After doner kebab and dürüm, börek is probably the most famous Turkish snack in this country. Every Turkish bakery and snack bar has a display of different types of börek in their display case. Mostly in the form of cigar böreks or snail böreks.
Börek is basically nothing more than a swirl of yufka dough that can be filled in different ways. The most common fillings are minced meat, spinach or sheep’s cheese.
The classic Börek is really easy to make without a lot of frills. You layer several layers of yufka dough in a tepsi (special baking pan), alternating with any filling mixture. The top and bottom layers form a layer of Yufka leaves. If you don’t have a Tepsi, you can also use a casserole dish or a springform pan. We used a 26cm springform pan.
Traditionally, the strudel is served for or as breakfast. Since it is easy to prepare and transport, it is also ideal for a brunch buffet or as a souvenir for a party.
You can get Yufka dough in a variety of variations in every Turkish supermarket. If you’re lucky, it’s even freshly prepared. But the pre-packaged dough sheets from the refrigerated shelf will definitely do the trick.
For our first attempt at baking Börek, we tried a version with sheep’s cheese and spinach. The result was really tasty and, as mentioned, not difficult to implement. Maybe this would be a good idea for the next family celebration or birthday brunch.
Börek with sheep cheese and spinach
- 3 size Yufka leaves
- 400 G Sheep cheese
- 500 G Baby spinach
- 500 ml Milk
- 1 egg
- 100 ml vegetable oil
- 1 TL Pul Biber / paprika powder
- Salt
- pepper
- 1 TL sesame
- 1 TL Black cumin
-
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees top-bottom heat.
-
Whisk the milk with the egg and oil and a little salt.
-
Grease the baking pan with oil and line it with a yufka sheet. The sheet may crumple a lot and there should be a margin of approx. 6 cm all around.
-
Spread half of the sheep’s cheese and half of the spinach on top.
-
Distribute 1/3 of the milk-egg mixture evenly over the top.
-
Season the layer with Pul Biber, salt and pepper.
-
Now lay out the second Yufka sheet on top. Also best when wrinkled.
-
Now repeat the filling: sheep’s cheese, spinach, 1/3 milk-egg mixture and spices.
-
Lay out the last yufka sheet on top and spread the rest of the milk-egg mixture.
-
Sprinkle the whole thing with sesame and black cumin.
-
Bake the Börek in the oven for about 30 minutes.
