The annual Greek pastry sale brings lines of customers who don't leave even a crumb behind. Above, servers make up boxes at last year's sale.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — One of the pleasures of early spring is coming up on Saturday morning, April 4. The Greek Ladies Philoptochos (phil-OP-to-khos; friend of the poor) Society will present its delightfully choreographed, lavish Greek pastry sale in the social hall of St. George Greek Orthodox Church.
For nearly 40 years, members of the 125 or so families of the church community spend the weeks leading up to Easter baking more baklava than anyone can imagine — baklaVA, spaniKOpita, tsouREki/Easter breads and many, many other Greek pastries, cakes and cookies from passed-down family recipes.
I have spent an afternoon watching the late Paul Parastatides of Paul's Restaurant weigh, measure, braid and bake 50 tsoureki in an hour in his restaurant ovens. He flavored his breads with an extract of cherry pits he would bring home from visits to Greece.
By the time of the sale, he had made more than 100 braided round breads and trays and trays of cookies.
When I asked him why he baked so much, he told me, "This is a donation. This is for our church."
While I sat on a high stool watching him, he gave me some melt-in-your-mouth cookies, koulouria (koo-LOO-djyuh) and kourambiethes (koo-ram-BA-thiss or koo-rahm-bee-YEH-dhess), he had already baked.
On an evening later that week, I watched Corinne Keegan, professional baker extraordinaire, bake 300 Greek cookies, fiNIkia and kourambiethes, in St. George's kitchen after she had finished her work day as a pastry chef.
She mixed the kourambiethes dough with her hands. Formed balls. Flattened the balls onto large baking trays lined with double sheets of paper towels to absorb the heating butter so it would not burn.
Meanwhile, she kept checking and shifting the four trays of finikia in the two ovens so they would bake evenly. After they baked, she dipped them in cooled honey-sugar syrup, rearranged them back onto the baking sheets, sprinkled the tops with chopped walnuts and cinnamon and left them to cool.
She laid the hot kourambiethes on a bed of confectioners sugar as they came out of the oven, sifting piles more sugar over the tops.
I went home with a butter-stained Greek cookie doggy bag.
WHAT: Greek Ladies Philoptochos Society's annual Easter Greek pastry sale
WHEN: Saturday, April 4, 9 to 2
WHERE: St. George Greek Orthodox Church 73 Bradford St., between North and Center streets, Pittsfield: parking on-street and in funeral home parking lot across Bradford Street
For that year's sale, Keegan additionally baked 150 spanakopita, 150 tiROpitas, 150 koulouria, 90 paxiMAthia, six trays of 144 pieces of chocolate baklava and 100 ahlathakia (ah-la-DTHA-key-a) drizzled with chocolate.
"This is carrying on tradition that started so long ago," Keegan said of Philoptochos' delicious process of raising money for the society's charities.
The society raises money for and distributes it to international, national and local charities and individuals.
If you've never gone to this Greek pastry sale be warned: hard-core buyers line up about 8 a.m. Only as many purchasers as there are table volunteers are admitted. Only as a customer leaves is a new one let in. The room is busy but not chaotic. And the shoppers seem to move quickly even as some — like me — linger over their decisions.
The sale is an experience. Each customer gets paired with a volunteer: customer outside the room-size circle of tables, personal server behind the tables wearing plastic gloves and carrying your see-through snap-top box(es), a pastry list and a pencil.
Your personal volunteer helpfully fills boxes with exactly what you ask for down to that specific chunk of pasta flora, that exact square of ravaNI. Buy one slice or cookie, one box or 12, one tsoureki, round or braided, or a dozen, a portion of spanakopita, or a year's worth. People are picking this, picking that.
She or he will pleasantly answer questions, give opinions and make suggestions.
"How much do you want of this, sir?" volunteer Gigi Trahanas asked a few years ago.
"Just one. That one, please. Thank you," a tall man answered.
Gigi came around to the front of the table to give him his chosen hefty square of kolokithoPIta.
"What did you buy?" a man waiting to pay asked another.
"Everything! Everything!" the first buyer answered, holding two large boxes.
Janet Gerner and her 10-year-old grandson, Patrick Gerner, get to the sale early every year. "I stand on line, no matter what the weather," she said. They carried a tray of spanakopita, six boxes of pastry and an Easter bread as they waited to pay.
The selection of pastries — at first over 25 kinds, all sizes and styles — will dwindle to half a dozen choices by 11:30.
Only a straggle of customers will study and choose from what is left.
Everything sells. Not a crumb, not a bread, remains.
