Flaoúna

Φλαούνες. <br/> Άδεια δημοσίευσης: Υπουργείο Γεωργίας.

Flaoúna is the most characteristic Easter delicacy prepared and/ or consumed in all households in Cyprus. Its foukós (filling) is prepared 4-5 hours earlier or on the night before. Foukós is traditionally prepared using sourdough, flaouna cheese, eggs and spearmint (raisins are optional).

Name - Recipe

Cypriot name of dish

Φλαούνα/pl. φλαούνες Flaoúna/pl. flaoúnes.

Greek name - description

Φλαούνα. Traditional Cypriot Easter pie.

Language remarks

According to Cypriot scholars, the "ancestor" of flouna is considered to be the 'palathi', an ancient Greek fig pie. Its Roman counterpart was called 'fladonis', while later the AngloSaxons called it 'flaon', today's 'flan' (Hadjioannou 1993).

Ingredients

Version A
For the dough:
2 kg of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups of oil
Sourdough (the size of 2 eggs)
2 tbsp of warm milk for kneading
Ground mahleb
Ground mastic
Ground aniseed

For the foukos (filling):
2 kg of flaouna cheese and halloumi
1/2 cup semolina
~12 eggs
1 piece of sourdough (the size of 2 eggs)
2 tsp baking powder
chopped fresh mint
Ground mahleb
Ground mastic
1 cup raisins (optional)

For the coating:
2-3 eggs, beaten
Sesame seeds

Version B:
For the dough:
3 okkas of goat's milk
1 litre of vegetable oil
6 kg of flour
½ bag of aniseed

For the filling:
10 kg of cheese (halloumi and cheese made from their own
goats' milk)
1 grated anari
90 eggs
Mahleb
Mastic
Sprearmint
Nutmeg
Vanilla
1 kg sesame seeds

For the sourdough:
1 kg of flour
Water

Method

Version A
Grate the cheese in a big container, 1-2 days in advance to dry out and absorb more from the eggs. Prepare the foukos the night before or 4-5 hours in advance: Add the semolina to the cheese as well as the mahleb and mastic and mix well. Beat the eggs. Make a dent in the cheese, add the sourdough and pour in the eggs. Rub with your fingers until the sourdough is well dissolved. Add as many eggs as needed to make the foukos rather firm. On the following day, add the baking powder, spearmint and raisins and 1-2 more eggs if needed. Prepare the dough: in a basin, sift the flour, add the salt, baking powder, mahleb, mastic and aniseed and mix the ingredients well. Add the oil and knead the flour with your fingers. Then add the sourdough and lukewarm milk to dissolve the sourdough and knead to make a regular dough. Allow the dough to proof for 1-2 hours. Roll out round pastry sheets of ½ cm thick and cut round pies to the size you want (usually about 15cm). Place about 2 spoonfuls (depending on the size of the sheet) of foukos in the middle of each sheet and fold the sides, leaving the top uncovered. Coat the bottom of the flaounes with sesame seeds. Before baking them, let them proof, brush them with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake them in a hot oven for about 1 hour. (MANRE 2006, 45-46)

Version B
For the dough: add the sourdough, milk and flour and knead well. After kneading, let the dough proof for 2 hours. For the filling (fouko): in a large bowl, add the eggs, grated cheese, mahleb, mastic, vanilla, nutmeg and mix well. Then add the anise and spearmint. Mix well and add a little flour if needed. Cover the bowl and leave the foukos overnight to proof. Roll out a pastry sheet and cut into round pieces of roughly the size of a small plate. Alternatively, you can it into squares or triangles. On a tray place sesame seeds and aniseed and touch each pastry sheet bottom on them just to make them stick. Place about a handful of the filling on the pastry sheet and fold it. Once all flaounes are made, leave them aside to proof. Brush them with with eggs and sesame seeds and put them in the (clay) oven to bake. Put some flour on the peel to assist in quickly removing them and a piece of aluminum foil so they don't burn underneath. Leave them in the oven for about 50 minutes, and, depending on your oven, if you may need to add a second batch, reheat the oven. (Panagiota Savva, 65 years old from Agios Ioannis Agrou)

Cooking method

Baking in the oven (clay oven, wood-fired or conventional).

