If you’re looking for the most authentic Greek Tiropita Cheese Feta Pie, this recipe comes straight from my yiayia’s kitchen. I used my Yiayia Vaso’s original ingredients, she traditionally makes the snake-shaped tiropita, but I adapted her dough to create the squared version, which she also made often. The method changes slightly, but the flavour stays beautifully traditional.
Fillings in Greek pies are endlessly flexible too: tiropita can easily become prasopita (leek pie), kolokithopita (pumpkin pie), spanakopita (spinach and feta pie) and more. Once you master the dough, the choice is yours.
Table of Contents
Watch My Step-By-Step Video
Watch my video here for a visual tutorial making the Greek Tiropita Cheese Feta Pie. Throughout the video, you’ll also see snippets of different fillings including prasopita
Why This Greek Tiropita Cheese Feta Pie Is Special
- Uses homemade village-style dough for maximum crunch and flavour
- Classic ingredients passed down from my yiayia
- Square-shaped pita that’s easy to portion and perfect for entertaining
- Flexible base recipe; swap in any filling you love
Ingredients for Greek Tiropita Cheese Feta Pie
Makes 4 Large Pitas
For the dough:
- 10-12 cups plain flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 cup neutral oil (sunflower, vegetable or canola)
- 1 cup olive oil
- 4.5 cups water
For layering:
- 250g salted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 800-900g Greek Dodoni feta or Bulgarian feta (soaked in clean water overnight or a few hours)
- 1 egg
- Cracked black pepper
Optional: sesame seeds for topping
How to Make the Dough
- In a mixing bowl, combine salt, vinegar, oils, and water.
- Slowly sift in the flour, mixing until the dough comes together and no longer sticks to your hands.
- Cover the dough with a towel and rest for 15–20 minutes.
- Cut the dough into four equal pieces.
- Each dough ball makes 1 pita: one bottom layer + one top layer per pie.
- Flour your workspace and roll out one dough piece with a rolling pin.
- Melt your butter and baste the dough generously.
- Using your hands, stretch the dough until paper-thin.
- Don’t stress about holes: once folded into a square, they won’t matter.
- Fold the dough into a square/rectangle parcel, place it on a plate, cover with cling wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Repeat with all dough portions.
Prepare the Feta Filling
- Crumble the soaked feta into a bowl (make sure you remove the water that you soaked it in)
- Add one egg and cracked pepper, then mix until combined.
(Tip: soaking feta removes excess salt.)
Assemble Your Greek Tiropita Cheese Feta Pie
- Roll your chilled dough square/rectangle into the shape of your baking pan.
- Keep this layer thicker to provide structure.
- Baste your pan with melted butter.
- Add your first dough sheet as the base.
- Spread the feta mixture evenly.
- Add the second dough sheet as the top layer.
- Baste the top generously with butter.
- Score the pie into portions (this helps it bake evenly).
- Add sesame seeds if you like.
Tip: You can divide your pie and add a different filling on half for variety.
Bake
- Bake at 180°C fan-forced for 1 hour, or until beautifully golden brown and crisp.
Make-Ahead & Freezer Tips
- You can freeze the dough before rolling and shaping it for the pan
- Simply thaw, roll, and assemble when ready to bake.
- Ideal for planning ahead or batch-prepping.
- You can also make the whole pita and then freeze it instead of baking it. Make sure you cover it properly with cling wrap and then on the day, remove the cling wrap and pop it straight into the oven. No need to thaw out.
Ingredients
Method
- In a mixing bowl, combine salt, vinegar, oils, and water.
- Slowly sift in the flour, mixing until the dough comes together and no longer sticks to your hands.
- Cover the dough with a towel and rest for 15–20 minutes.
- Cut the dough into four equal pieces.
- Each dough ball makes 1 pita: one bottom layer + one top layer per pie.
- Flour your workspace and roll out one dough piece with a rolling pin.
- Melt your butter and baste the dough generously.
- Using your hands, stretch the dough until paper-thin.
- Don’t stress about holes: once folded into a square, they won’t matter.
- Fold the dough into a square/rectangle parcel, place it on a plate, cover with cling wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Repeat with all dough portions.
- Crumble the soaked feta into a bowl (make sure you remove the water that you soaked it in)
- Add one egg and cracked pepper, then mix until combined.
- (Tip: soaking feta removes excess salt.)
- Roll your chilled dough square/rectangle into the shape of your baking pan.
- Keep this layer thicker to provide structure.
- Baste your pan with melted butter.
- Add your first dough sheet as the base.
- Spread the feta mixture evenly.
- Add the second dough sheet as the top layer.
- Baste the top generously with butter.
- Score the pie into portions (this helps it bake evenly).
- Add sesame seeds if you like.
- Tip: You can divide your pie and add a different filling on half for variety.
- Bake at 180°C fan-forced for 1 hour, or until beautifully golden brown and crisp.
- You can freeze the dough before rolling and shaping it for the pan
- Simply thaw, roll, and assemble when ready to bake.
- Ideal for planning ahead or batch-prepping.
- You can also make the whole pita and then freeze it instead of baking it. Make sure you cover it properly with cling wrap and then on the day, remove the cling wrap and pop it straight into the oven. No need to thaw out.
FAQS – Greek Tiropita Cheese Feta Pie
What basic ingredients do I need to make homemade filo from scratch?
Traditional filo dough is simply flour, water, a little salt and often a bit of olive oil (or a neutral oil) and vinegar for extra pliability and crispness.
Do I need special flour to make filo or will plain all-purpose flour do the trick?
I’ve always used plain flour. I’m sure if you used a special white flour that has more gluten in it, it will allow for easier stretching but I tend to use what I have on hand.
How thin and how “leaf-like” should I roll or stretch the dough?
The dough should be rolled (or stretched by hand) until it’s almost paper-thin; thin enough that light passes through. The thinner the filo, the flakier and more delicate the final pastry will be.
My filo is tearing or shrinking when I roll it; what am I doing wrong?
If the dough tears or keeps shrinking while rolling, it likely needs more resting time (to let the gluten relax), or you might not be using enough flour dusting to prevent sticking. Also, kneading the dough properly and giving it enough rest before rolling helps maintain elasticity.
How should I store homemade filo dough or unused sheets so they stay usable?
A: After rolling out the sheets, dust them generously with flour so they don’t stick, layer with baking (or parchment) paper, wrap tightly (cling-wrap or container), and refrigerate. Fresh filo stored this way should stay good for a few days. If you want longer storage, you can also freeze the dough and thaw before using. Or freeze the assembled but unbaked pie (I do this often) and then bake straight from frozen.
