Banitsa is an oven-baked dish based on yoghurt, white feta cheese and eggs and pastries, popular in different countries/regions of the Balkans. There are variety of recipes that yield different texture and taste. Variation can be in the way of assembling the components (straight, rolled, twisted etc.); the components themselves (e.g. cheese + leek; cheese + spinach; or pumpkin/apple instead of cheese etc); the pastries (thicker/thinner) etc.
The variation described here is made with Bulgarian style of pastries. Depending on where you live, it might be easier to find Turkish style of pastries that are thinner and intended for baklava and not for banitsa, but you can still try with them.
To my experience from Turkish bakeries in Amsterdam, Turkish versions of banitsa use pastries that are thicker than Bulgarian pastries. This yields a harder-to-bite texture and less prominent taste of the filling.
Components
- Bulgarian style pastries 400-500 gr
(Turkish style pastries for baklava also possible, although they are thinner) - Yoghurt 400-500 gr
- Eggs 4-5
- White feta cheese 300-400 gr (Greek/Bulgarian style)
(with consistency to crumble, not to easily smear) - Olive or sunflower oil 1/2 – 3/4 teacup (for the filling)
- Butter (or olive/sunflower oil) — for oiling the tray and similar
Note: Butter contributes for nice aroma - Baking soda 1 tea spoon — also known as soda for bread, bicarbonate de soude (French), zuiveringszout (Dutch) etc.
Note: Not baking powder!
Filling
In a big bowl put the yoghurt, the eggs, the oil, the baking soda and mix them well
Crumble the cheese in the mix
Mix until you get more or less homogenous mix (although the cheese might still be in small crumbles)
Assembling
Use piece of butter to thin-oil the tray (or just smear some olive/sunflower oil with your fingers)
Place a layer of pastries:
Lay a layer of 1-2 Bulgarian pastry sheets — they are thin, and are usually “paired” in the package, although the pair is easy to separate (I usually do 2 sheets per layer anyway)
If you are using Turkish sheets for baklava, they are thinner, so go with such 3-4 sheets
Take a 1 soup-ladle quantity from the filling and disperse it on top of the sheets.
Then with fingers take 5-6 tiny-tiny bits of butter (or 5-6 drops of oil) and place them here and there on top.
Time for another layer of sheets, filling and butter/oil drops etc until you exhaust the components or run out of tray-height
The last thing on top should be pastry sheets (not the filling)
The top surface of the sheets smear tiny layer of oil.
Baking
Warm the oven up to 180 deg Celsius and place the banitsa in the middle of the oven
It should be ready in about 30-40 minutes:
In that time color will turn to golden-brownish;
It will also rise quite spectacularly, like 2 times higher than the tray
If you take it out too early, there is some risk that the inners are not properly baked yet.
But the color + the rise should be a good indicator that it’s OK
(If you feel unsure, at the end you can try to cut it open an make sure it’s baked)
When ready and you’ve taken the tray out:
Fill a teacup with water
With you hand take a bit of the water and sprinkle it on top of the banitsa.
As the banitsa is hot from the oven, the sprinkled water will sizzle.
After sprinkling a few times like this, cover the banitsa with a cloth (big bathroom towel is good)
Let the banitsa rest covered like this for a while.
The rise will get reduced, so the original height will be restored
In 30-60 minutes should be ready for eating
If you skip the water-sprinkling and cloth-covering, the top layer of the banitsa will be more dry and crunchy.
Serving
Can be served just by itself, but different people may find it even better with:
- powder sugar
- or bee honey
- or fruit jam
On the Balkans some people like to eat it with a drink of ayran — which is just “well-beaten” yoghurt diluted with water.
Йо-йо | Yo-yo 