Borek (Turkey)

World-Bites (11) / Borek



Borek is one of the most popular pastries in Turkish cuisine. Börek (also burek, boereg, and other variants on the name) is a kind of pie popular throughout the former Ottoman Empire. It’s similar to pasty but made with phyllo pastry. You can put any ingredient you like. There are a lot of kinds of borek; with cheese, with potatoes, with minced meat, with spinach, with green lentil, with leek, etc. It’s so easy and delicious. You can have it with your breakfast or at 5 o’clock tea or at any time you like. The top of the börek is often sprinkled with sesame seeds.


Ingredients:

For dough :

* 2 eggs (one of the egg yolks is for topping)
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1\3 cups olive oil plus 1 tablespoon for topping
* 2\3 cup whole milk
* 1 1\2 teaspoon baking powder
* flour (almost 4 cups)

For filling:

* 1 packet baby spinach (chopped small pieces)
* 1 big chopped onion
* 1 pinch salt and pepper
* 1 packet blue cheese (*my contribution)
* 2-3 tablespoon olive oil


Method:
Lightly grease a round 27 cm (10 inch) cake pan with olive oil
Preheat oven 350F
In a large pan, cook the onion with olive oil until it turns yellow. Add the spinach, cook until spinach dries down and add the salt and pepper. You can also use meat and potatoes for filling.
Next, in a large bowl, add all the ingredients but with only 1 cup flour. Start kneading. It should be very sticky, add flour one cup at a time and continue kneading until dough becomes soft and not sticky. Stop adding flour.
Dust the work surface with some flour. Make small balls from dough and roll each ball very thin 8 inch diameter. ( or little longer and narrower)
Pour 2 or 3 tablespoons filling and 1 tablespoon blue cheese one side of dough and make a tight roll. Make a ring and put it in the middle of the pan. And than start wrapping the roll from middle to out. Brush the Borek with the egg yolk and olive oil, bake it until brown. Serve when it is almost hot.