Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (2024)

Let’s make a famous Turkish borek recipe in a pan on the stovetop in 15 minutes! Make your tea ready and enjoy 😊

I am going to show you how you can make Turkish borek with ready yufka sheets or phyllo sheets or even make your own in an easy method. We are going to use only a rolling pin, and will cook on stove-top 5-10 of them together!

Ingredients For Turkish Borek Recipe:

  • About 300-350 gr. thick phyllo sheets, yufka sheets. (I showed you how you can make your own in the previous episode on my YT channel: https://youtu.be/G1SnO65rS48 ) Recipe follows in the article.
  • 1 egg 1/3 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • pinch of salt
  • For the filling:
  • About 200gr. Turkish white cheese or feta cheese (You can mix it with some shredded mozzarella as well)
  • about tbsp chopped parsley
  • vegetable oil or butter to cook
  • 22-24cm nonstick pan

You can double the amounts and make börek in a bigger pan about 32cm in diameter. Or triple the amounts and make it in an oven tray and bake it in the oven. Here is the one I made in a bigger pan using ready yufka sheets: https://youtu.be/jym9yvHVqMc

Prepare The Sauce And The Filling:

Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (1)
  • To make the borek sauce: In a medium size bowl crack an egg. Add milk, vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. Mix everrything well.
  • To make the filling: In a medium size bowl cruble white cheese or feta cheese. If you are using mozarella grate and add it to the mixture along with chopped parsley and mix well.
Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (2)

Assembling The Borek:

If you are using ready phyllo or yufka sheets:

  • The ready yufka / phyllo sheets are bigger in size. So for 300-350gr you will probably be using 3 yufka sheets. In a nonstick or cast iron about 22-24cm in diameter pan, place one covering the bottom and the sides of the pan and hang the rest from the sides. After we fill inside the borek we will close on top to cover it.
    Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (3)
  • Place the second one wrinkling so it can fit to the pan. This way it will create air pockets while keeping the sauce we are going to pour. Drizzle almost the half of the sauce over the yufka to dampen.
    Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (4)
  • Add the filling evenly over the wet yufka sheet. Add the third sheet wrinkling and covering the cheese filling. Drizzle from the sauce and cover the hanging yufka pieces over and lightly wet between the overlapping sheet.
    Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (5)
    Don’t use the sauce on top of the borek since it can stick while cooking. Pour the leftover sauce inside if you have and (watch the video:)

If you make it with homemade yufka sheets or frozen thick (#11?) phyllo sheets

  • Cover the bottom and the sides with 3 small sheets hanging form the sides and begin to build inside. With the same method make the first layer of your borek placing sheets wrinkled. You may use 3-4 sheets or more to build one layer. Drizzle half of the sauce and place the filling and continue to the same steps above.
Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (6)

Baking The Borek

After assembling the borek, bake in low medium heat, closing lid until bottom is golden brown. You can check after delicious smells coming from your borek 🙂 Using a flat lid or plate that can fit inside your pan flip the borek and cook the other side. IT should take at least about 15 minutes to cook, so inside can fully set.

Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (7)
Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (8)

Let the borek rest preferably on a wire cooling rock or cutting board for 10 minutes. Cut into squares traditionally or into wedges if you prefer. And serve warm with a glass of Turkish tea 😊

Making Your Own “Yufka” Precooked Phyllo Sheets

You can use these sheets in many recipes from Turkish cuisine like borek or use as a wrap, or tortilla. I explained all details in the episode. You can watch from the video down below👇🏻

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup lukewarm water (or use 1/3 cup milk + 2/3 cup water) I used cheese water in order to not waste. It is totally optional. I am experimenting to make cheese and will share it with you soon
  • 1 tsp each dry yeast (optional), vegetable oil and salt
  • about 3 cups all-purpose flour
Borek Recipe In 15 Minutes - Turkish Food Travel (2024)

FAQs

Do you eat borek hot or cold? ›

These easy Turkish vegetarian borek are great as part of a mezze spread or tucked in a picnic or packed lunch. They'd also make perfect snacks for a party. Serve them hot or cold.

