Flija

Ingredients

Batter

• 600 gplain flour
• 1.2 litreswater
• 2 tspfine salt
• 2large eggs, optional in some districts

To brush

• 200 gunsalted butter, melted
• 200 mlsour cream or thick kos, loosened with 50 ml milk

To serve

• thick kos yoghurt
• runny honey
• fresh gjizë curd
• melted butter

Directions

1. Whisk the flour, water, salt and eggs to a thin, lump-free batter about the consistency of single cream, then rest it 30 minutes and skim any foam.
2. Set up the fire: burn hardwood down to a bed of glowing embers and heat a heavy round metal pan of 40 cm and its domed lid, the saç, in the embers until both are hot.
3. Grease the pan with butter. Pour lines of batter from the centre outwards like the spokes of a wheel, leaving gaps of the same width between them.
4. Cover with the hot lid, shovel embers over the top and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until the spokes are set and blistered brown at the edges.
5. Lift the lid, brush the cooked spokes with butter and cream, and pour the next round of batter into the empty gaps, over and between what is already there.
6. Re-cover, re-heap the embers and cook another 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat this cycle 10 to 14 times over about two hours, alternating where the batter falls so the layers interleave.
7. It is done when the flija stands 5 cm tall, the top layer is deep brown and lacy, and a skewer pushed through the centre comes out clean and hot.
8. Rest 10 minutes, brush with the last of the butter, cut into wedges from the centre, and serve with kos, honey and fresh gjizë.

Technique

• Flija is a layered pancake built one spoke at a time under radiant top heat, not a batter poured all at once. The interleaving is what gives the finished wedge its ribbon-like cross section.
• Only top heat works. Baked from below the batter sets flat and dense, which is why the ember-heaped saç is essential to the real thing.
• It is a communal, mostly Kosovar and northern Albanian dish, tended in shifts for hours and traditionally made by women for guests, weddings and Ramadan.

Substitutions

• Without a saç and fire, build it in a 30 cm ovenproof pan under a domestic grill at its highest setting, 8 to 10 cm from the element, 4 to 5 minutes per layer. You lose the smoke but keep the structure.
• Sour cream can be replaced by thinned kos or even whole milk brushed between layers, which gives a drier, more bread-like flija.

Variations

• Flija me arra is scattered with crushed walnuts between the last few layers.
• In Has and Kukës the finished flija is sometimes drenched in warm butter and left covered for an hour to soften right through.

History

Layers of batter cooked one at a time under a saç lid, a northern Albanian dish made for guests and gatherings.

Frequently asked questions

What is Flija?

Flija is a main from Albania: layered pancake baked under an ember-covered lid, northern highlands. Layers of batter cooked one at a time under a saç lid, a northern Albanian dish made for guests and gatherings.

How long does Flija take to make?

Flija takes 30 min of preparation and 2 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 large flija, serves 8. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Flija?

Yes, within limits. Without a saç and fire, build it in a 30 cm ovenproof pan under a domestic grill at its highest setting, 8 to 10 cm from the element, 4 to 5 minutes per layer. You lose the smoke but keep the structure. Sour cream can be replaced by thinned kos or even whole milk brushed between layers, which gives a drier, more bread-like flija.

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

Only top heat works. Baked from below the batter sets flat and dense, which is why the ember-heaped saç is essential to the real thing.