Annie's Art Book: Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
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Sunday, November 25, 2007
Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
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You can check in Wikipedia the meaning of the word burek, but basically it is an unbelievably tasty home made
phyllo dough pastry, that was originally developed in Turkey.
Although you can always bake burek with phyllo dough from the store ( you can find it in the freezer section
even in Walmart, Athens Food are the most popular here in US), the taste is not the same.
The recipe can seem a little intimidating, but trust me, it is easier than it sounds, I have a lot of pictures step by
step( thanks to Alex!) you can follow, but believe me the taste of this thing is worth every single minute you
spend making it!
The preparation time is 1 hour and 30 minutes, as you are waiting 30 minutes for the dough to rest, so you can
say it is approximately one hour. If you have a pasta machine, you can cut the preparation time more than a
half, but I don't so I use a rolling pin instead.
The baking time is around 40 min.
Ingredients:
For the phyllo dough8 cups sifted flour
8 tsp ( 4 oz or 1 stick) melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp salt
2 cups hot water
For the filling8 tsp melted butter
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Handmade phyllo
dough Turkish
Burek( Borek)
Semolina blueberry
pudding
http://www.anniesartbook.com/2007/11/handmade-phyllo-dough-turkish-burek.html
03/08/2013
Annie's Art Book: Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
2 cups feta cheese ( grated or mashed)
For the topping3 eggs
4 tbsp yogurt
1/8 tsp baking soda
Sift 7 cups of flour in a big baking pan. Make a whole in the middle and put the flour close to the ends of the
pan so it looks a little bit like a volcano).
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In the middle pour the hot water, add the egg, the salt and the melted butter. With a tablespoon start stirring
and gradually add a little bit of flour from the sides. When the mixture gets ticker, start kneading the dough with
hands as you sprinkle flour from the side of the pan over the dough. Before you knead it really well it has to look
like this:
Continue to knead until you it has nice and smoot surface and you use all of the flour in the baking pan.
Place a big piece of aluminum foil on a big table so you can have room to roll out the dough.
*Tip- use a scotch tape to attach it to the table, so it does not move when you are rolling the dough out.
Sprinkle some flour over the aluminum foil and divide the dough into 5 "balls" (see the picture)
Sprinkle some flour on top of them so they don't get dry and leave them to rest for 30 minutes.
http://www.anniesartbook.com/2007/11/handmade-phyllo-dough-turkish-burek.html
03/08/2013
Annie's Art Book: Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
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While the dough is resting, in a bowl mix together the ingredients for the topping- 3 eggs, 4 tbsp yogurt and 1/8
tsp baking soda. Stir thoroughly and set aside.
You will need to make 5 (almost) square sheets of dough. If you have ever rolled out a dough before, skip this
section, but if not, follow this pattern:
1. sprinkle flour below the dough ball and start rolling it out.
2. sprinkle flour on top of the dough ( see the picture)
3. roll the dough out using both hands, slide and push at the same time.
4. sprinkle flour on top of the dough, then gently rub it on its surface with your hand.
5. roll the dough ON the rolling pin
http://www.anniesartbook.com/2007/11/handmade-phyllo-dough-turkish-burek.html
03/08/2013
Annie's Art Book: Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
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6. Lift the roling pin and unroll the dough on the table upside down.
7. Sprinkle flour over the sheet of dough and repeat the whole process until you get really really thin sheet of
dough ( as thin as a sheet of paper, almost transparent).
Don't get discouraged if your sheet tears here and there, this wont affect the finished product that much, just try
your best!
After the sheet is ready, brush with melted butter ( the remaining 8 tsp for the filling).
Then sprinkle with the feta cheese ( picture below)
and start to roll the dough from the long side inwards
http://www.anniesartbook.com/2007/11/handmade-phyllo-dough-turkish-burek.html
03/08/2013
Annie's Art Book: Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
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Then place the phyllo dough roll in a round greased pan in a spiral from the outside in.( if you don't have round
pan that is bigger than 10 inch, you can use square one instead). When you roll out all of the dough, and place
it in the pan, brush it on top with the butter you have left.
Preheat the oven at 350 F.
Then spread the topping evenly over the burek.
Place the pan in the oven and bake for 45 min on 350F or until golden brown on top ( see the picture).Leave it
to cool down for at least 15 minutes, then cut.
Serve warm.
*I promise, for the people that think it is difficult to post in the next couple of days a recipe for phyllo Bulgarian
banitsa, which is a lot easier to make, but still delicious.
