Börek
Encyclopedia
Börek is a family of baked or fried filled pastries
made of a thin flaky dough
known as yufka
(or phyllo
). It can be filled with cheese
, often feta
, sirene
or kaşar; minced meat, or vegetables. Most probably invented in what is now Modern Turkey
, in the Anatolian Provinces
of the Ottoman Empire
in its early era, to become a popular element of Ottoman cuisine
.
A börek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. The top of the börek is often sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Börek is also very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire
, especially in North Africa
and throughout the Balkans
.
The Northern Slavic cuisines, historically developed by people living in close contact with the Turkic
peoples of Asia and Europe, also feature derivatives of the börek. Börek is also part of Mizrahi
and Sephardic
Jewish traditions.
enjoys a wide variety of regional variations of börek among the different cultures and ethnicities composing it, including:
Most of the time, the word "börek" is accompanied in Turkish by a descriptive word referring to the shape, ingredients of the pastry, for the cooking methods or for or a specific region where it is typically prepared, as in the above kol böreği, su böreği, talaş böreği or Sarıyer böreği.
, this dish is called byrek, burek, or lakror; the most common fillings include cheese (especially Gjize, similar to Ricotta
) or spinach and egg, but it can also be made with, tomato and onion, peppers and beans, potato or a sweet filling of pumpkin
. Lakror generally would have a filling of greens, lakër being an Albanian word for cabbage. Byrek is traditionally made with several layers of dough that has been thinly rolled out by hand. The final form can be small, individual triangles, especially from street vendors called 'Byrektore' which sell byrek and other traditional pastries and drinks. It can also be made as one large byrek that is cut into smaller pieces. Byrek is traditional to southern Albania but is made throughout the country with variations. They can be served cold or hot.
, fresh parsley
and nutmeg
, and concentrated pomegranate
juice, which gives the mixture a unique sweet and tangy taste. Fried or caramelized onions are usually added to the meat, as well as the traditional Arab staple of fried almonds and sultanas or raisins. Traditional Arab cheeses, including Jibin Baladi and Jibin Arab are often used instead of, or together with the meat. The mixture is wrapped in a sheet of dough, and then fried or deep-fried until crisp, and resembles a large egg roll
. While most burek are made with phyllo, some traditional cooks and those in the tribal areas prefer a hand-kneaded dough.
Arab burek are most often served with other "dry" foods including kibbeh
, with a jajik dip
(yogurt, cucumber and garlic dip) forming an integral part of a traditional meze
meal.
or ouzo
).
version of the pastry, locally called byurek (Cyrillic: бюрек), is typically regarded as a variation of banitsa (баница), a similar Bulgarian dish. Bulgarian byurek is a type of banitsa with sirene
cheese, the difference being that byurek also has eggs added.
In Bulgarian
, the word byurek has also come to be applied to other dishes similarly prepared with cheese and eggs, such as chushka byurek (чушка бюрек), a peeled and roasted pepper filled with cheese, and tikvichka byurek (тиквичка бюрек), blanched or uncooked bits of squash with a cheese and eggs filling.
In Greece
and Cyprus
, boureki (μπουρέκι [bur'eki]) or bourekaki (μπουρεκάκι [bure'kaki], the diminutive form of the word), are small pastries made with phyllo
dough or with pastry crust. A special type of boureki is found in the local cuisine of Crete
and especially in the area of Chania
. It is a pie filled with sliced zucchini
, sliced potatoes, mizithra or feta
cheese and spearmint
, and may be baked with or without a thick top crust of phyllo.
Galaktoboureko
is a syrupy phyllo pastry filled with custard, common throughout Greece and Cyprus. In the Epirus
, σκερ-μπουρέκ (derives from the Turkish şeker-börek, "sugar-börek") is a small rosewater
-flavored marzipan
sweet.
or puff pastry
filled with various fillings. Among the most popular fillings are salty cheese, mashed potato
, mushrooms, spinach
, eggplant and pizza
-flavor. Most bourekas in Israel are made with margarine-based doughs, rather that butter-based doughs so that (at least the non-cheese filled varieties) can be eaten along with either milk meals or meat meals in accordance with the kosher prohibition against mixing milk and meat at the same meal.
