Borek

Ingredients

Pastry

• 500 gyufka sheets, or filo pastry

Cheese filling

• 400 gbeyaz peynir or feta, crumbled
• 200 ggrated kaşar or mozzarella
• 1large bunch parsley, chopped
• 1egg
• black pepper

Or spinach filling

• 800 gspinach, wilted and squeezed dry
• 300 gwhite cheese
• 1onion, softened in butter
• nutmeg

Or meat filling

• 500 gminced lamb or beef
• 2onions
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 1 tspallspice
• chopped parsley

Wetting mixture

• 200 mlmilk
• 150 mlwater
• 100 mloil
• 2eggs

To finish

• 1egg yolk
• sesame and nigella seeds

To serve

• warm, with tea or ayran

Directions

1. Whisk the milk, water, oil and eggs together and use a wide brush or your hand. Be generous with it: the sheets should be visibly wet rather than lightly dabbed. Squeeze spinach until no more water comes out, and drain cheese if it is wet. Wet filling steams inside the pastry and makes the layers soggy, which is the second commonest mistake.
2. Cook meat fillings until all the liquid has gone. Now the cheese, if making the cheese version. Add a melting cheese alongside it, since white brined cheese alone does not melt and gives a dry, crumbly filling.
3. Brush the tray generously with the wetting mixture. Lay a sheet of yufka in, letting the edges hang over the sides. Brush it, then add another sheet, and repeat for three or four layers.
4. Spread half the filling, add more brushed sheets, spread the rest, then finish with three or four more sheets on top. Fold the overhanging edges in over the top. Now the cutting, which is done before baking.
5. Cut the börek into squares or diamonds before it goes into the oven, right through to the base. Pour any remaining wetting mixture over the top and let it settle into the cuts.
6. Let the tray stand for fifteen minutes so the liquid soaks in. That resting is what makes the difference between a tender börek and a dry one. Brush with egg yolk and scatter sesame and nigella seeds over. Bake at 180°C for forty to forty-five minutes until deep golden all over.
7. Bake it until it is genuinely well coloured, since a pale börek is underdone and doughy. The top should be crisp and the layers underneath soft. Let it stand for fifteen minutes before serving. It cuts far more cleanly warm than hot, and the layers settle. Serve it warm with tea or a glass of ayran. It keeps two days and reheats well in a hot oven.

Technique

• Yufka is softer and thicker than filo and gives a quite different texture.
• The milk, water, oil and egg mixture is what keeps it tender.
• Cut it into portions before baking, not after.

Substitutions

• Filo pastry in place of yufka, giving a crisper result.
• Feta in place of beyaz peynir, with a melting cheese alongside.

Variations

• Sigara böreği, rolled into cigars and fried.
• Su böreği, with the sheets boiled first.
• Kol böreği, rolled into a long coil.

History

A pastry made from thin layers of yufka dough, filled with cheese, meat or spinach and either baked or fried, documented across Turkey for many centuries as part of the country’s long and highly developed pastry tradition, with roots tracing back through Ottoman-era palace and home cooking alike. Its thin yufka dough, requiring skilled stretching or rolling to achieve an extremely thin, even sheet, reflects the depth of Turkish pastry-making tradition, and borek exists in dozens of regional shapes and filling variations across the country, from rolled cigar shapes to flat layered trays. Borek remains a staple of Turkish breakfast and everyday eating, commonly sold from dedicated bakeries specializing specifically in borek across Turkish cities.

Frequently asked questions

What is Borek?

Borek is a bread & pastry from Turkey: layered yufka pastry filled with cheese, spinach or minced meat. A pastry made from thin layers of yufka dough, filled with cheese, meat or spinach and either baked or fried, documented across Turkey for many centuries as part of the country’s long and highly developed pastry tradition, with roots tracing back through Ottoman-era palace and home cooking alike. Its thin yufka dough, requiring skilled stretching or rolling to achieve an extremely thin, even sheet, reflects the depth of Turkish pastry-making tradition, and borek exists in dozens of regional shapes and filling variations across the country, from rolled cigar shapes to flat layered trays. Borek remains a staple of Turkish breakfast and everyday eating, commonly sold from dedicated bakeries specializing specifically in borek across Turkish cities.

How long does Borek take to make?

Borek takes 40 min of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Borek?

Yes, within limits. Filo pastry in place of yufka, giving a crisper result. Feta in place of beyaz peynir, with a melting cheese alongside.

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

Whisk the milk, water, oil and eggs together and use a wide brush or your hand. Be generous with it: the sheets should be visibly wet rather than lightly dabbed. Squeeze spinach until no more water comes out, and drain cheese if it is wet. Wet filling steams inside the pastry and makes the layers soggy, which is the second commonest mistake.