Turkish Börek - 🇹🇷 Cheese Spinach Pastry
This Turkish Börek is a tasty white cheese & spinach layered pastry dish, very common in the villages in Turkey & how my husband enjoyed it. Let me show you how
Equipment
- Digital scales or measuring cups
- Stand Mixer with dough hook
- Baking/parchment paper
- Clean Tea-towel
- Large bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Flour (for rolling)
- Rectangular Baking Tray/Tin (9x13", 22.75 x 33cm, for round see notes)
- Brush
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
For The Pastry Dough (Yufka):
- 250 grams Flour (Plain, All Purpose flour, 8¾ oz, 2 cups)
- Rounded ½ tsp Salt (table salt, 3½ grams)
- 1 tbsp Oil (Extra Virgin Olive Oil, etc)
- 165 ml Warm Water (up to 5½ fl oz,up to ⅔ cup)
For Filling & Topping:
- 300-400 grams Turkish Soft Cheese (10½ - 14 oz, see notes)
- 120 grams Spinach (4¼ oz, washed)
- 2 Eggs (Medium to large)
- 1 tbsp Milk (15ml, for alternative see notes)
- 2 tbsp Oil (30ml)
- Sesame Seeds & Nigela Seeds
* see notes
Instructions
Prepare Pastry Dough
- Mix 250 grams Flour, a Rounded ½ tsp Salt & 1 tbsp Oil in a stand-mixer. Gradually add in upto 165 ml Warm Water, mixing till incorporated. Then beat on low-medium speed for 4 minutes till the dough becomes smooth & is cleaning the bowl.
- Remove the dough onto a floured paper and divide into 9 equal pieces (for the rectangular Börek, each piece of dough is 45g (1.5 oz), for round, 35g (1.25 oz) - please read more in notes & before this Recipe Card).
- Roll each piece into a tight little ball and place on a floured tray, dust them with flour & cover with a damp tea-towel, leaving to rest for 2 hours.
Prepare The Filling
- While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. For the white cheese & spinach, roughly chop the clean 120 grams Spinach. Break up the 300-400 grams Turkish Soft Cheese in a large bowl with a fork & add in the spinach, mixing together by hand. (See notes for details on other cheeses). Cover and place in the fridge till ready to use.
- For the mature/sharp cheddar version, grate/shred the cheese, mix in 2 eggs, cover & refrigerate. (See ingredient amounts in the notes)
Constructing The Börek
- Crack 2 Eggs into a small jug & add in 1 tbsp Milk & 2 tbsp Oil, before whisking together.
- Grease the bottom and sizes of your baking dish before paper-lining the bottom (cut to fit or slightly smaller for easy removal & to prevent it baking into the pastry). Then brush some of the egg mixture on top of the paper.
- On a large piece of floured baking/parchment paper, start with the ball of dough & form into a rough square shape. Then roll out till a thin rectangular sheet to fit the tin. (9×13″, 22.75 x 33cm). **Lift & turn over & rotate the dough, dusting the paper with flour regularly. The dough should not be sticky. Lift & shake off excess flour before carefully placing in the baking tin. Brush the egg mixture on top of the pastry sheet. Roll out 2 more sheets of dough, positioning onto top of the first layer, with egg mixture in-between each.
- Preheat the oven to: 200oc/180oc Fan Oven/ 400 of/Gas Mark 6
- After you have 3 layers in the baking dish, spread half of the filling over the pastry. Roll out 3 more sheets, stacking with egg mixture in between like before. Add the remaining filling, then top with 3 more layers of pastry sheets. Generously top with egg mixture before adding Sesame Seeds & Nigela Seeds (optional).
Bake The Pastry
- Bake the prepared cheese Börek in the centre of the oven for 40-55 minutes, till risen a little, a deep golden colour & the pastry may be coming away from the sides. Turn the dish after 25 minutes for an even colouring if needed.
- Leave to cool on a rack for 20 minutes or ready to eat.
Serving & Storing Börek
- Use 2 chopping boards to turn out the pastry & flip back over (using paper really helps with this). Then cut into 15 squares (we 3 strips, each having 5 pieces).
- Serve warm or room temperature as breakfast, lunch or as a light dinner with soup. Traditionally served with olives, fresh tomato & cucumber slices, & Turkish tea or Ayran.
- Store left-over Börek in food bags at cool temperature. You can chill but there will be condensation and last a few days. Börek can be frozen if wrapped in paper, then cling film/plastic wrap or foil and placed in a labelled food bag or air-tight container. Defrost at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Ensure thoroughly defrosted and reheat till hot all the way through before serving.
Notes
Water - approximate amounts given to be added until a manageable dough is formed. So you might need a little less.
Oil - I tend to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but any olive oil or neutral oil will be fine. Just do not omit it.