Israeli
bourekas come in several shapes and are often sprinkled with seeds. The shapes and choice of seeds are usually indicative of their fillings and have become fairly standard among small bakeries and large factories alike.
For example, Salty cheese (Bulgarian cheese)-filled bourekas are usually somewhat flat triangles with white sesame seeds on top. Less salty cheese
-filled are semi-circular
and usually made with puff pastry. Potato-filled are sesame topped, flat squares or rectangles made with phyllo and tend to be less oily than most other versions. Spinach-filled are made with a very delicate, oily phyllo dough shaped into round spirals. Mushroom-filled are bulging triangles with poppy seeds
. Tuna-filled are bulging triangles with nigella seeds
. Eggplant-filled are cylindrical with nigella seeds. Bean sprout-filled are cylindrical without seeds. Bourekas with a pizza sauce are often round spirals rising toward the middle or sometimes cylidrical without seeds, differentiated from the bean sprout-filled cyliders without seeds, by the red sauce oozing out the ends. Bourekas can also be found with mashed chickpeas, tuna and chickpea mix, pumpkin and even small cocktail frankfurters.
Bourekas come in small, "snack" size, often available in self-service bakeries, and sizes as large as four or five inches. The larger ones can serve as a snack or a meal, and can be sliced open, and stuffed with hard-boiled egg, pickles, tomatoes and skhug
, a spicy Yemenite paste. Supermarkets stock a wide selection of frozen raw-dough bourekas ready for home baking. Bakeries and street vendors dealing exclusively in bourekas can be found in most Israeli cities. Small coffee-shop
type establishments as well as lottery
and sports betting
parlors serving bourekas and coffee can also be found.
In recent years, Israelis have become aware of the high fat (especially trans-fat) content of bourekas leading many to question the dangers associated with their consumption.
Bourekas have given their name to Bourekas films
, a peculiarly Israeli genre of comic melodramas or tearjerkers based on ethnic stereotypes.
, burek is regularly available at most baker
ies, and usually eaten as "fast food
". It is often consumed with yoghurt
. Apart from being sold at bakeries, burek is served in specialized stores selling burek (or pitas) and yogurt exclusively (Buregdžinica).
In Serbia
, Macedonia
, Croatia
and Slovenia
, burek is made from layers of dough, alternating with layers of other fillings in a circular baking pan and then topped with a last layer of dough. Traditionally it may be baked with no filling (prazan), with stewed minced meat and onions, or with cheese. Modern bakeries offer cheese and spinach, apple
, sour cherries
, potato, mushroom, and pizza-burek as well.
The recipe for "round" burek was developed in the Serbian town of Niš
. In 1498, it was introduced by a famous Turkish baker, Mehmed Oğlu from Istanbul. Eventually burek spread from the southeast (southern Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia) to the rest of Yugoslavia. Most bakers who offer burek in Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro
and Slovenia originate from the Niš area of southern Serbia, Kosovo or Macedonia.
Niš hosts an annual burek competition and festival called Buregdžijada. In 2005, a 100 kg (~200 lbs) burek was made, with a diameter of 2 metres (~6 ft) and it is considered to have been the world biggest burek ever made.
Serbian burek became popular in Croatia and in Slovenia in the second half of the 20th century. The first burek in Zagreb
was made by bakers near Kolodvor, the main railway station, after World War II.
In Slovenia, burek is one of the most popular fast-food dishes, but at least one researcher found that it is viewed negatively by Slovenes due to their prejudices towards immigrants, especially those from the countries of Former Yugoslavia. A publication of a diploma thesis on this at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana
in 2010 stirred controversy regarding the appropriateness of the topic. The mentor of the student that had written the thesis described the topic as legitimate and burek as denoting primitive behavior in Slovenia in spite of it being a sophisticated food. He explained the controversy as a good example of the conclusions of the student. Actually, already in 2008, an employee of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SRC SASA) had attained his PhD degree with a thesis on meta-burek at the University of Nova Gorica
.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina
a burek is a meat-filled pastry, traditionally rolled in a spiral and cut into sections for serving.
