Brzi Pekarski Burek sa Sirom
Брзи пекарски бурек са сиром·(br-zee peh-kar-skee boo-rek sah see-rom)
Jutarnja Kafa i Doručak: Morning Rituals & Breakfasts
In the Balkans, scoring a hot, greasy, perfectly blistered slice of burek wrapped in butcher paper from the local pekara is a morning religion. There is a blood-feud-level regional debate over the name—Bosnians fiercely insist true 'burek' means meat only, while everyone else happily orders 'burek sa sirom'. We aren't here to solve it, we're here to eat. This recipe bypasses the hours of hand-stretching dough on a kitchen table. By treating standard supermarket phyllo with an emulsion of oil and carbonated water, then unceremoniously crumpling it into a skillet, you replicate those exact, life-affirming bakery air pockets. It tastes exactly like the homeland.
Before you start
Thaw the phyllo dough safely.
Leave the frozen phyllo in its sealed package in the refrigerator overnight so the fragile sheets don't crack when unrolling.
Ingredients
- full-fat cottage cheese8 oz
- sheep's milk feta8 oz
- full-fat sour cream1/4 cup
- eggs2 large
- highly carbonated plain sparkling water1 cup
- neutral cooking oil1/2 cup
- kosher salt1/2 tsp
- neutral cooking oil1 tbsp
- phyllo dough16 oz
Method
- 01
Preheat the oven to 400°F and mix the cheese filling.
In a medium bowl, vigorously mash the cottage cheese, crumbled feta, sour cream, and eggs with a fork into a cohesive, chunky paste.
- 02
Whisk the hydration emulsion.
In a measuring cup, whisk the sparkling water, half cup of oil, and salt. Oil and water naturally separate, so give this a quick, violent whisk immediately before every single application.
- 03
Build the foundation.
Generously grease a 10-inch round cast-iron skillet or heavy cake pan with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Lay two flat sheets of phyllo into the bottom, letting the excess drape over the edges of the pan, and drizzle about 3 tablespoons of the emulsion over these base sheets.
- 04
Employ the crumpling technique.
Take a fresh sheet of phyllo, crumple it loosely like a piece of discarded tissue paper, and drop it into the pan. Repeat with two more sheets until the bottom is covered, then generously drench this crumpled layer with the emulsion.
- 05
Layer the cheese and repeat.
Drop dispersed spoonfuls of one-third of the cheese over the crumpled dough. Add another layer of three crumpled phyllo sheets, whisk and drizzle the emulsion, and add another third of the cheese. Repeat until the cheese is exhausted, making sure to reserve a quarter cup of the liquid emulsion for the very end.
- 06
Seal the pastry.
Fold the overhanging foundation edges inward over the messy crumpled layers. Lay your final two flat sheets of phyllo smoothly across the top, tucking the edges down the sides of the skillet like making a hotel bed.
- 07
Drench the crust and bake.
Pour the remaining emulsion evenly over the top. It will look like a flooded mistake, but don't panic, the dough will absorb it in the heat. Poke five or six deep holes through the top with a knife so the pastry doesn't inflate like a balloon, then bake for 35 to 40 minutes until shatteringly crisp and deep golden brown.
- 08
Perform the bakery flip.
Remove from the oven, loosen the edges with a knife, and place a large cutting board over the skillet. Confidently flip the whole thing over to invert the burek. If you leave it in the pan, the bottom will steam into a tragic, soggy mess. Cut into quarters and serve hot with a glass of drinkable yogurt.
Notes
Do not fear the fragile dough.
If a sheet of phyllo rips while you are handling it, don't sweat it. The beauty of the crumpled architecture is that it completely hides all sins.
The technique is modular.
The exact same crumpling and hydration method works perfectly if you swap the cheese for a pound of ground beef heavily browned with minced onions and black pepper.
From Cook Balkan in America.