Cheese - Turkish soft white cheese is used. You can read more about where to buy and what brands are available, in the ingredient notes before this Recipe Card. Feta cheese can be used but is harder consistency, so adding an egg or 2 to make similar to in my video, would be recommended. An untraditional, but tasty alternative is using mature/sharp cheddar. This was used in the round version in the photos. For that, egg was also added to the cheese. (Details below).
Seeds - sesame and Nigella seeds are used (Turkish name is Çörek Otu). But you can omit.
Ready Made Pastry - instead of making homemade yufka (pastry sheets), you can buy Turkish Yufka sheets. Alternatively use filo/phyllo sheets. They are thinner however, so would recommend using 4 sheets in place of the 3 homemade, taking it to 12 sheets per tray or Borek.
Equipment - for the main recipe I used a 9×13″ ( 22.75 x 33cm) oven dish. As well as a slightly smaller version in a 24cm/9.5” round cake pan. For the ingredient amounts for the round version, see below.
Recipe Yield - the rectangular 9x13" dish yields 15 square pieces and the smaller round one about 10 pieces.
Timings - the timings listed above, are based on preparing the filling and baking tray, while the pastry is resting. And as such the 'inactive time' is resting time less time to prepare the filling.
VARIATIONS For 9" ( 22.75cm) Round Version: 190g (1.5 cup, 6.75 oz flour), scant 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp oil, up to 125ml (0.5 cup, 4.5 fl oz) warm water. Cheddar cheese filling - 225g (8 oz) grated/shredded cheese & 2 eggs. White cheese version - 225-300g (8-10.5 oz) white cheese & 90g (3 oz) spinach. Egg mixture - 2 eggs, 1 tsp milk, 1 tsp oil). Baking time about the same. For one very large, (about 10") spiral Börek, see the image and instructions before thos recipe card. 🇹🇷 Check out some more of my Turkish recipes. Like Lahmacun (below).
More spinach recipes, like my yeast-free spinach & cheese flatbread recipe.
Nutritional Information - I am not a qualified nutritionist & all values are approximate. They are based on using ingredients listed (for the white cheese spinach version), making in the 9x13" rectangular dish, with a yield of 15 slices. 1 serving is 1 slice form a yield of 15. Make more or less pieces, and these values will change. Values calculated via MyFitnessPal.com.
Seeds - sesame and Nigella seeds are used (Turkish name is Çörek Otu). But you can omit.
Ready Made Pastry - instead of making homemade yufka (pastry sheets), you can buy Turkish Yufka sheets. Alternatively use filo/phyllo sheets. They are thinner however, so would recommend using 4 sheets in place of the 3 homemade, taking it to 12 sheets per tray or Borek.
Equipment - for the main recipe I used a 9×13″ ( 22.75 x 33cm) oven dish. As well as a slightly smaller version in a 24cm/9.5” round cake pan. For the ingredient amounts for the round version, see below.
Recipe Yield - the rectangular 9x13" dish yields 15 square pieces and the smaller round one about 10 pieces.
Timings - the timings listed above, are based on preparing the filling and baking tray, while the pastry is resting. And as such the 'inactive time' is resting time less time to prepare the filling.
VARIATIONS For 9" ( 22.75cm) Round Version: 190g (1.5 cup, 6.75 oz flour), scant 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp oil, up to 125ml (0.5 cup, 4.5 fl oz) warm water. Cheddar cheese filling - 225g (8 oz) grated/shredded cheese & 2 eggs. White cheese version - 225-300g (8-10.5 oz) white cheese & 90g (3 oz) spinach. Egg mixture - 2 eggs, 1 tsp milk, 1 tsp oil). Baking time about the same. For one very large, (about 10") spiral Börek, see the image and instructions before thos recipe card. 🇹🇷 Check out some more of my Turkish recipes. Like Lahmacun (below).
More spinach recipes, like my yeast-free spinach & cheese flatbread recipe.
Nutritional Information - I am not a qualified nutritionist & all values are approximate. They are based on using ingredients listed (for the white cheese spinach version), making in the 9x13" rectangular dish, with a yield of 15 slices. 1 serving is 1 slice form a yield of 15. Make more or less pieces, and these values will change. Values calculated via MyFitnessPal.com.
Nutrition Facts
Turkish Börek - 🇹🇷 Cheese Spinach Pastry
Serving Size
1 slice
Amount per Serving
Calories
152
% Daily Value*
Fat
8
g
12
%
Saturated Fat
4
g
25
%
Monounsaturated Fat
2
g
Cholesterol
22
mg
7
%
Sodium
93
mg
4
%
Potassium
72
mg
2
%
Carbohydrates
12
g
4
%
Fiber
1
g
4
%
Protein
6
g
12
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.