The same spiral filled with cottage cheese is called sirnica, with spinach and cheese zeljanica, with potatoes krompiruša, and all of them are generically referred to as pita. Eggs
are used as a binding agent when making sirnica and zeljanica.
This kind of pastry is also popular in Croatia
, where it was imported by Bosnian Croats, and is usually called rolani burek (rolled burek).
In Serbian towns, Bosnian pastry dishes were imported by war refugees in the 1990s, and are usually called sarajevske pite or bosanske pite (Sarajevan pies or Bosnian pies). Similar dishes, although somewhat wider and with thinner dough layers, are called savijača or just "pita" in Serbia. These are usually homemade and not traditionally offered in bakeries.
in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, and other countries that were once part of the USSR. Cheburek is the Russian pronunciation of the Tatar Çibörek, which means "delicious burek" or "raw börek".
is a Tunisian or Algerian börek, often fried; its best-known variant is composed of a whole egg in a triangular pastry pocket with chopped onion and parsley. Shrimp and capers are frequently included as well.
(cf. Baklava
) and is one of its most significant and, in fact, ancient elements of the Turkish cuisine, having been developed by the Turks of Central Asia before their westward migration to Anatolia
.
Börek in Turkish language
refers to any dish made with yufka
. The name comes from the Turkic
root bur- 'to twist', (similar to Serbian word savijača (from savijati - to twist) which also describes a layered dough dish).
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...
made of a thin flaky dough
Dough
Dough is a paste made out of any cereals or leguminous crops by mixing flour with a small amount of water and/or other liquid. This process is a precursor to making a wide variety of foodstuffs, particularly breads and bread-based items , flatbreads, noodles, pastry, and similar items)...
known as yufka
Yufka
Yufka is a Turkish bread. It is a thin, round and unleavened flat bread similar to lavash, about 18 inches in diameter usually made from wheat flour, water and table salt. After kneading, the dough is allowed to rest for 30 min. Dough pieces are rounded and rolled into a circular sheet...
(or phyllo
Phyllo
Phyllo, filo, or fillo dough is paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour dough used for making pastries in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisine.-History:An early, thick form of phyllo appears to be of Central Asian Turkic origin...
). It can be filled with cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
, often feta
Feta
Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. It is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese,...
, sirene
Sirene
Sirene/ Sirenje or known as "white brine sirene" .Salads: Shopska salad with tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions and sirene. Ovcharska salad with the above mentioned vegetables, cheese, ham, boiled eggs and olives. Tomatoes with sirene is a traditional light salad during the summer.Eggs:...
or kaşar; minced meat, or vegetables. Most probably invented in what is now Modern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, in the Anatolian Provinces
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in its early era, to become a popular element of Ottoman cuisine
Ottoman cuisine
Ottoman cuisine is the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and its successors in Anatolia, the Balkans, and much of the Middle East.- Description :...
.
A börek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. The top of the börek is often sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Börek is also very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire
Ottoman cuisine
Ottoman cuisine is the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and its successors in Anatolia, the Balkans, and much of the Middle East.- Description :...
, especially in North Africa
North African cuisine
North Africa, the northernmost part of Africa along the Mediterranean Sea includes the nations of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia...
and throughout the Balkans
Balkan cuisine
The Balkan cuisine is heterogeneous and is therefore known as the cuisine of states and regions, since every region has its own distinct culinary traditions...
.
The Northern Slavic cuisines, historically developed by people living in close contact with the Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
peoples of Asia and Europe, also feature derivatives of the börek. Börek is also part of Mizrahi
Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews
The cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Jews of The Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and Arab countries. Mizrahi Jews have also been known as Oriental Jews . Jews of the Mizrahi communities cook foods that were and are popular in their home...
and Sephardic
Cuisine of the Sephardic Jews
The cuisine of the Sephardi Jews is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Jews of Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean and Arab countries. Mizrahi, who are sometimes called Sephardic Jews, are Jews of origins from countries of the Middle-East, respectively...
Jewish traditions.
