Banitsa comes from the Turkish family of pastries called borek, that spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. The recipe is still a favorite in Bulgaria and among Jewish-Bulgarian families in Israel.
This phyllo pastry must be one of the easiest to make, as you simply crumple the dough sheets with your hands and arrange in the pan. It’s fun too!
If you can get a Bulgarian style feta cheese, do so. Otherwise, any favorite feta would work.
Bulgarian feta, yogurt and phyllo pastry (banitsa)
Course: Pastries u0026amp; Breads, sides, appetizerCuisine: BulgarianDifficulty: Medium8
servings20
minutes45
minutes1
hour5
minutesBanitsa comes from the Turkish family of pastries called borek, that spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. The recipe is still a favorite in Bulgaria and among Jewish-Bulgarian families in Israel.
This phyllo pastry must be one of the easiest to make, as you simply crumple the dough sheets with your hands and arrange in the pan. It’s fun too!
If you can get a Bulgarian style feta cheese, do so. Otherwise, any favorite feta would work.
*Note: The traditional recipe calls for yogurt, but I find that sour cream tastes better. You choose!
INGREDIENTS
1 lb. phyllo dough, thawed overnight in the fridge.
2 cups Greek yogurt or sour cream (*see note above)
½ cups water
5 large eggs
6 tablespoons melted butter
¾ lb. Feta cheese
- For the topping
1 large egg
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons water
DIRECTIONS
- Grease a 12” x 8” x 2” pan, set aside.
- Take phyllo dough out of package, layer it flat on a working surface.
- In a medium bowl, mix yogurt, water, eggs and melted butter using a whisk. Crumble the feta into another bowl.
- Take the first phyllo dough sheet, crumple it and put in the pan. Repeat with 7 more sheets, arrange them next to each other in the pan in one layer. Pour half of the egg mixture on the phyllo, and sprinkle with half the feta. Repeat a second time with layers of 8 phyllo sheets, egg mixture and feta.
- Take two more phyllo dough sheets and lay them flat on top of the banitsa, tacking the edges into the sides of the pan. Mix the topping ingredients: egg, butter and water together and liberally brush all of it on top of the dough. Use a chef’s knife to cut the banitsa into serving portions. It will make cutting it later much easier.
- Let banitsa sit for 20 minutes. In the meantime you can preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
- Bake banitsa for 45 minutes, until nicely golden on top. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
