Plakous with Honey, Fresh Cheese and Sesame
A cake of thin pastry layers filled with fresh cheese and honey, scented with sesame. Tender, fragrant, frankly sweet: the note of sweetness that closes the meal or is placed as a tribute.
A cake of thin pastry layers filled with fresh cheese and honey, scented with sesame. Tender, fragrant, frankly sweet: the note of sweetness that closes the meal or is placed as a tribute.
This one I reserve for days of joy and gestures of gratitude. I stretch the dough into sheets as thin as my machine plans drawn on papyrus, I stack them with fresh cheese, I drown it all in honey and scatter sesame like sowing stars. When a new mechanism comes to life in my hands, I carry a portion as an offering — for knowledge, too, deserves thanks to those who passed it down to us.
- •Thin sheets of wheat dough — several (layered structure)
- •Fresh ewe's cheese — as desired (filling)
- •Honey — generously (binder and sweetness)
- •Sesame seeds — a handful (flavor and crunch)
Plakous with Honey, Fresh Cheese and Sesame
A cake of thin pastry layers filled with fresh cheese and honey, scented with sesame. Tender, fragrant, frankly sweet: the note of sweetness that closes the meal or is placed as a tribute.
Why this dish? Honey cakes like plakous accompanied the end of banquets and also served as offerings deposited in temples. In Heron's Alexandria, a city of mixed Greek and Egyptian cults, these sweets marked both scholarly celebrations and acts of piety.
This one I reserve for days of joy and gestures of gratitude. I stretch the dough into sheets as thin as my machine plans drawn on papyrus, I stack them with fresh cheese, I drown it all in honey and scatter sesame like sowing stars. When a new mechanism comes to life in my hands, I carry a portion as an offering — for knowledge, too, deserves thanks to those who passed it down to us.
Ingredients (period version)
- Thin sheets of wheat dough — several (layered structure)
- Fresh ewe's cheese — as desired (filling)
- Honey — generously (binder and sweetness)
- Sesame seeds — a handful (flavor and crunch)
Ingredients
- Phyllo pastry sheets — 6 sheets (layering)
- Ricotta or fresh ewe's cheese — 250 g (filling)
- Honey — 120 g (sweetness and syrup)
- Sesame seeds — 3 tbsp (flavor)
- Mild olive oil or melted butter — for brushing (browning)
Method
- Mix the fresh cheese with 2 tbsp of honey.
- Lightly brush each phyllo sheet with oil, stack three by three in a small mold.
- Spread the sweetened cheese, cover with a second stack of oiled sheets.
- Sprinkle with sesame, bake at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.
- On removal, drizzle with the remaining warm honey and let soak before cutting.
How it was made : Plakous was a Greek layered cake of pastry, honey and cheese, a distant ancestor of the honey pastries of the Eastern Mediterranean. It was served at symposia and featured among the food offerings placed in sanctuaries.
The contemporary twist : Cut into small diamonds and presented on a fig leaf, ancient mignardise style to close a themed dinner.
Hero of Alexandria · Charactorium