Turkey
Modern TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
enjoys a wide variety of regional variations of börek among the different cultures and ethnicities composing it, including:
- Su böreği 'water börek' is one of the most common types. Layers of dough are boiled briefly in large pans, then a mixture of feta cheese, parsley and oil is scattered between the layers. The whole thing is brushed with butter and laid in a masonry ovenMasonry ovenA masonry oven, colloquially known as a brick oven or stone oven, is an oven consisting of a baking chamber made of fireproof brick, concrete, stone, or clay. Though traditionally wood-fired, coal-fired ovens were common in the 19th century, modern masonry ovens are often fired with natural gas or...
to cook. - Sigara böreği 'cigarette börek' or kalem böreği 'pen börek', a smaller, cylindrical variety is often filled with feta cheese, potato, parsley and sometimes with minced meat or sausage. A variety of vegetables, herbs and spices are used in böreks, such as spinach, nettle, leekLeekThe leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae...
, potato, and courgette, and usually ground black pepper. The name kalem böreği was adopted in September 2011 by some Turkish pastry organizations in order to avoid alluding to smoking. - Paçanga böreği, is a traditional Sephardic JewishSephardi JewsSephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
specialty of IstanbulIstanbulIstanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
filled with pastırmaPastirmaPastirma or bastirma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the cuisines of the former Ottoman countries.-Etymology:The name bastirma is from . bastırma is the gerund of the verb bastırmak , which means "to depress, restrain"...
, kaşar and julienned green peppers that is fried in olive oil and eaten as a mezeMezeMeze or mezze is a selection of small dishes served in the Mediterranean and Middle East as dinner or lunch, with or without drinks. In Levantine cuisines and in the Caucasus region, meze is served at the beginning of all large-scale meals....
. - Saray böreği 'palace börek' is a layered börek where fresh butter is rolled between each of the dough sheets.
- Talaş böreği or Nemse böreği 'sawdust' or 'Austrian' 'börek') is a small square börek mostly filled with lamb cubes and green peas, that has starchier yufka sheets, making it puffy and crispy.
- Kol böreği 'arm börek' is prepared in long rolls, either rounded or lined, and filled with either minced meat, feta cheese, spinach or potato and baked at a low temperature.
- Sarıyer böreği is a smaller and a little fattier version of the "Kol böreği", named after Sarıyer, a district of Istanbul
- Gül böreği 'rose börek', also known as Yuvarlak böreği 'round or spiral börek' are rolled into small spirals and have a spicier filling than other börek.
- Çiğ börek or Çibörek 'raw börek' is a half-round shaped börek, filled with raw minced meat and fried in oil on the concave side of the sac, very popular in places with a thriving Tatar community, such as EskişehirEskisehirEskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby...
, PolatlıPolatliPolatlı is a city and a district in Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, 80 km west of the Turkish capital Ankara, on the road to Eskişehir. According to 2010 census, population of the district is 117,473 of which 98,605 live in the city of Polatlı...
and KonyaKonyaKonya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city seventh most populous in Turkey.-Etymology:...
. - Töbörek is another Tatar variety, similar to a çibörek, but baked either in the convex side of the sac, or in a masonry ovenMasonry ovenA masonry oven, colloquially known as a brick oven or stone oven, is an oven consisting of a baking chamber made of fireproof brick, concrete, stone, or clay. Though traditionally wood-fired, coal-fired ovens were common in the 19th century, modern masonry ovens are often fired with natural gas or...
instead of being fried in oil. - Laz böreği, a specialty of the RizeRizeRize is the capital of Rize Province, in northeast Turkey, on the Black Sea coast.-Etymology:The name comes from Greek or Ριζαίον , meaning "mountain slopes". In modern times, its name in Greek was usually Ριζούντα . Its Latin forms are Rhizus and Rhizaeum...
region, is a sweet version, filled with muhallebi (Ottoman-style milk pudding) and served sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Most of the time, the word "börek" is accompanied in Turkish by a descriptive word referring to the shape, ingredients of the pastry, for the cooking methods or for or a specific region where it is typically prepared, as in the above kol böreği, su böreği, talaş böreği or Sarıyer böreği.
Albanian byrek or lakror
In AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, this dish is called byrek, burek, or lakror; the most common fillings include cheese (especially Gjize, similar to Ricotta
Ricotta
Ricotta is an Italian dairy product made from sheep milk whey left over from the production of cheese. Although typically referred to as ricotta cheese, ricotta is not properly a cheese because it is not produced by coagulation of casein...
