What Is Fatayer? A Guide to Levantine Savory Pies

Fatayer (also spelled fatayeh or fatayir) are hand-folded Levantine savory pies made from soft olive oil dough and baked around fillings such as spinach with sumac, cheese, or za'atar. Deiyaa Bakery bakes them with organic, non-GMO whole wheat flour. If you have eaten a spinach triangle from a Middle Eastern bakery, a cheese boat at a family breakfast, or a za'atar round folded around labneh, you have eaten fatayer or one of its close cousins.

What fatayer are

The word comes from the Arabic fatir, a general term for a flat dough or pastry. Across the Levant, fatayer means small savory pies: a yeasted dough enriched with olive oil, portioned into palm-sized rounds, filled, shaped and baked until golden. They are eaten warm or at room temperature, for breakfast, as part of a mezze spread, at iftar during Ramadan, and at almost every gathering where food is set out on a table rather than served on plates.

The dough is the constant. The shape changes with the filling. Three kinds are so common they have their own names.

• Spinach fatayer (fatayer sabanekh): spinach, onion, sumac and lemon, folded into a sealed triangle. Often vegan.
• Cheese fatayer (fatayer jibneh): white cheese in an open boat, sometimes topped with black seeds, dried mint or herbs.
• Za'atar manakish: technically manakish rather than fatayer, a flat round covered in za'atar and olive oil, but sold from the same trays and eaten the same way.

Meat versions exist too, usually spiced lamb or beef. At Deiyaa, everything is vegetarian. No meat, no pork, no alcohol.

Fatayer vs. sfiha

Sfiha (also sfeeha or lahm bi ajeen) are open-faced meat pies: a thin round or square of dough topped with spiced ground lamb or beef, tomato, onion and sometimes pomegranate molasses or pine nuts, baked flat. The differences are simple. Sfiha are open and almost always meat. Fatayer are usually folded or sealed and, in most bakeries, include vegetarian fillings. Both come from the same dough tradition and often share a tray, which is why the names get mixed up. We do not bake sfiha.

Fatayer vs. manakish

Manakish (manakeesh, manoushe) is a Levantine flatbread topped before baking, most often with za'atar and olive oil. Fatayer are folded and sealed around a filling; manakish are open-faced. Think of manakish as the Levantine cousin of a small pizza and fatayer as the cousin of a hand pie. At Deiyaa, our za'atar manakish are pressed flat and topped edge to edge, while our spinach fatayer are pinched shut. Both start from the same whole wheat olive oil dough, so the bread tastes the same. The difference is what you can see.

Fatayer vs. spanakopita

Spanakopita is the Greek spinach pie, and it is the comparison we hear most often from neighbors in Tinley Park and Palos Heights. The filling is similar in spirit: spinach, onion and herbs, plus feta and egg in the Greek version. The pastry is where they part ways. Spanakopita is made with phyllo, dozens of paper-thin sheets brushed with butter or oil, so it shatters when you bite it. Fatayer are made with a soft yeasted dough, so they are chewy and bready, closer to a bun than to a pastry. Spanakopita is usually baked in a pan and cut into squares. Fatayer are individual pieces you hold in one hand. Our Spinach & Feta fatayer is the closest thing to a bridge between the two.

Why spinach fatayer are triangles

The triangle is practical before it is pretty. A spinach filling with lemon and onion is wet, and an open boat would let it leak and steam the dough soggy. Fold a round of dough over the filling from three sides, pinch the three seams shut, and you have a sealed pocket that holds everything in while the outside browns. The three corners crisp more than the center, so every piece has a range of textures. Cheese, by contrast, sets as it bakes and browns better with air on it, which is why cheese fatayer are shaped as open boats. Shape follows filling.

How to spell it

Fatayer is the most common English spelling, and the one we use. You will also see fatayeh, fatayir and fatayar, depending on the family and the region the transliteration came from. Spinach ones are sometimes just called spinach pies or fatayer sabanekh. Cheese ones are fatayer jibneh. Za'atar rounds go by manakish, manakeesh, manoushe or zaatar bread. All of it points to the same tray.

What to eat with fatayer

Fatayer are built to sit next to things. The Levantine table sets them out with:

• Pickles. Cauliflower, carrot, cucumber and pepper in a sharp brine cut through cheese and olive oil. Our house pickles come in a cup for exactly this.
• Labneh, thick strained yogurt, with a pool of olive oil on top.
• Olives, sliced tomato and cucumber.
• Fresh mint and a pot of mint tea, or strong coffee in the morning.
• A simple salad with lemon and sumac if fatayer are the meal.

For breakfast, one or two pieces with labneh and tea is standard. As an appetizer, plan on 2 to 3 per guest. As a light meal with salad, 4.

How we bake ours

Every Deiyaa fatayer starts with organic, non-GMO whole wheat flour, water, extra virgin olive oil, yeast and salt. We form each piece by hand the day you order it. Fresh boxes go out for local delivery and pickup across Chicago's southwest suburbs. Frozen boxes ship overnight anywhere in the contiguous US for a flat $20, and you bake them at 375°F for 12 to 15 minutes. If you want to taste all three shapes at once, the Deiyaa Box holds 4 cheese, 4 za'atar and 4 spinach.

Frequently asked questions

What is fatayer made of?

Fatayer are made from a soft yeasted dough of flour, water, olive oil, yeast and salt, filled with spinach and sumac, white cheese, or za'atar and olive oil, then shaped and baked. Deiyaa Bakery uses organic, non-GMO whole wheat flour for the dough.

Is fatayer the same as sfiha?

No. Sfiha are open-faced pies topped with spiced ground meat and baked flat. Fatayer are usually folded or sealed around a filling and, in most bakeries, include vegetarian fillings like spinach and cheese. Deiyaa bakes fatayer and manakish only, all vegetarian.

Are fatayer vegetarian?

Traditional fatayer come in both meat and vegetarian versions. Every fatayer and manakish at Deiyaa Bakery is vegetarian, with no meat, no pork and no alcohol. Sumac Spinach fatayer are vegan; cheese fatayer and Spinach & Feta contain milk.

What is the difference between fatayer and spanakopita?

Spanakopita is a Greek spinach and feta pie made with layers of thin, flaky phyllo, usually baked in a pan and cut into squares. Fatayer are Levantine, made with a soft yeasted olive oil dough, and folded into individual hand-held pieces, most often triangles for spinach.