Tahinopita Recipe (Cypriot Lenten Tahini Spiral Bread)

Tahinopita solves a real problem: what to bake during Lent, when eggs, milk and butter are all off the table, that still feels like a treat rather than a deprivation. Tahini, ground sesame paste, stands in for the fat that would normally come from butter or oil-rich dairy, and it carries its own distinct nutty flavour that a plain oil dough would not.

The dough itself uses only oil, flour, sugar and yeast, no eggs and no dairy at all, and it is rolled out, spread with a tahini and cinnamon sugar filling, then rolled up and coiled into a spiral before baking, similar in technique to a cinnamon roll but entirely different in character.

It appears across both Cyprus and the Greek mainland during Lent, and it keeps well, which made it a practical bread for a household to have on hand through weeks of fasting.

Key preparation steps

1. Make an oil-based yeasted dough with no eggs or dairy.
2. Roll out and spread generously with tahini and cinnamon sugar.
3. Roll up into a log and coil into a spiral.
4. Prove briefly, then bake until deeply golden.

Building a genuinely vegan dough

Flour, yeast, sugar, salt, warm water and a good olive or vegetable oil. That is the whole dough, and it needs slightly more careful kneading than an enriched dough since there are no eggs to help bind it, but it comes together into a smooth, workable dough after eight to ten minutes.

Let it rise properly, around an hour in a warm spot until doubled, since there is no egg richness to compensate for an under-proved dough later.

The tahini filling

Use a good quality tahini, ideally one that has been well stirred, since it separates in the jar and the oil needs redistributing before use. Mix it with sugar and a generous amount of cinnamon, loosening it slightly if very thick so it spreads easily without tearing the rolled-out dough.

Spread it right to the edges of the rolled-out dough, since a stingy filling gives you plain bread with the odd streak of tahini rather than a bread that tastes of it throughout.

Rolling and shaping the spiral

Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, spread with the filling, then roll up tightly from the long edge into a log. Coil the log around itself into a spiral, tucking the outer end underneath so it does not spring loose during baking.

A short second prove, twenty to thirty minutes, before baking gives the spiral a lighter crumb. Brush the top with a little oil and scatter with sesame seeds before it goes in the oven, both traditional finishing touches.

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