) or spinach and egg, but it can also be made with, tomato and onion, peppers and beans, potato or a sweet filling of pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
. Lakror generally would have a filling of greens, lakër being an Albanian word for cabbage. Byrek is traditionally made with several layers of dough that has been thinly rolled out by hand. The final form can be small, individual triangles, especially from street vendors called 'Byrektore' which sell byrek and other traditional pastries and drinks. It can also be made as one large byrek that is cut into smaller pieces. Byrek is traditional to southern Albania but is made throughout the country with variations. They can be served cold or hot.
Eastern Arab burek
Arab burek is often stuffed with minced or diced lamb or beef, or a mixture of the two. Various herbs and spices are used to flavour the meat, including turmericTurmeric
Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
, fresh parsley
Parsley
Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
and nutmeg
Nutmeg
The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
, and concentrated pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
juice, which gives the mixture a unique sweet and tangy taste. Fried or caramelized onions are usually added to the meat, as well as the traditional Arab staple of fried almonds and sultanas or raisins. Traditional Arab cheeses, including Jibin Baladi and Jibin Arab are often used instead of, or together with the meat. The mixture is wrapped in a sheet of dough, and then fried or deep-fried until crisp, and resembles a large egg roll
Egg roll
An egg roll is an appetizer and dinner, a variant of spring roll that has spread throughout the world as a staple of Asian cuisine. Egg rolls with fillings are commonly served in Vietnamese cuisine.-Description:...
. While most burek are made with phyllo, some traditional cooks and those in the tribal areas prefer a hand-kneaded dough.
Arab burek are most often served with other "dry" foods including kibbeh
Kibbeh
Kibbeh or kibbe is an Arab dish made of bulgur or rice and chopped meat. The best-known variety is a torpedo-shaped fried croquette stuffed with minced beef or lamb. Other types of kibbeh may be shaped into balls or patties, and baked or cooked in broth.Kibbeh is a popular dish in Levantine...
, with a jajik dip
Tzatziki
Tzatziki, tzadziki, or tsatsiki is a Greek meze or appetizer, also used as a sauce for souvlaki and gyros. Tzatziki is made of strained yoghurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, usually olive oil, pepper, sometimes lemon juice, and parsley. Tzatziki is always served cold...
(yogurt, cucumber and garlic dip) forming an integral part of a traditional meze
Meze
Meze or mezze is a selection of small dishes served in the Mediterranean and Middle East as dinner or lunch, with or without drinks. In Levantine cuisines and in the Caucasus region, meze is served at the beginning of all large-scale meals....
meal.
Armenian byorek
In Armenia, byorek (բյորեկ) or borek (բորեկ), are folded into triangles and stuffed with cheese, spinach or ground beef, and the filling is typically spiced. A popular combination is spinach, feta, cottage cheese (or pot cheese) and a splash of anise-flavored liquor (such as rakiRaki
-Alcoholic beverages:*Rakı, an anise-flavored spirit popular in Turkey*Any anise-flavored drink.-Fictional characters:*Raki, a character in the manga/anime series Claymore*Raki, a character in the game Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica...
or ouzo
Ouzo
Ouzo is an anise-flavored aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece and Cyprus, and a symbol of Greek culture.-History:Traditionally, tsipouro is said to have been the pet project of a group of 14th century monks living in a monastery on holy Mount Athos. One version of it is flavored with anise...
).
Assyrian burek
Assyrian burek is usually stuffed with spiced ground beef, though potatoes are also sometimes used instead. The stuffing is wrapped in a sheet of dough and then fried in oil and resembles egg rolls.Bulgarian byurek
The BulgarianBulgarian cuisine
Bulgarian cuisine is a representative of the cuisine of Southeastern Europe. Essentially South Slavic, it shares characteristics with other Balkans cuisines...
version of the pastry, locally called byurek (Cyrillic: бюрек), is typically regarded as a variation of banitsa (баница), a similar Bulgarian dish. Bulgarian byurek is a type of banitsa with sirene
Sirene
Sirene/ Sirenje or known as "white brine sirene" .Salads: Shopska salad with tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions and sirene. Ovcharska salad with the above mentioned vegetables, cheese, ham, boiled eggs and olives. Tomatoes with sirene is a traditional light salad during the summer.Eggs:...
cheese, the difference being that byurek also has eggs added.
In Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, the word byurek has also come to be applied to other dishes similarly prepared with cheese and eggs, such as chushka byurek (чушка бюрек), a peeled and roasted pepper filled with cheese, and tikvichka byurek (тиквичка бюрек), blanched or uncooked bits of squash with a cheese and eggs filling.
Greek bouréki or bourekáki
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, boureki (μπουρέκι [bur'eki]) or bourekaki (μπουρεκάκι [bure'kaki], the diminutive form of the word), are small pastries made with phyllo
Phyllo
Phyllo, filo, or fillo dough is paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour dough used for making pastries in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisine.-History:An early, thick form of phyllo appears to be of Central Asian Turkic origin...
dough or with pastry crust. A special type of boureki is found in the local cuisine of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
and especially in the area of Chania
Chania
Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...
. It is a pie filled with sliced zucchini
Zucchini
The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
, sliced potatoes, mizithra or feta
Feta
Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. It is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese,...
cheese and spearmint
Spearmint
Mentha spicata syn. M. cordifolia is a species of mint native to much of Europe and southwest Asia, though its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive early cultivation. It grows in wet soils...
, and may be baked with or without a thick top crust of phyllo.
Galaktoboureko
Galaktoboureko
Galaktoboureko is a Greek dessert of semolina-based custard in phyllo. It may be made in a pan, with phyllo layered on top and underneath, or rolled into individual servings...
is a syrupy phyllo pastry filled with custard, common throughout Greece and Cyprus. In the Epirus
Epirus (periphery)
Epirus , formally the Epirus Region , is a geographical and administrative region in northwestern Greece. It borders the regions of West Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Islands to the west and the country of Albania to the north. The...
, σκερ-μπουρέκ (derives from the Turkish şeker-börek, "sugar-börek") is a small rosewater
Rosewater
Rose water or rose syrup is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals. Rose water, itself a by-product of the production of rose oil for use in perfume, is used to flavour food, as a component in some cosmetic and medical preparations, and for religious purposes throughout Europe and...
-flavored marzipan
Marzipan
Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal. Persipan is a similar, yet less expensive product, in which the almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels...
sweet.
Israel
In Israel, bourekas can be found made from either phyllo doughPhyllo
Phyllo, filo, or fillo dough is paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour dough used for making pastries in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisine.-History:An early, thick form of phyllo appears to be of Central Asian Turkic origin...
or puff pastry
Puff pastry
In baking, a puff pastry is a light, flaky, leavened pastry containing several layers of fat which is in solid state at 20 °C . In raw form, puff pastry is a dough which is spread with solid fat and repeatedly folded and rolled out and used to produce the aforementioned pastries...
filled with various fillings. Among the most popular fillings are salty cheese, mashed potato
Mashed potato
Mashed potato is made by mashing freshly boiled potatoes with a ricer, fork, potato masher, food mill, or whipping them with a hand beater. Dehydrated and frozen mashed potatoes are available in many places...
, mushrooms, spinach
Spinach
Spinach is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions...
, eggplant and pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
-flavor. Most bourekas in Israel are made with margarine-based doughs, rather that butter-based doughs so that (at least the non-cheese filled varieties) can be eaten along with either milk meals or meat meals in accordance with the kosher prohibition against mixing milk and meat at the same meal.
Israeli
Israeli cuisine
Israeli cuisine comprises local dishes by Jews native to Israel and dishes brought to Israel by Jews from the Diaspora. Since before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli Jewish fusion cuisine has developed.Israeli cuisine has adopted,...
bourekas come in several shapes and are often sprinkled with seeds. The shapes and choice of seeds are usually indicative of their fillings and have become fairly standard among small bakeries and large factories alike.
