If you ever visited the Balkans (including Turkey), you know just how important pastries are in local cuisines. In this post, we’ll introduce you to the king of pastries in the Balkans; we’ll share the traditional burek recipe and teach you everything there is to know about this delicious snack, including its origin, its most popular variations, some preparation, and serving tips, and more.
But first things first…
What is Burek?
Burek is a baked/Fried pastry shaped like a pizza. This pastry can be filled with many different ingredients such as meat, onion, cheese, spinach, potatoes, etc. The pastry is native to Turkey but is popular in a few South Eastern European countries in the Balkans. It is one of the most popular breakfast meals in countries like Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia (it’s one of the most popular Croatian street food snacks), Montenegro, Moldova, and Bulgaria.
Burek can be prepared in a large pan and cut into pieces after it’s baked, or it can be prepared as an individual pastry (in smaller portions). The pastry is usually prepared by baking, but some variations can be fried too (more about this later). Before serving, burek is often sprinkled with sesame or nigella seeds. It can be served both hot and cold.
Enjoying this post? Then you’ll surely like our Serbian breakfast ideas.
Origin & History
The word Burek or Borek derives from the Turkish word börek. While the word Burek is most commonly used in the former Yugoslavian countries, the pastry is also known as Byrek (Albania), Boureki (Greece), and brik (Tunisia).
The traditional Borek recipe is a part of both Ottoman and Persian cuisines, but its origin is closely tied to Central Asian Turks. However, it was the Ottomans who made burek famous in different parts of the world. During Ottoman rule, borek became popular in Europe, the Arab world, and North Africa. In many of these countries, the localized version of the burek recipe (i.e., zelnik in Macedonia, banitsa in Bulgaria, gibanica in Serbia, etc.)is an irreplaceable part of local cuisine.
Enjoying this post? Then you might also be interested in our simit recipe and our lahmacun recipe.
Variations
In addition to some of the variations we mentioned in the previous paragraph, the burek recipe also has a few other variations in different parts of the world, including Armenia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia.
In Armenia, the pastry is known as ‘byrok’ or ‘borek’, and it consists of dough that is usually filled with cheese, spinach, or ground beef. The filling is usually somewhat spicy, and the dough is usually folded into a triangular shape.
In Saudi Arabia, this pastry is usually referred to as Burēk and is especially popular in the Hejaz region. It is usually stuffed in minced meat or cheese and is mostly consumed during the month of Ramadan.
In Tunisia, the local variant of the burek recipe is known as ‘brik’. This variation is a bit thinner, and it is usually filled with egg, onion, tuna, and parsley. Similar to the original burek, brik is also cut into triangular pieces, but with this pastry, the cutting is done before cooking. The preparation method is also different because brik is most often fried instead of baked.
In Israel, Boureka was introduced to the country by the Sephardic Jews when they migrated back to Israel. Bourekas is usually made with margarine-based dough rather than the usual butter-based dough due to the Kosher diet, which prohibits a diet with milk and meat. The most common filling used for this pastry is cheese, spinach, eggplant, mushroom, mashed potato, chickpeas, olives, etc.
The Algerian variant is called ‘Bourek’ and it’s a rolled pastry sheet stuffed with meat, onions, and spices. This snack is usually made and served during Ramadan and is quite a popular appetizer in Algerian cuisine. Another form of Algerian bourek is called Brik, and it is popular in the Eastern part of Algeria, close to the Tunisian border. The variant is made with the Brik leaf stuffed with mashed potato, minced meat, onion, and parsley. In the end, the whole pastry is topped with a seasoned raw egg, which is cooked once the brik leaf has been folded and soaked in boiling oil.
Last but not least, let’s not forget the Tatar version, which has similar filling but is made by deep-frying instead of baking. This variation is known as chebureki and is famous in most Eurasian countries.
Preparation Tips
- If you’re using frozen phyllo, keep it at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours before using it.
