ideally with a pizza stone or preheated heavy tray to help crisp the base quickly. Bake until the crust is deeply golden and the cheese filling is fully melted and lightly coloured, which takes twelve to fifteen minutes at genuinely high heat.

If adding a cracked egg, do so partway through baking rather than at the start, so the white sets without the yolk overcooking completely.

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