How do you make burak? ›

Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  2. Cook and stir ground beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes; drain fat. ...
  3. Stack two sheets phyllo dough on a work surface. ...
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.
Nov 2, 2022

What is Bureka? ›

Bourekas are often made out of puff pastry filled with various fillings. Among the popular fillings are feta cheese, kashkaval cheese, minced meat, mashed potato, spinach and cheese, eggplant, and mushrooms.

Where is borek from? ›

The burek – and its alternative spelling borek – is a Turkish, Middle Eastern and East European pastry often eaten as a snack from a small food stall or street vendor. In one of its forms, phyllo-like dough is rolled into a long tube which is then overlapped and coiled beside or around itself.

What is the difference between borek and burek? ›

The English name borek comes from Turkish börek (Turkish pronunciation: [bœˈɾec]), while burek is the form used in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Is borek Greek or Turkish food? ›

The Turkish dish, burek (pronounced booh-REK) consists of crispy filled filo dough pockets. Unrisen filo dough is rolled out until paper-thin, and the dough is then filled and shaped into half-moons, spirals, cigars or flowers.

What is the difference between borek and spanakopita? ›

Turkish borek and Greek spanakopita come from the same family of pastry. However, the two often differ in preparation and texture, with Greek spanakopita often having a flakier, puffier crust. Is it burek or borek? Both spellings of this pastry are technically correct, depending on the country.

How long does burek last? ›

Burek may be refrigerated for up to 5 days or stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Is borek healthy? ›

Conclusion. You are able to enjoy Borek during times when you're in need of a break from your diet or when you want to satisfy an urge. But make sure you don't serve it as food that takes up the bulk of your meals because you'll get plenty of calories from fat, which could result in a variety of issues in the future.

What is the difference between baklava and borek? ›

Borek dough is just about twice as thick with a #9 thickness. Next, where baklava uses butter between the layers, borek uses a combination of eggs and milk. Brushing an egg & milk mixture on each sheet of borek dough will soften the dough and create a more substantial foundation for the savory fillings.

What is another name for a burek? ›

Burek — also known as börek, byrek, byurek, boureki and brik in different languages — is a filo pie made of thin, flaky dough and usually filled, quite often with a savory stuffing.

Does borek contain egg? ›

Types of Borek

It's very common throughout the Balkans, Turkey, and the Levant region of the Middle East. It involves phyllo pastry and some type of filling, like a spiced meat and onion mixture, spinach and cheese, or just plain cheese. In Turkey, they brush the pastry with yogurt and egg.

Who made the first burek? ›

When the nomadic Turks of Central Asia yearned for fluffy bread during their long journeys on the road, inspiration struck—they came up with a way to mimic the texture by layering their dough several times, creating a deep-fried filled dumpling known as Burga, the first form of Burek.

What nationality is baklava from? ›

Baklava is originally from Turkey, Greece, and the Middle East, but it was brought to Hungary by Turkish invaders during the 16th century. Hungary revised it and made it part of their culture as the strudel. 2.

Is burek Turkish or Bosnian? ›

Like many other dishes of traditional Bosnian cuisine, burek recipe has its origins in Turkish cuisine. In fact, there is a borek dish in Turkey, and you can find more about it in this blog post. Thus, with the Turkish conquests, Burek came to Bosnia, but here it gained a local twist and a different meaning.

How do you heat up a burek? ›

To reheat your burek, bake it in the oven at 400° for about 6-8 minutes. You could also make individual spirals or line up the cylinders next to each other and bake for a different look. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to check out The Chopping Block's private Facebook group for the next cooking challenge.

Can you eat bourekas cold? ›

They were great hot, at room temperature, or cold from the refrigerator in the middle of the night. And while these bourekas have yet to entertain anyone under my watch, I can attest to their deliciousness hot, room temperature and cold from the refrigerator.

How do you reheat Turkish Borek? ›

Oven: Preheat to 365 degrees. Place Borek on a cookie sheet, and warm for 10-12 minutes.

Do you eat baklava hot or cold? ›

After baking, a syrup, which may include honey, rosewater, or orange flower water is poured over the cooked baklava and allowed to soak. Baklava is usually served at room temperature, and is often garnished with ground nuts.

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