Savory Cottage Cheese Pie Recipe With Phyllo Dough (Burek)

Made with thin layers of phyllo dough with a variety of contents, including cheese, spinach, meat, or potatoes, burek is a tasty savory pastry. Pies, triangles, spirals, and rolls may all be formed out of it. This recipe makes a light yet full cheese burek that’s great for breakfast, lunch, or even just a satisfying snack!

It is thought that burek, also known as borek or börek, originated in Central Asia and eventually traveled across the Ottoman Empire. These days, it’s popular throughout Turkey, much of the former Yugoslavian Balkan Peninsula, and several regions of North Africa and Asia.

To be honest, it’s one of the best and most savory cheese pies I have ever tried! Even with minimal ingredients, this specialty delivers the amazing filling flavor that you just can’t stay away from! And the best part, it’s not a complicated process like it seems to be!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe?

• Super Savory and Delicious – This Burek recipe is nothing like the original cheesy pie and the handmade regular flour, buckwheat, whole wheat, or spelt flour phyllo dough plays a huge role! Tasty Cottage or Feta cheese makes the perfect combination with neutral-tasting oil and handmade phyllo dough! Don’t underestimate the minimal filling ingredients in the recipe, you’ll be shocked at how it truly doesn’t need anything else!

• Minimal ingredients – As I already said, don’t be discouraged with the minimal filling ingredients, they’re perfect just like that! You also have the other options of the Burek where you can stuff more veggies together and make the real vegetarian version! The choice is yours!

• Easy process – If you can find the homemade phyllo dough in the farmer’s market (yeah, some people make it using a special machine and sell it), you’re lucky then, and the process is pretty simple! You’ll just need to crumple up the phyllo sheets and stuff them with cheese! However, if you decide to make your own the process may be a bit challenging but nothing unattainable!

Ingredients You Need

Phyllo dough – You can use both store-bought and handmade bought on the farmer’s market, or even make your own (a little bit more complicated but nothing unattainable). Also, you can use the regular flour ones, whole wheat, spelt or even buckwheat phyllo dough.

Cottage Cheese – You can use Cottage cheese, Feta or even try with cream cheese (I haven’t experimented with it, but you can try). Before making the cheese mixture, make sure to check the saltiness of the cheese. If it’s not salty enough, just sprinkle it when making the mixture.

Water, and Baking Powder – We will use them both in combination, dissolving one in another.

Oil – You’ll need some high-quality neutral-tasting oil with high smoke point (I used sunflower oil)

Sour cream – A small amount of sour cream will be used to make the cheese mixture more liquid and add in the richness and flavor.

Burek Filling Ideas

Burek doesn’t always need to be with cheese like in this version. In different countries people prefer different types of Burek, and here are some of the most popular ones for those who are not cheese fans!

Meat Burek: It is prepared by stuffing the dough with ground meat (lamb, hog, or cow), chopped garlic, sliced onion, and seasonings. The filling is then sandwiched in between the dough sheets to form a filling and savory pastry.

Burek made with vegetables: Diced potatoes, zucchini, spinach, onion, minced garlic, salt, and pepper are mixed with the dough to make vegetable burek. The veggie filling is then sandwiched between the dough sheets to produce a tasty and nutritious pastry.

Cherry and Apple Burek: An alternative to the classic savory burek, cherry or apple bureks are sweet and delicious versions! More like a dessert! Cherry and Apple Bureks are filled with cherries and chopped apples, sugar, cinnamon, and other spices rather than cheese or meat. This delicious and filling pastry is ideal for breakfast or as a dessert since the apples are stacked between the dough sheets.

How To Make

The whole process of making this Cheese Pie Burek recipe with the handmade phyllo dough is not at all complicated, and even a super fun experience! All you need is to slightly crumple up the phyllo dough and fill it with cheese and sour cream mixture, baking powder, and drizzle with some oil! Here is the step-by-step process!

Step 1: The first step is to thaw your phyllo dough if they’re frozen then prepare all the ingredients. Mix cheese with sour cream in one medium bowl, and dissolve baking powder in a 1/2 cup of water. Take 2 phyllo dough sheets and place one on one half of the baking pan, and the second one on the other half, and drizzle some oil on the placed sheets, like in the image below. (The sides of the sheets out of the pan will be used in the end to cover the pie on top, so don’t cut it!).

Step 2: Take the third sheet and crumple it up on one side of the pan, and the fourth sheet on the other side of the pan. Now it’s the time for the filling! With a spoon, arrange the cheese mixture through the sheets, drizzle with some oil (approximately 1 tbsp), and the dissolved baking powder. Take another 2 sheets and repeat the process until you run out of all the phyllo dough sheets (save 1 for covering the top).

Important Note: Make sure to spread the cheese mixture through the whole pan, but don’t overdo it or put too little of it. Aim for the golden mean.

Step 3: Take the sides of the first 2 sheets you put in the pan (the ones that were out of the pan) and cover the pie with it (just place them on the pie). Take the last phyllo dough sheet you saved, and place it on top of the pie. With a teaspoon, pull the edges of the dough into the pan, like in the image below.

Tips, Ideas, And Substitutions

• Although you can create your own burek dough, it’s quicker and easier to prepare burek with store-bought phyllo dough or even better homemade ones from at the farmer’s market.

• If you purchased frozen phyllo, make sure the sheets are completely thawed before using them.

• To guarantee a crispy and flaky texture while working with the phyllo sheets, brush each layer with the yogurt wash. You may roll the phyllo and filling instead of putting it onto a baking dish.

• Numerous filling possibilities are available. Even though cheese and meat-filled Burek made the traditional versions, you can play around and experiment with different fillings. One of the most known ones is with spinach, cabbage, apples, and even cherries!