Cheese börek
Börek is the opposite of baklava, though both are made from filo. There the point is to keep the layers dry and crisp; here they are soaked in milk, egg and oil so they soften and fuse into one moist whole. The second move looks like a mistake: the sheets are laid crumpled, not flat. The folds create pockets where the liquid collects.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Filling 10 min
- Soaking mixture 5 min
- Layering 20 min
- Baking 45 min
- Resting 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMix the cheese with herbs
Crumble the feta with a fork and mix with the chopped parsley, dill and pepper. Do not add salt — feta is very salty and the soaking mixture brings more. Use plenty of herbs: they cut the salt and the richness.
Ingredients: 400 g feta · 1 bunch parsley · ½ bunch dill · ½ tsp pepper
Whisk the soaking mixture
Beat the milk, oil, yogurt and eggs into a uniform liquid. The ratio of fat to milk looks high, and it should be — the oil replaces the butter brushed onto every sheet in baklava, only it goes in all at once instead of with a brush.
Ingredients: 250 ml milk · 120 ml oil · 2 pcs eggs · 100 g natural yogurt
Milk, oil, yogurt and egg — one uniform liquid.Lay two sheets flat on the base
Line a 24×32 cm tin with two sheets of filo laid flat, overhanging the edges. Only the base and the lid are flat — they hold the structure. Keep the rest under a damp cloth.
Ingredients: 400 g filo pastry · 1 pcs egg yolk · 2 tbsp sesame seeds · 1 tbsp nigella seeds
Crumple the middle sheets
Take the next sheets, crumple each loosely in your hand like paper and drop it into the tin, scattering cheese every second layer. The folds and air pockets are the aim — flat sheets would compress into a hard, dense slab.
Ingredients: 400 g feta · 1 bunch parsley · ½ bunch dill · ½ tsp pepper
Crumpled and loose — the folds hold the liquid.Ladle the mixture on every few layers
Every two or three layers, ladle over some of the mixture so it distributes evenly. Poured all at once at the end it runs to the base and the top layers stay dry and burn.
Ingredients: 250 ml milk · 120 ml oil · 2 pcs eggs · 100 g natural yogurt
By the ladle, every few layers — not all at the end.Close, cut and scatter the seeds
Cover with two flat sheets, tuck the overhang inwards and cut into squares right down to the base. Brush with yolk and scatter sesame and nigella. Cutting now lets the liquid reach the bottom.
Ingredients: 400 g filo pastry · 1 pcs egg yolk · 2 tbsp sesame seeds · 1 tbsp nigella seeds
Bake 45 minutes at 180°C
Bake in an oven heated to 180°C for 45 minutes, until deep golden and the edges pull away from the tin. The long bake matters — the custard has to set inside, not merely colour on top.
Ingredients: 400 g filo pastry · 1 pcs egg yolk · 2 tbsp sesame seeds · 1 tbsp nigella seeds
Rest 10 minutes before lifting
Leave it in the tin for 10 minutes. Hot börek is soft from the liquid and falls apart as you lift it; after ten minutes the layers bind. Serve warm with black tea.
Ingredients: 400 g feta · 1 bunch parsley · ½ bunch dill · ½ tsp pepper
Before you start
Spinach or meat versions
Ispanaklı börek: 500 g of wilted, squeezed spinach in place of half the cheese. Kıymalı: minced meat fried with onion. The soaking mixture and the layering stay identical — only the filling changes.
Reheating
Reheat for 8 minutes at 180°C, not in a microwave — steam makes the layers rubbery. Cooled börek is also good cold, as a packed lunch.
Filo, not puff pastry
Puff pastry carries its own butter between the layers and turns heavy and gluey once soaked in milk. Börek needs dry, thin filo that gets its moisture and fat only from the soaking mixture.
