Tiropita

Origin

It has been suggested that it descends from the Byzantine dish called plakountas tetyromenous and en tyritas plakountas (Byzantine Greek: εν τυρίτας πλακούντας) "cheesy placenta," itself a descendant of placenta (food), a baked layered cheese dish in Roman cuisine. Cato included a recipe for placenta in his De Agri Cultura (160 BC).

Shape the placenta as follows: place a single row of tracta along the whole length of the base dough. This is then covered with the mixture [cheese and honey] from the mortar. Place another row of tracta on top and go on doing so until all the cheese and honey have been used up. Finish with a layer of tracta...place the placenta in the oven and put a preheated lid on top of it.

Another theory is that layered dishes like tiropita have their origins in Turkish cuisine and may trace back to layered pan-fried breads developed by the Turks of Central Asia before their westward migration to Anatolia in the late Middle Ages. (cf. Baklava)

Variants

Another variety is the spiral Skopelos Cheese Pie in which long strips of cheese stuffed phyllo are formed into a spiral and baked or deep fried.

Tiropita can also be made in a large pan (ταψί [taˈpsɪ]) and cut into individual portions after baking. The individual form is sold in bakeries throughout Greece, where it is a popular breakfast and snack food. Alternatives to tiropita are spanakopita, a pie with spinach, as well as bougatsa or even cremidopita, an onion pie.

In Greece, one can find many varieties of Tyropita:

Regular tiropita fillings usually consist of feta cheese, egg, butter and yogurt. However, "kasseropita" contains kasseri instead of feta cheese and, unlike regular tiropita, does not contain yogurt.

Tiropita is usually eaten in the mid-morning by Greeks. Breakfast consists only of coffee and sometimes buttered bread. Then a mid-morning snack may consist of tyropita (more commonly) or spanakopita.