Comments

You can watch the process of making flaouna here: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytrM1OMI4I

There are some variations to the recipe in terms of shape, flavourings, taste, types of cheese, composition of the foukos, dough ingredients and coating. In terms of shape they can be triangular, square, round. As regards the addition of flavourings, in some areas cinnamon is added, in others hemp seeds (roasted or raw), mainly in Paphos, but also in other areas such as Pedoulas, Agros, Strovolos and Lympia. Elsewhere (in the area of Pitsilia), natural yellow colour was added to the filling to give it a more intense yellow colour. The proportion of mastic and mahleb also di ffers. The taste can be salty or sweet. It is salty when no raisins are added or with the addition of salt, and it is sweet with the addition of small or large raisins and/or sugar. As regards to the types of cheese, the most commonly used are Paphitiko cheese (flaouna cheese) and halloumi (ratio of 1 kg of flaouna cheese to 1 kg of halloumi). Some housewives also add kefalotyri (kaskavali) cheese to make the flaounes saltier. Cheese should be semi-hard or hard, so that it can be easily grated and the dough does not get muddy. Cheese made from sheep's milk is regarded as tastier. In more recent years, anari is added to make them "lighter". The 'dietetic' flaounes are made with anari (myzithra). As regards to the composition of the fouko, some housewives dissolve the sourdough with the eggs, others dissolve it with lukewarm milk. Instead of sourdough, many people use baking powder or even yeast. It is also possible to combine 2 leavening ingredients. Flour or semolina can be added to the fouko. Finally, as far as the composition of the dough is concerned, the dough was traditionally made with olive oil. Nowadays they use seed oils or vegetable fat (spry). In some regions, the dough is made with milk and eggs. In more recent times, some housewives have added orange juice. Some do not use milk because they claim that the dough hardens. In the village of Koilani, Limassol district, they use arkatis (aquafaba) as a leavening agent as well as the spices used in arkatena rusks (ginger, mastic and mahleb). Finally, as for the coating, they are usually brushed with egg yolk. In later years, egg white is also added or egg white alone may be used to make them more 'dietetic'. It is also reported that in the past, milk fat, known as 'kafourka', was used for coating. (Note: Stalo Lazarou)

As regards to the preparation of flaounes, the following tips are useful: Sourdough: use a piece of small sourdough that you saved from before ( ≈250 grams) and renew it. Heat about half a bowl of water and pour it into the sourdough. Add enough flour for a loaf of bread, or as much as needed, and knead. Let it proof until the following day. Sesame seeds: boil them with lemon juice and water from the previous day to blanch them. Cheese: grate the cheese 2-3 days in advance, to dry it out. Wood-fired oven: put wood in the oven and light it until the opening turns white. Pull the charcoal out using the peel, wipe the oven clean and bake (put the flaounes in the oven). (Panagiota Savva, 65 years old from Agios Ioannis Agrou)

Functional and symbolic role

Nutritional Value and Importance in the Diet of Cypriots

In the old days on Easter Sunday they would not cook, but eat only flaounes. The Easter Sunday meal was immediately after the Service of Agape (Vespers of Love), in the church. (Note: Stalo Lazarou)

Festive Occasions

Flaounes are prepared and consumed during the Easter period.

Every family, no matter how poor, considered it a duty to make flaounes (Pharmakides 2000, 212).

Symbolic uses

The flaouna is a resurrection symbol for Cypriots, it is associated with various Easter customs and is offered as a treat.

The flouna is a festive bread, which is why it is very 'rich' in ingredients. It expresses the joy of the great feast of Easter. (Note: Stalo Lazarou)

Some housewives who make triangular flaounes, form the crucified hands of Jesus in each of the three corners of the flaouna. (Note: Stalo Lazarou)

Additional information and bibliography

Time period

19th - 21st c.

Supplementary information

In the old days, a group of people used to visit all the houses in the village and sing the flaouna song. The villagers would offer the group 1-2 flaounes which they would put in a bag.

In the villages of Paphos district, they prepare the paskia - a round flaouna about the size of the palm of a hand with a filling that includes pieces of fried meat and spices.

Βibliography

Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture (2006). Cyprus traditional preparations, Nicosia.

Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment (2007) 'For the farmer: Easter preparations', Agrotis, April-MayJune 2007.

Pharmakides, X. (2000) Collected works, Epifaniou Publications, Nicosia.

Chatziioannou, (1993)

Oral testimony: Panagiota Savva, 65 years old from Agios Ioannis Agrou. Recording: Elena Savva, October 2010.

Web source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytrM1OMI4I

Researcher / Recorder

Varvara Yangou, Stalo Lazarou, Elena Savva / Marina Constantinou

Photos