Recipe for Börek, the star of Turkish cuisine

Today I present to you the recipe for cheese börek, a great star of Turkish cuisine, a long-awaited and much sought-after recipe. They come in different shapes and with different fillings! I will present the basic recipe, the one that was handed down to me by my mother, with a simple cheese filling. You can change it as and how much you want, according to your tastes.

When I was a child, börek was ubiquitous at breakfast, as a snack, on a feast day or when we had guests. We used to accompany it then, but we still do it today, with tea in the morning or with ayran.

The ingredients for the Börek recipe

Here are the ingredients for the börek recipe.

Fillo or yufka dough, 10-12 sheets

2 eggs

300 ml milk

100 ml sunflower oil

Salt to taste

400 gr of feta type cheese

coarsely chopped parsley and mixed with cheese

Note: in Turkey we use the famous tepsi, a not very deep but wide pan, which we use for all types of börek.

How to prepare :

The very first step is to prepare the sauce, then, in a container, mix the milk, oil and egg. The preparation must be as “smooth” as possible, without lumps.

Now we have to oil the tepsi, which you probably won’t have, so you can use an aluminium pan for pies (not too high), but with the largest diameter possible, because the yufkas you find on the market are really large.

First we place the yufka, moistened with the sauce, then add the second yufka, add the sauce as before and then again, another yufka. (If the yufka tears, don’t panic, nothing is thrown away, we still use the torn pieces. Once cooked, it won’t be noticed nor will it make a difference in the taste).

Similarly, the third yufka should be moistened with the sauce, immediately after we sprinkle the whole surface with cheese and parsley. We add a little sauce, continue to add yufka and sauce, until the last one. The rest of the sauce will be poured on the börek after the last yufka.

It is essential that the preparation is well moistened.

After the last yufka, gently squeeze the entire surface with the palms of your hands, to allow the sauce to be absorbed everywhere. We pre-cut the börek pieces. Remember that I, faithful to tradition, definitely cut them in diamond shapes, but in shapes larger than baklavas.

Let the raw pre-cut börek rest for 10 minutes, while we heat the oven to 200 degrees.

We cook for about 20 minutes until our fragrant börek takes on a beautiful golden colour.