At the end of the sale, often before noon, the kitchen, piled with huge boxes and trays of refills from last evening, is usually empty and clean. Men, women, children and teenagers will have stored the unused pastry boxes, shaken-off and folded the blue tablecloths, washed down the tables and restacked them against the walls.
Planning for the next year's sale will begins again in the fall. After so many years, any rough edges are gone. Organizers and bakers are efficient. By now, they know automatically what has to be done, when and, by whom.
PASTRIES & PRONUNCIATIONS
Here are some of the pastries you may find at this year's Greek pastry sale at St. George Greek Orthodox Church this Saturday. But, these are only pastries I've seen and eaten there before. Every year there new pastries. Church members pass on family specialties and recipes to keep their traditions alive. Phyllo is the crunchy-crisp, nearly transparent dough many Greek pastries are made with.
ahlaDTHAkia: pear-shaped orange-lemon shortbread cookies sometimes drizzled with chocolate
almond crescent cookies
apricot-almond phyllo pastries
baklaVA:chopped walnuts, almonds or pistachios layered between phyllo drenched in honey syrup, in many incarnations, including chocolate laced/drizzled/frosted
fiNIkia: brown, walnut butter cookies flavored with vanilla and orange juice, dipped in honey-sugar syrup then sprinkled with cinnamon and chopped walnuts, some stuffed with nuts or dates
floyeres (flow-YEH-ress):syrup-drenched, nut or custard or cheese-filled phyllo tubes like thin cigars
forMAkia: tiny jam tarts decorated with almond slices or chunks
galaktoBOUreko:custard-filled phyllo rolls or squares
gianotika (ya-NO-tee-ka) or giannoitiko (ya-NOI-tee-ko):honey-soaked spiced nut and shredded phyllo rolls
karithoPIta:honey and sugar syrup-drenched, spiced walnut cake
kaTAIfi:nut and shredded phyllo rolls
kolokithoPIta:pumpkin-filled phyllo squares drizzled with maple syrup, topped with pecan, like a Greek pumpkin pie. It can also be savory like spanakopita made with zucchini and feta cheese
koulouria (koo-LOO-djyuh):not very sweet Easter butter cookie twists, rings, wreaths, even bunnies, with or without a sprinkle of sesame seeds
kourabiedes (koo-ram-BA-thiss or koo-rahm-bee-YEH-dhess): flat, shaped, butter/confectioners
sugar/nut cookiespiled with confectioners sugar, some round, some stars, some tiny angels — the Greek wedding cookie
melomaKArona: spiced lemon/honey-soaked oval spiced walnut butter cookies
moustokoulouria (moo-stow-koo-LOO-dya):cookies made with petimezi/grape molasses/puree
pasta flora:large jam-filled, lattice-topped short pastry squares sprinkled with almonds
paxiMAthia: buttery, double-baked, not very sweet sliced cookies like crumbly Greek biscotti
ravaNI:syrup soaked farina/semolina cake often flavored with orange and topped with coconut
spanaKOpita: savory spinach and feta phyllo squares or triangles
tiROpita or tyROpita:savory feta cheese and egg phyllo pastries
TRIgona:large ground walnut, crushed zwieback and spice phyllo triangles
tsouREkia: large, round or oval braided Greek Easter bread
SOPHIA CONSTANTOPOULOS' THIPLES
Sophia Constantopoulos, longtime owner of Sophia's Restaurant in Lenox, said the secret to the tenderness of her thiples is to fry them in Crisco — which, she said, may smoke at a high heat. "Forty years ago I rolled them out by hand. Now I use a pasta machine" she said. Roll them quite thin, like wide noodles. You will need room to spread out to roll noodle dough.
1 1/2 cups honey
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup water
5 eggs
2 tablespoons ouzo
about 6 cups flour, enough to make a stiff dough
Crisco for frying
cinnamon for sprinkling
chopped walnuts for sprinkling
Combine honey, sugar and water in a pot. Bring to boil. Boil until syrup feels a bit tacky when cooled on a saucer. Set aside to cool.
Beat eggs in electric mixer for 20 minutes. Add ouzo. Beat hard. Beat flour in gradually with a wooden spoon, by hand, to make a hard dough.
Put 5 ounces dough in pasta machine at a time. Run it through first on 1; then on 3; then on 5. Cut dough into 3 inch wide pieces. Run each piece into machine one more time at 5.
For those without a pasta machine, roll dough very thin on a large, lightly floured surface, such as a kitchen table covered with a clean sheet,
Cut into 3 by 5 inch rectangles.
