Today is the day when I give you my personal Banitsa recipe. Bulgarian Cheese Classic, eaten in any occasions. Regularly on breakfasts or more festive during the holidays.
When visiting Bulgaria, you can see those small Banitsa stands in every town or village. Of course, it cannot beat the homemade taste of it. I use butter for smoother and lighter texture. The secret is the filo pastry. I wish I could do it myself, and I will some day. The most important rule is not to cheat on good products.
This is a perfect fix for any fast week dinner, breakfast or snack. Even for kids. Feta is recommended for kids 3 plus.
You can serve this cheese classic warm or cold with yoghurt. Most of the people eat it with Boza or Ayran. Some people even dust it with some icing sugar. Try for yourself and enjoy.
Total Time: 50 minutes
Shopping List
2 whole eggs
A pinch of sea salt
150g of plain yoghurt
150ml of milk
½ teaspoon of soda bicarbonate
5 tablespoons of plain flour
10 sheets of good quality filo pastry
150g of Feta Cheese
60g of butter, melted
Instructions
Place the eggs and salt into a medium mixing bowl and whisk.
Pour in the yoghurt, milk, soda and flour. Continue whisking until you get a smooth texture. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Presentation
Place 1 sheet of filo pastry on a clean table and brush it with a bit of melted butter. Then, the second sheet on top and brush with melted butter once again.
Layer with 2-3 tablespoons of milk mixture and brush it into the butter. Sprinkle with 1-2 handfuls of Feta Cheese and start rolling the pastry. Do not put too much filling in it. The real Banitsa should be as thin as possible.
Continue with the rest of the filo pastry exactly the same way. In total, you should have 5 snakes of the pastry. You can spiral them into a tart form (I used 24cm springform). Make it tight, and cover with the rest of the milk mix. Smoothen with a brush and place in the oven.
Bake it for about 30 minutes until it is baked through and beautifully golden on top. Tear it apart the same way as you spiral it in. That’s how Bulgarians eat it. If you want to impress someone, you can, of course, slice Banitsa into squares.
Makes a round Banitsa cake of 24 cm.