P.S: Recipe in Bulgarian here
http://www.anniesartbook.com/2007/11/handmade-phyllo-dough-turkish-burek.html
03/08/2013
Annie's Art Book: Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
Page 6 of 8
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Posted by Aneliya Kochneva at 4:33 PM
Labels: baking, cooking, cool stuff
15 comments:
Anonymous said...
Wow this is the most detailed and simple receipe I have run across on phillo dough; even though I don't
eat eggs I notice many recipes can do without so I'm gonna try it and see how it comes out thanks a
bunch. You should post videos of your creations on youtube. Great instructions, awesome pics, beautiful
results!! Thanks a bunch and hope you post more.
May 29, 2008 at 8:48 PM
Tandoori said...
I am really glad you find it useful! Unfortunately I don't own a video camera ( even my digital camera is
not working properly at the moment), so I can't post videos yet, but maybe in the future ( I am planing
a camera upgrade soon :-) I will be able to.
I think that you can very well bake it only with the butter and cheese, in fact there is a lot of phyllo
dough pastries in Bulgaria that are without eggs, but they are usually commercially rolled out, so they
are thinner. I am curious to see the result when you try it without eggs, keep me posted!
And thanks for the nice comment!
May 29, 2008 at 10:06 PM
Charles said...
Awesome....I spent a year in Kosovo in 2000 and have been looking for the right way to make Burek. I
have finally found it and it is great! Thank you for your time to detail out a perfect plan to make Burek
at home. Chuck
August 13, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Tandoori said...
Thanks Chuck,
I wish I had a video camera to shoot a small movie or something, it would have been better, but I
guess the pictures are OK as well :-)
August 13, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Nikko said...
Your Burek looks fantastic! I will be giving your recipe a try...
August 11, 2009 at 9:21 PM
Annie said...
http://www.anniesartbook.com/2007/11/handmade-phyllo-dough-turkish-burek.html
03/08/2013
Annie's Art Book: Handmade phyllo dough Turkish Burek( Borek)
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Thank you, Nikko! I hope you like it when you make it!
You know, on the home page of my website I am giving away a prize on 22nd of August. If you want to
participate, just leave me a comment and you are in! :-)
Enjoy your summer!
August 12, 2009 at 7:13 AM
Anonymous said...
This is so great! My husband and I traveled through Croatia, Bosnia (his home Tusla) and Serbia and of
course enjoyed lots of home made burek his baka made for us. Unfortunately Due to language barrier I
didn't get to learn how to make it while I was there I just watched. So, this is excellent because now I
have made burek and he absolutely loved it!!!!
August 13, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Annie said...
Thank you so much!!! This is the first post with feedback from somebody who actually made it from the
recipe here! I am so glad you and your husband liked it! :-)
I am planing on shooting videos with the actual rolling out of the dough by the end of the year and
adding more recipes for Baniza, Tikvenik ( pumpkin strudel) etc.
If you want to see the recipe for something that is not on the website, let me know! I'll make sure I
post it :-)
August 13, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Anonymous said...
I think that this recipe look wonderful! Do you think it could be made without the Feta Cheese, not that
I don't like Feta, I've just run out of it
January 20, 2010 at 9:42 PM
Annie said...
Yes, it can be made without the Feta! You can use ricotta ( with salt), or goat cheese, I think that you
can even use blue cheese too, whatever you have! Let me know how it turns out! :-)
January 21, 2010 at 4:58 AM
Anonymous said...
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! Living in Vienna, I have made many friends from Bosnia and
Turkey. I am always amazed at their beautiful and delicious Bureks, but I have been intimidated to try
the dough myself. Your great tutorial has inspired me to give it a try, and just in time for the holidays!
Greetings,
Jane
December 9, 2010 at 2:48 AM
Annie said...
I'm glad to help! I'm sure your friends will appreciate it!
December 9, 2010 at 3:57 AM
Anja Jakubovic said...
Great job!
June 26, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Anonymous said...
OMG!! This looks delicious!! I'm wondering if you have any ideas for different fillings??I'm going to try it
ASAP!!
January 13, 2013 at 7:38 PM
Aneliya Kochneva said...
Anonymous, anything that has egg and cheese is fine. :-) Ground meet, ham, spinach, different
cheeses, chopped and sauteed vegetables, etc.
January 13, 2013 at 7:40 PM
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