Börek with Spinach and Cheese
Layered Turkish pastry filled with spinach and white cheese, baked until the top shatters and the middle stays soft.
Method
- Cook the onion in the olive oil over medium heat for 6 minutes until soft. Add the spinach in handfuls and cook until wilted and any liquid has evaporated.
- Tip the spinach into a sieve and press it firmly with the back of a spoon to remove every bit of moisture. Wet filling makes soggy börek; this step is worth the extra minute.
- Mix the drained spinach with the crumbled cheese and plenty of black pepper. Taste before adding salt, as the cheese is already salty.
- Whisk the eggs, milk, yoghurt and sunflower oil together to make the wash that keeps the layers tender.
- Brush a 30cm baking tray with some of the wash. Lay in a sheet of yufka, letting the edges overhang, and brush generously.
- Repeat with three more sheets, brushing each one, then spread over all of the filling in an even layer.
- Cover with the remaining sheets, brushing between each, then fold the overhanging edges inwards and brush the top. Pour any remaining wash evenly over the tray.
- Score the top into squares or diamonds with a sharp knife, cutting through the upper layers only, then brush with melted butter and scatter over the seeds.
- Bake at 180°C for 40 to 45 minutes until deep golden and crisp on top. Rest for 15 minutes before cutting along the scored lines.
How to make Börek with Spinach and Cheese
Börek covers a whole family of Turkish pastries, from cigar-shaped sigara böreği to the coiled kol böreği. This tray version, layered like a lasagne and soaked with an egg and milk wash, is what most Turkish households make at home.
Squeeze the spinach dry
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Spinach holds an astonishing amount of water. Press it hard in a sieve, or wring it in a clean cloth, until no more liquid comes out. Anything left behind steams the pastry from the inside.
The wash makes the texture
The egg, milk, yoghurt and oil mixture brushed between every layer is what gives börek its particular character: crisp on top and bottom, soft and almost custardy in the middle. Dry layers bake into brittle sheets.
Score before baking
Cutting the portions before baking keeps the top from shattering when you slice it afterwards, and lets the heat reach the middle layers. Cut only through the top sheets.
Serving and storage
Börek is served warm or at room temperature, with tea at breakfast or as a light supper with salad. It reheats well in a hot oven for ten minutes; a microwave will soften the crust.
Traditional Turkish cookery; börek takes many regional forms, of which the layered tray version is the most common at home. Editorially researched from widely documented preparations, and not kitchen-tested by Axadle.
Contains gluten from the yufka pastry, dairy from cheese, milk and butter, and egg.
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