Ingredients
Pastry
- 1 kgpuff pastry
- 1egg, beaten, for glazing
Cheese filling
- 250 gfeta, crumbled
- 250 gricotta
- 1egg
- black pepper
Potato filling
- 500 gpotatoes, boiled and mashed
- 1onion, finely chopped and fried
- 1 tbspoil
- 1 tspsalt
- black pepper
Spinach filling
- 400 gspinach, wilted and squeezed very dry
- 150 gfeta, crumbled
- 1onion, fried
- grated nutmeg
To finish
- sesame seeds
- nigella seeds
- za’atar
Directions
- Make whichever fillings you want and let them go completely cold. Warm filling melts the butter layers in the pastry before it ever reaches the oven, and the pastry will not rise.
- Squeeze the spinach genuinely dry, wrung out in a cloth rather than pressed in a sieve. Wet filling steams the base into a single soggy sheet.
- Roll the pastry out to about 3 mm and cut it into 10 cm squares.
- Shape according to the filling, following the convention every Israeli bakery uses: triangles for cheese, squares or rectangles for potato, and coils or half-moons for spinach and for mushroom. This is not decoration but a code, and it is how someone at the counter knows what they are buying without asking.
- Place a spoonful of filling slightly off centre, fold the pastry over it and press the edges firmly with a fork.
- Chill the shaped bourekas for 20 minutes. Cold pastry going into a hot oven rises considerably higher.
- Brush with beaten egg and seed them so the code holds: sesame on the cheese ones, nigella on the potato, za’atar on the spinach.
- Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 to 25 minutes, until deeply golden and well puffed. Pale bourekas are underbaked and will be doughy in the seam.
- Serve warm, with hard-boiled eggs, a finely chopped tomato and cucumber salad and pickles, which is the standard Israeli accompaniment and effectively part of the dish.
Technique
- Cold filling, dry filling, cold pastry. Those three rules cover almost everything that goes wrong.
- The shape code is genuinely useful and worth keeping even at home, because once they are baked the fillings are indistinguishable.
- They reheat well in a hot oven for 5 minutes and badly in a microwave, which turns the pastry to leather.
Substitutions
- Filo brushed with butter for a lighter, flakier pastry, using three or four layers.
- Gvina levana or a firm cottage cheese in place of ricotta.
- Mashed sweet potato for a version that has become common in Tel Aviv.
Variations
- Mushroom and onion, shaped as coils.
- Pizza bourekas, with tomato and cheese, made for children.
- Cocktail size, at about 5 cm, for a party tray.
History
Filled pastries brought by Balkan and Turkish Jews; the shape signals the filling, triangles for cheese and squares for potato.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bourekas?
Bourekas is a bread & pastry from Israel: balkan-origin filled puff pastries: cheese, potato or spinach. Filled pastries brought by Balkan and Turkish Jews; the shape signals the filling, triangles for cheese and squares for potato.
How long does Bourekas take to make?
Bourekas takes 45 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 24 pastries. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Bourekas?
Yes, within limits. Filo brushed with butter for a lighter, flakier pastry, using three or four layers. Gvina levana or a firm cottage cheese in place of ricotta. Mashed sweet potato for a version that has become common in Tel Aviv.
What is the most important thing to get right in Bourekas?
Squeeze the spinach genuinely dry, wrung out in a cloth rather than pressed in a sieve. Wet filling steams the base into a single soggy sheet.