For example, Salty cheese (Bulgarian cheese)-filled bourekas are usually somewhat flat triangles with white sesame seeds on top. Less salty cheese
Pot cheese
Pot cheese is a type of soft crumbly, unaged cheese. It is very simple to make and also highly versatile making it a very popular cheese but it may be hard to find in stores. Pot cheese is in the midway stage between cottage cheese and farmer's cheese. It is somewhat dry and crumbly but with a...
-filled are semi-circular
Semicircle
In mathematics , a semicircle is a two-dimensional geometric shape that forms half of a circle. Being half of a circle's 360°, the arc of a semicircle always measures 180° or a half turn...
and usually made with puff pastry. Potato-filled are sesame topped, flat squares or rectangles made with phyllo and tend to be less oily than most other versions. Spinach-filled are made with a very delicate, oily phyllo dough shaped into round spirals. Mushroom-filled are bulging triangles with poppy seeds
Poppy Seeds
Poppy Seeds, released in 1971, was the second and final studio album from Vancouver, British Columbia band The Poppy Family. The album has yet to be released on modern formats and remains a rare vinyl....
. Tuna-filled are bulging triangles with nigella seeds
Nigella sativa
Nigella sativa is an annual flowering plant, native to south and southwest Asia. It grows to tall, with finely divided, linear leaves. The flowers are delicate, and usually coloured pale blue and white, with five to ten petals. The fruit is a large and inflated capsule composed of three to seven...
. Eggplant-filled are cylindrical with nigella seeds. Bean sprout-filled are cylindrical without seeds. Bourekas with a pizza sauce are often round spirals rising toward the middle or sometimes cylidrical without seeds, differentiated from the bean sprout-filled cyliders without seeds, by the red sauce oozing out the ends. Bourekas can also be found with mashed chickpeas, tuna and chickpea mix, pumpkin and even small cocktail frankfurters.
Bourekas come in small, "snack" size, often available in self-service bakeries, and sizes as large as four or five inches. The larger ones can serve as a snack or a meal, and can be sliced open, and stuffed with hard-boiled egg, pickles, tomatoes and skhug
Skhug
Skhug also spelled zhug, is a hot sauce popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. Originally from Yemen, it's also popular in Israel.Skhug is made from fresh hot peppers seasoned with coriander, garlic and various spices. Skhug adom is made with red peppers and skhug yarok from green peppers...
, a spicy Yemenite paste. Supermarkets stock a wide selection of frozen raw-dough bourekas ready for home baking. Bakeries and street vendors dealing exclusively in bourekas can be found in most Israeli cities. Small coffee-shop
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
type establishments as well as lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
and sports betting
Sports betting
Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.-United States of America:Aside from simple wagers such as betting a friend that one's favorite baseball team will win its division or buying a football "square" for the Super Bowl, sports betting is...
parlors serving bourekas and coffee can also be found.
In recent years, Israelis have become aware of the high fat (especially trans-fat) content of bourekas leading many to question the dangers associated with their consumption.
Bourekas have given their name to Bourekas films
Bourekas films
Bourekas films were a genre of Israeli-made movies popular in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s.-History:Haaretz film critic Uri Klein describes Bourekas films as a "peculiarly Israeli genre of comic melodramas or tearjerkers.....
, a peculiarly Israeli genre of comic melodramas or tearjerkers based on ethnic stereotypes.
Former Yugoslavia
Across the territories of former YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, burek is regularly available at most baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
ies, and usually eaten as "fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
". It is often consumed with yoghurt
Yoghurt
Yoghurt, yogurt or yogourt is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yoghurt are known as "yoghurt cultures"...
. Apart from being sold at bakeries, burek is served in specialized stores selling burek (or pitas) and yogurt exclusively (Buregdžinica).
Serbian (round) burek in Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, burek is made from layers of dough, alternating with layers of other fillings in a circular baking pan and then topped with a last layer of dough. Traditionally it may be baked with no filling (prazan), with stewed minced meat and onions, or with cheese. Modern bakeries offer cheese and spinach, apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
, sour cherries
Sour Cherry
Prunus cerasus, or the sour cherry, is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus , native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. It is closely related to the wild cherry Prunus cerasus, or the sour cherry, is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries), native to much of Europe and...
, potato, mushroom, and pizza-burek as well.
