Salty Cheese Pie (Burek)
Appetizers Simple Recipes Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Cheese Oven Recipes Breakfast Croatian
This pie, called burek, could be found on every corner in Croatia, sold in enormously large pieces - one piece was enough for both of us for breakfast, alongside a glass of milk or yogurt. They also had versions with meat and cabbage, but the cheese one (burek sa sirom) was our favorite.
Ingredients
250g fresh cow's cheese (or ricotta)
250g feta cheese (or telemea)
3 eggs
1 cup milk (250ml)
1 package phyllo sheets
a few tablespoons of oil
4-5 tablespoons yogurt (or buttermilk, or sour cream thinned with a little milk to yogurt consistency)
pepper
How to prepare salty cheese pie (burek)
- Beat the eggs well with a whisk, then add the milk and beat until combined, then add the crumbled cow's cheese and feta. Season with 1-2 pinches of pepper. Mix to get a filling with the consistency of sour cream.
- Grease a 20x30cm pan with oil. The pan is the size of half a phyllo sheet. The easiest way is to make layers using sheets folded in half widthwise - they fit perfectly, no cutting needed.
- Start building the pie: one phyllo sheet folded in half, drizzle with oil (including between the two layers), then another sheet folded in half and drizzle with oil again (when I say drizzle, I mean dip a fork in oil and let it drip onto the sheet). Now we have 4 layers of phyllo in the pan. Next comes the filling: put 2 ladles of filling on the sheets and level with the back of a spoon. Repeat the layers until the filling is finished, ending with a layer of phyllo sheets. Place the last sheets slightly off-center and push the edges down with the handle of a fork to seal the filling inside.
* keep the phyllo sheets you're not working with covered with a damp towel as they dry out quickly - Pierce the last layer of phyllo sheets with a fork across the entire surface, then drizzle with oil, then brush generously with yogurt.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F) for about 50 minutes, until golden on top. During baking, the pie puffs up quite a bit, but it deflates when you take it out.
* the pie comes out about a finger thick - Remove the pie from the oven, cover with aluminum foil and let cool. Serve warm or cold with a glass of yogurt.
The cheese filling
Layer of phyllo sheets
Filling layer
Brushing the top layer with yogurt
In the oven after 20 minutes, puffed up
Cooled and ready
Salty Cheese Pie (Burek)
