On Tuesday of the Holy Week we grate our cheeses and keeping aside, uncovered, to lose some of their humidity.

On Wednesday we do our dough starting with the pounding of the mastic raisins and the mahleb grains. We add on a mortar all the quantity of them (both dough and filling quantities), add a tsp or tow of flour or sugar and pound them with the pestle to a fine powder. Divide in half and keep aside.

To make the dough we use a large bowl where we first add the flour, salt and half of the divided raisins and mahleb mixture. Mix well and then add the vegetable shortening, spoonfuls, pour the oil and use your fingers for the flour to absorb the shortening and the oil and become like small rice grains (ρύζιασμα).

At this point place the flour mixture on a clean surface. Make a well in the middle and carefully pour the milk mixture with the sourdough in the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the milk. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. If needed add some water to soften the dough. Knead until it becomes silky smooth and firm, for about 10’.

Form a round dough and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Wrap with cling film, cover with a blanket and keep in a warm place till the next day for the dough to rise to double its size and easily stretched when pulled.

Next day, Thursday, we add to the cheese’s mixture the 3 extra eggs so as to soften it a bit, along with the remaining mixture of mastic and mahleb, the baking powder, black raisins and mint. We then divide our filling into tennis size balls, about 180-190g each and keep aside.

Turn the oven to 185°C, air circulation, rack set at the middle.

To start making the flaounes, we take our dough and punch it down to get rid some of the air. Put it on the side of our working bench, light flour the working area and add a small ball from the dough. Use a rolling pin to flatten it to 2mm thickness and use a normal round dish as a cutting guide to cut the dough. In the meantime, we take the sesame seeds and add a handful of them to a very large flat dish. Drench the rolled dough into the plate so as the sesame seeds stick to it, place a ball of the cheese filling in the centre and lightly press it by ¼. Fold each side towards the filling leaving a 5 cm square of uncovered cheese filling area and with the use of a fork lightly press on each corner of the flaouna to seal it. Place the flaouna to a baking dish lined with parchment paper and repeat the above procedure for the remaining cheese mixture balls. When a baking dish is full, we allow for 30’ for the filling to rise a bit and then brush the top of each flaouna with the egg wash, sprinkle some hemp seeds and place in the pre-heated oven to be baked for about 40’ and until nicely golden brown. Repeat for the rest of the baking dishes with the egg washed flaounes in them or even add 2 baking dishes at a time, if your oven can accommodate them.

If there is any dough left, you can opt to make a bread loaf or small koullourakia.

When the flaounes have been cooked, allow to cool and then place in a large basket to be enjoyed on Easter. You can even freeze some of them to be enjoyed in the coming months.