Name: Easy Peinirli - Greek Pizza Boats
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 2 lb pizza dough; 3 tablespoons butter ( cut in small pieces); 1½ cups gruyere (grated ); 1/2 cup cream cheese (soften); 2-3 slices bacon (cut in pieces); 1½ cup oyster mushrooms (roughly chopped. ); 1 teaspoon olive oil (extra virgin); 1 teaspoon olive oil (extra virgin); 2 red, orange or yellow bell peppers ( thinly sliced); 2 tablespoons pancetta cubetti; 2 tablespoons butter ( melted); freshly ground pepper (optional); fresh thyme leaves (optional); balsamic vinegar crema (optional); freshly ground pepper (optional); sea salt (optional)

This trio of peinirli-Greek pizza boats is making waves in classic bacon, oyster mushroom, and colorful pancetta & bell pepper. They are excellent as an appetizer, quick snack, or a full-on meal paired with a green salad.

Three peinirli, Greek pizza boats on a platter

What is peinirli?

Peinirli or Greek pizza boat is a long open pie in the shape of a boat containing cheese and butter. In the traditional recipe, the cheese is kasseri cheese, and the deli meat is pastourmas or pastirma. It is an appetizer of Turkish origin and, by extension, Greek.

Peinirli is such a fun food to eat. It is similar to a pizza without the red sauce but with lots of butter instead. It can be an excellent appetizer, a quick snack, or a proper meal paired with a nice salad. It’s so easy to make! You can use store-bought pizza dough if you don’t have the time or energy to make your own.

There are countless modern versions of peinirli. A classic traditional peinirli has lots of kasseri cheese, bacon, and a fried egg on top.

You can create your own with roasted veggies filling, or leftover meat sauce from the night before with some cheese, or a simple cheddar and tomato version.

These are my three favorites:

The classic version with bacon and gruyère.
An oyster mushroom.
The red, yellow, orange bell pepper & pancetta cubetti.

They all have the same gruyère and cream cheese filling; I play around with the extras.

This is easy peinirli

For this recipe, I take the easy route of pre-made pizza dough. There is nothing wrong with using store bought pizza dough. With already made dough peinirli will come out great and can be ready in 30 min tops. You can’t beat that, you can have it on a weeknight! Kids will love the idea of a pizza boat and you can sneak-in the filling all the veggies they won’t eat otherwise.

I encourage you to be creative regarding peinirli fillings. I love the traditional kind but I also like to play! The gruyère-cream cheese filling is my favorite but I would not hesitate to use grated sharp cheddar, tomatoes and bacon. YUM! Weeknight food should be easy, fun, delicious and uncomplicated.

A bowl with mushrooms, a bowl with cheese, a container with panchetta cubes, a bowl with peppers and a side view of a butter stick.

You can make your own dough for peinirli.

This recipe makes 5 pieces.

You will need:

1.5 cups water at room temperature
2 tsp active dry yeast (one packet)
1 pinch sugar
2.5 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil

Add the water, yeast, and sugar to a bowl. Whisk and wait a minute or two for the yeast to activate. Add the flour and salt to a food processor. Add the water. Beat for 5-8 minutes until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Transfer dough to a bowl that has been brushed with 1 tsp of olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and set aside for 1 – 1 ½ hour, until it doubles in size.

This recipe is enough for 5 pieces of peinirli. Use cling film to wrap the ones you are not using and refrigerate or freeze for later.

For this recipe, I am using store-bought pizza dough.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Left, bell pepper slices in a skillet. Right, mushroom pieces in a skillet.

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil and lightly sauté the sliced bell peppers for about 1-2 min. (Image 1) Remove bell peppers from the pan and set aside on a plate until needed.

In the same pan, heat another teaspoon of olive oil and sauté the oyster mushrooms until they are crispy but still soft about 5 min. (Image 2) Remove mushrooms from the pan and set aside on a plate until needed.

In a bowl, combine the gruyère, cream cheese, and freshly ground pepper.

Left, three pizza doughs with cheese on a baking sheet. Right, three loaded pizza boats on a baking sheet.

Dust a clean surface with flour. Divide the pizza dough into 3 pieces. Roll out each piece into a small oval shape. Place them on a rimmed baking sheet.

Take about 1 tablespoon of butter, divide into smaller pieces and sprinkle them on one piece of dough. Repeat the same process for the other two pieces. Spread the cheese mixture over each oval-shaped dough, dividing it evenly. (Image 3)

Add the bacon in one dough, the sautéed bell peppers slices and pancetta cubetti in the second, and the sautéed mushrooms on the third. (Image 4)

Left. The folded corner of a pizza boat. Right. A redsilicon brush with butter and two parts of pizza boats.

Create the peinirli-pizza boats by raising the dough’s edges and folding it inwards to form a border. Overlap borders and press to seal the “boat.” (Image 5) Brush the dough border with melted butter (Image 6)

Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan 180° halfway so that they all cook evenly.

When ready, remove from oven, cut, and serve.

Serving suggestions

Bacon peinirli: Sprinkle fresh thyme leaves, fresh ground pepper, or red chili pepper flakes all over.
Mushroom peinirli: Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar crema. Balsamic goes well with earthy mushrooms.
Bell peppers peinirli: Sprinkle fresh thyme leaves and freshly ground pepper on top.
Serve them as meal family-style with a horiatiki salad, and cauliflower fritters.