Lakror

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 300 mlwarm water
• 60 mlolive oil
• 1 tspfine salt
• 1 tspwhite wine vinegar

Filling

• 800 gleeks, halved lengthways and finely sliced
• 3tomatoes, chopped, or 200 g tinned tomatoes, drained
• 1onion, finely diced
• 100 mlolive oil
• 2 tbspdried mint
• 1 tspdried oregano
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 2 tspfine salt
• 1 tspchilli flakes, optional
• 1 bunchflat-leaf parsley, chopped

To assemble

• 100 mlolive oil, for brushing
• 3 tbspfine maize flour, for dusting the pan

Directions

1. Work the flour, water, oil, salt and vinegar to a soft dough and knead 8 minutes until smooth and elastic, then divide into 4, oil each ball, cover and rest 45 minutes. The rest is what lets you stretch it thin.
2. Salt the sliced leeks in a colander and leave 20 minutes, then squeeze them hard in your hands; a wet filling steams the pastry and gives a raw bottom crust.
3. Cook the onion in the olive oil over medium heat for 8 minutes until soft, add the leeks and cook 10 minutes more until collapsed and sweet with no squeak left.
4. Stir in the tomato and cook 5 minutes until the pan is dry, then season with the pepper, oregano and chilli, take off the heat and fold in the dried mint and parsley. Cool completely.
5. Stretch each ball on an oiled table with the backs of your hands until you can read print through it, aiming for a sheet about 50 cm across. Tear patches are normal and patch over.
6. Dust a 34 cm round pan with maize flour. Lay in two stretched sheets, brushing oil between them and letting the overhang fall outside, spread the filling, then cover with the last two sheets, oiling between.
7. Roll the overhanging edges inward into a rope around the rim, brush the whole top generously with oil and score into 8 wedges through the top layers only.
8. Bake at 190°C (375°F) fan for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is blistered and deep gold and the base lifts crisp and dry off the pan. Rest 15 minutes before cutting; lakror is eaten warm, not hot.

Technique

• Lakror is the Korça pie, traditionally baked in a metal pan under a saç heaped with embers, which is why the top blisters unevenly and tastes faintly of smoke.
• The dough is hand-stretched, not rolled, and is much sturdier than phyllo because of the oil and vinegar. Vinegar relaxes the gluten so it pulls without springing back.
• Dry the filling ruthlessly. Leeks are more than 80 percent water and the single most common failure of this pie is a soggy base.

Substitutions

• Ready-made phyllo works: use 6 sheets top and bottom, oiling between each, and drop the bake to 40 minutes.
• Out of leek season, use 800 g of spinach or nettle tops, wilted and squeezed just as hard.

Variations

• Lakror me presh dhe gjizë folds fresh whey curd through the leeks.
• A pumpkin lakror, sweetened lightly with sugar and cinnamon, is made in autumn across Korça and Pogradec.

History

Korçë pie of thin pastry filled with leek, tomato or wild greens, baked between hot metal lids.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lakror?

Lakror is a bread & pastry from Albania: korça pan pie with leek, tomato and herbs. Korçë pie of thin pastry filled with leek, tomato or wild greens, baked between hot metal lids.

How long does Lakror take to make?

Lakror takes 45 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 large pie, 8 slices. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Lakror?

Yes, within limits. Ready-made phyllo works: use 6 sheets top and bottom, oiling between each, and drop the bake to 40 minutes. Out of leek season, use 800 g of spinach or nettle tops, wilted and squeezed just as hard.

What is the most important thing to get right in Lakror?

Roll the overhanging edges inward into a rope around the rim, brush the whole top generously with oil and score into 8 wedges through the top layers only.