- While the dough sits, you can prepare the filling. Be careful, once you remove the phyllo from the package, it dries out very quickly.
- When rolling your dough for burek, be very cautious and try to avoid ripping the dough. If, accidentally, you still end up ripping it, you can fix this by just rolling over the dough.
- Consider using melted butter instead of oil when preparing the burek recipe.
- In the filling, you can replace onions with leeks for a different hint of flavor and some color.
Serving
Burek is usually served for breakfast alongside a glass of yogurt or ayran. Alternatively, it can also be served as a side dish alongside a lot of other light snacks/meals/spreads, such as ajvar, pindzur, sarma, dolma, kajmak, etc. People in the Balkans eat it at any time of the day- breakfast, lunch, dinner- it really doesn’t matter to them. The North African variations are used mainly as appetizers, while people in the Middle East eat it either as a snack or as a side dish.
A Few Things You May Need
Mixing Bowls
Baking Tray
Rolling Pin
Burek Recipe
in this post, we share the traditional burek recipe and teach you everything there is to know about this delicious snack, including its origin, variations, preparation & serving tips, and more.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 lbs all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp salt
Meat Burek Filling
- 2 Onions
- 1 tbsp Paprika
- 2 tbsp Salt
- 1 cup Fresh Parsley
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 5 tbsp of Sunflower Oil
- ½ Soda Water
- 3 Eggs
- 1 lb Ground Beef
Cheese Burek Filling
- 150g Cottage cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp of unsalted butter (optional)
Instructions
Filling
1. Pour sunflower oil into a pan and fry the chopped onion. Skip this part if you don’t like onion or don’t want onion in your Burek.
1a): If you're making cheese filling, beat the cheese to break it down, and add the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and egg. Mix everything evenly. You can also mix 1 tbsp of unsalted butter for some extra flavor (optional).
2. Add the minced meat to your mix, and sprinkle 1 tbsp salt, black pepper, and paprika.
3. Saute the mix until the onion turns brown, then pour the soda water. Let it cook for 5 min on medium heat.
4. Take a bowl and separate the whites of the eggs from the yolk. Pour the egg white into the filling and mix it.
5. Garnish the filling with some chopped parsley. (You can add some chopped rosemary leave for some fragrance).
The dough:
6. Add the all-purpose flour to a large bowl, with some oil and salt. While mixing the flour pour 1 cup of warm water into the flour and start kneading it to form a dough.
7. Knead the dough for 10-12 mins, until it becomes very stretchy. The dough should be neither too dry nor too sticky.
8. Form the dough into a shape of a ball, and cut it into 5 equal pieces. Knead the pieces for a few more minutes.
9. Brush each piece with some oil, and cover them with a kitchen towel for at least 30 mins.
10. Knead each dough for a few more mins and use a rolling pin to roll the dough. Roll the dough so it could resemble a large pizza dough. Make the dough as thin as possible and stretch it as much as possible.
11. Brush some oil on the dough and roll it more. Roll the dough until the become thin as paper.
Wrapping the pastry
12. Lay the desired stuffing on the dough, take the end of the dough and wrap the filling in a rolling motion. Just how you would wrap a burrito wrap.
13. Apply step 1 for all of the 5 burek dough.
14. Once all the dough is rolled, arrange them in a round spiral shape. Begin from the center and place through until it becomes a spiral round.
15. Brush some egg yolk on the burek, you can also opt for butter for this process, and top it with some sesame seeds.
16. Preheat the over to 400°F, and place the dough on a baking sheet inside an over a plate. Bake it for 30-45 mins.
17. Serve it alongside a glass of yogurt or ayran and enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
1 pieceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 425Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.1gUnsaturated Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 101mgSodium: 655mgCarbohydrates: 25gNet Carbohydrates: 25gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gSugar Alcohols: 0gProtein: 22g
Did you ever try burek? How did you like our burek recipe? If you tried to make it at home, don’t forget to leave our recipe a rating. If you have any questions about the recipe or burek in general, feel free to ask in the comments below.
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