The recipe for "round" burek was developed in the Serbian town of Niš
Niš
Niš is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia . According to the data from 2011, the city of Niš has a population of 177,972 inhabitants, while the city municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of about 597 km2, including the urban area,...
. In 1498, it was introduced by a famous Turkish baker, Mehmed Oğlu from Istanbul. Eventually burek spread from the southeast (southern Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia) to the rest of Yugoslavia. Most bakers who offer burek in Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
and Slovenia originate from the Niš area of southern Serbia, Kosovo or Macedonia.
Niš hosts an annual burek competition and festival called Buregdžijada. In 2005, a 100 kg (~200 lbs) burek was made, with a diameter of 2 metres (~6 ft) and it is considered to have been the world biggest burek ever made.
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
was made by bakers near Kolodvor, the main railway station, after World War II.
In Slovenia, burek is one of the most popular fast-food dishes, but at least one researcher found that it is viewed negatively by Slovenes due to their prejudices towards immigrants, especially those from the countries of Former Yugoslavia. A publication of a diploma thesis on this at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
in 2010 stirred controversy regarding the appropriateness of the topic. The mentor of the student that had written the thesis described the topic as legitimate and burek as denoting primitive behavior in Slovenia in spite of it being a sophisticated food. He explained the controversy as a good example of the conclusions of the student. Actually, already in 2008, an employee of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SRC SASA) had attained his PhD degree with a thesis on meta-burek at the University of Nova Gorica
University of Nova Gorica
University of Nova Gorica - UNG , is the fourth university in Slovenia. It is located in the towns of Nova Gorica, Gorizia , and Ajdovščina.-History:...
.
Bosnian burek
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
a burek is a meat-filled pastry, traditionally rolled in a spiral and cut into sections for serving.
The same spiral filled with cottage cheese is called sirnica, with spinach and cheese zeljanica, with potatoes krompiruša, and all of them are generically referred to as pita. Eggs
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
are used as a binding agent when making sirnica and zeljanica.
This kind of pastry is also popular in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, where it was imported by Bosnian Croats, and is usually called rolani burek (rolled burek).
In Serbian towns, Bosnian pastry dishes were imported by war refugees in the 1990s, and are usually called sarajevske pite or bosanske pite (Sarajevan pies or Bosnian pies). Similar dishes, although somewhat wider and with thinner dough layers, are called savijača or just "pita" in Serbia. These are usually homemade and not traditionally offered in bakeries.
Crimea
The Tatar version, one of the national dishes of the Crimean Tatars, is called Çibörek and is made from unleavened dough filled with ground lamb, onions and spices, fried in oil. It is a common street foodStreet food
Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street or other public place, such as a market or fair, by a hawker or vendor, often from a portable stall. While some street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. Most street food are both finger and fast...
in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, and other countries that were once part of the USSR. Cheburek is the Russian pronunciation of the Tatar Çibörek, which means "delicious burek" or "raw börek".
Tunisian and Algerian brik
BrikBrik
Brik or Brick is a Tunisian derivative of the börek consisting of thin warka pastry around a filling commonly deep fried. The best-known version is the egg brik, a whole egg in a triangular pastry pocket with chopped onion, tuna, harissa and parsley.Brik pastry is made by slapping a sticky lump...
is a Tunisian or Algerian börek, often fried; its best-known variant is composed of a whole egg in a triangular pastry pocket with chopped onion and parsley. Shrimp and capers are frequently included as well.
Origin and name
Börek has its origins in the Turkish cuisineCuisine of Turkey
Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including that of western Europe...
(cf. Baklava
Baklava
Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and much of central and southwest Asia....
) and is one of its most significant and, in fact, ancient elements of the Turkish cuisine, having been developed by the Turks of Central Asia before their westward migration to Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
.
Börek in Turkish language
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
refers to any dish made with yufka
Yufka
Yufka is a Turkish bread. It is a thin, round and unleavened flat bread similar to lavash, about 18 inches in diameter usually made from wheat flour, water and table salt. After kneading, the dough is allowed to rest for 30 min. Dough pieces are rounded and rolled into a circular sheet...
. The name comes from the Turkic
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
root bur- 'to twist', (similar to Serbian word savijača (from savijati - to twist) which also describes a layered dough dish).