In a deep pot heat Crisco to medium hot heat. It may smoke. Place pot of cooled syrup beside stove.
Take a dinner fork in each hand. Drop one piece of dough at a time into oil. Press dough into oil and immediately roll up into a tube with the forks, one holding each short side of dough. Thiple will expand and puff up.
Dip each finished thiple into the cool syrup. Place on cake rack or other mesh surface. Sprinkle with walnuts and cinnamon. Allow to cool. makes about 32 tiples
HELEN PAPAS' TRIGONA
Helen Papas sat at her kitchen table writing our this recipe as I waited. She demonstrated the exact way she butters and folds her phyllo sheets using a paper towel which I now have tucked away for future reference with my notes. These are elegant, crisp pastries and even though they are fairly large it’s hard to share. The recipe may be cut in half or thirds.
6 1/4 cups sugar, divided
3 cups water
juice and rind of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
6 eggs
4 zwieback, crushed to crumbs
1/4 teaspoons each ground cloves, nutmeg, allspice, powdered vanilla or vanilla extract
4 cups ground walnuts
1 to 2 pounds phyllo dough, kept under plastic wrap and damp towel
1 pound unsalted butter, melted
crushed walnuts for sprinkling
In a large saucepan, mix 5 cups sugar, the water, lemon rind and juice and cinnamon stick. Bring to rolling boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Test syrup by cooling a couple of spoonfuls on a saucer. It should feel tacky but not as thick as honey. Continue boiling until syrup reaches this consistency. If syrup is too thin pastry will become soggy. If syrup becomes too thick it will not penetrate pastry. Set finished syrup beside oven to cool.
Beat eggs until fluffy. Add remaining sugar. Keep beating until creamy. Gradually fold in crumbs, spices, vanilla and nuts. Blend lightly. Set filling aside.
Using melted butter, butter 1 sheet phyllo. Fold long sides to meet in middle to make a long strip. Butter top. Fold lengthwise again into a 4-layer narrow strip. Butter top again.
Point strip away from you. In lower right hand corner place 1 heaping tablespoon filling close to edge. Fold that corner with filling up against opposite side of dough so filling is covered and triangle is formed. Continue to fold as you would a flag. Tuck end into pastry. Butter top.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake trigonas on unbuttered cookie sheets until golden, about 30 minutes.
As soon as they come from the oven, in an unobtrusive place, prick baked trigonas with a fork so they will absorb the most syrup. Soak as many trigonas as will fit in pot for a few minutes each. Place on rack to drain and cool, Sprinkle tops with crushed walnuts. makes about 64 large triangles
OUZO and ALMOND KOURAMBIETHES
Corinne Keegan's grandmother, Elektra, emigrated from Greece first to Holyoke then to Pittsfield in 1914. She married Peter Zervas in 1921. They opened and ran the Union Lunch on Columbus Avenue in Pittsfield from 1954 to 1972. Corinne learned to bake and got involved with St. George Greek Orthodox Church as a way of getting close to her grandmother. Here is Electra Zervas' recipe for kourambiethes with ouzo, an archetypal, anise-flavored Greek liquor. Corinne said kourambiethes is a happy cookie. It is the Greek wedding cookie.
1 pound unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup ouzo
2 cups chopped, not crushed or ground, almonds
about 4 1/2 cups flour
confectioners sugar for sifting
Cream butter very well with electric mixer. Add egg yolks one at a time. Mix after each addition. Add sugar. Mix. Add ouzo. Mix. Add 3 cups flour. Mix well.
Add nuts. After adding nuts, mix using your hands. Add 1 more cup flour. Mix using your hands. Add up to 1/2 cup more flour if needed until dough is no longer sticky.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with sides with double thickness of paper towels buttered and prevent it from burning while baking.
Take 2 tablespoons dough. Form into ball of 2 tablespoons dough. Roll ball into flat 2 inch disk 1/2 inch high.
Arrange cookies on paper towel-lined baking sheets. Place first pan on bottom shelf. of oven. Fill second pan. When second pan goes into oven, move first pan to top shelf. Keep rotating pans until cookies are lightly golden on bottom: 10 minutes on bottom shelf; 10 to 15 minutes on top shelf; 25 minutes total. Check bottoms after 20 minutes.
While cookies are baking fill another baking pan with confectioners' sugar. Fill a small strainer with confectioners' sugar. Place hot cookies on sugar. Shake piles of sugar onto cookie tops from strainer. makes about 40 cookies
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