Bulgarian Banitsa - Cheese and Yoghurt Savoury Pie
Traditional Bulgarian pastry made with layers of filo dough and a creamy mixture of cheese, yoghurt, eggs, and semolina
Ingredients
- 6 sheets of ready-made filo pastry
- sunflower oil
FILLING
- 150 g semi-hard cheese see recipe post
- 200 g feta cheese
- 250 ml plain yoghurt
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 3 tbsp semolina
- 2 eggs
- 50 ml milk
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
EXTRA
- 1/2 cup sparkling water
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Mix together yoghurt, sour cream, milk, eggs, and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.
- Grate semi-hard cheese and crumble the feta, adding both to the mixture along with melted butter and semolina. Stir well.
- Grease the baking dish and place one sheet of filo pastry. Drizzle with oil and add another sheet on top. Fold any excess filo into the centre if needed.Spread a thin layer of the cheese mixture, then cover with pastry. Repeat the layering (cheese, pastry) twice more, ending with a final sheet of pastry. You will have 3 layers of cheese mixture in total.
- Beat an egg with sparkling water and carefully slice the banitsa into squares.
- Pour the egg mixture over the top, add extra grated cheese, and bake at 180°C for 35-40 minutes. If the top browns too quickly, loosely cover it with aluminium foil.
- Once baked, drizzle with cold water, cover with foil and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes. After resting, slice into squares and enjoy!
Notes
The total calories for this dish are approximately 2850 kcal, depending on the specific products used. This dish serves 6, which means each serving contains about 475 calories.