BALKAN-STYLE FETA FILO PIE
This authentic Balkan Feta Filo Pie (Pulled Banitza or Banitsa) is a delicious borek pita made with thin handmade pastry and stuffed with scrumptious feta filling. Even though, you can use ready filo pastry sheets in this recipe, which is easier and saves a lot of time, making the filo pastry from scratch at home will make the dish special, fresh and delicate. Nothing tastes like freshly cooked homemade banitsa, wonderfully crispy on the outside and moist on the inside!
HISTORY OF THE BALKAN FETA FILO PIE.
This recipe comes from classic Bulgarian cuisine where the dish is called banitsa or pulled banitsa.
Similar filo pastry pies exist in all neighbouring Bulgaria countries, although with variations of the recipe. This feta filo pie is historically linked to the Turkish börek.
Recent ethnographic research indicates that the nomadic Turks of Central Asia have been making boreks as early as the 7th century. The borek as we know it in the Balkans today was introduced to the region in Medieval times.
Some Balkan countries, like Albania, adopted the Turkish name börek while in other countries, the common name for filo pie is pita. Pita translates as a round pastry dish, referring to the shape of the filo pie which is traditionally round. That is the used name in Greece, Serbia and most of the former Yugoslavian countries.
In Bulgaria and Romania, pita has a different meaning. It refers to a traditional large round bread.
VARIATIONS OF THE BALKAN FILO PIE RECIPES
In the Balkans, you will be spoiled with a choice of filo pie and borek recipes. These recipes can be divided into two main categories – sweet and savoury.
Traditional savoury recipes come with many different fillings – spinach, leek, nettle, zucchini (courgettes), eggplant (aubergines), potatoes, mushrooms or garden peas. Meat filo pies are typically made with ground lamb.
Sweet versions include pumpkin, dry fruit and walnuts, sweetened milk, and apple or sour cherry fillings.
Filo pastry pies can be baked in a wood-fired pizza oven or in a normal oven. Some are even fried, although they do not normally have a round shape. View my recipe for Fried Spinach and Feta Borek.
Nowadays, for ease, the locals bake their pies in the oven. Yet, the taste of a pie baked in a wood-fired pizza oven is so much more special.
HOW TO MAKE BALKAN-STYLE FETA FILO PIE?
📋 INGREDIENTS IN MY FETA FILO PIE (BANITSA)
For clarity, I have divided the ingredients into two groups:
For the homemade filo pastry:
Flour: For this recipe, you use plain flour.
Water: The water must be lukewarm to help the dough rise.
Fat: For the dough to be lighter, use cooking or olive oil.
Vinegar: I use apple cider vinegar, but any kind of vinegar can be used in this recipe, except balsamic. The purpose of the vinegar is to stop gluten from forming when the flour and water are combined, making the dough airy and helping it rise.
Sparkling water: The bubbles in the sparkling water create pockets of air in the dough. These air pockets expand under high temperatures when you are baking the pie and make the texture of the pastry lighter.
For the filling
Feta cheese: Using harder feta cheese will improve the texture of the filling. Soft cheese will melt and make the filling too oily.
Egg: For best results, use free-range or organic eggs.
Butter or oil: Butter will make the filling rich and delicious, but you can substitute it with olive oil if you want a healthier option. Use unsalted butter in this recipe.
📖 STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
Even though making the filo pastry may seem to be quite difficult to many, it is worth trying. Pie with freshly made homemade pastry tastes so much better and melts in the mouth.
If you are interested to see how professionals make homemade Turkish filo pastry, watch the YouTube video here. The difference between my recipe for filo pastry and the Turkish one is that the Turkish recipe uses eggs and my recipe does not. Regardless, the method of kneading and rolling the dough is pretty much the same.
Step 1: Make the dough for the filo pastry
The dough for this feta pie consists of only 5 ingredients – plain flour, water, salt, oil and vinegar.
You can make the dough for the filo pastry in a stand mixer or by hand.
To make the dough by hand
Sieve the flour directly onto your working surface into a heaped pile. Make a well in the middle of the flour.
Carefully pour water into the flour well, then add the salt, oil and vinegar to the well. Whisk the liquids lightly in the middle of the flour to combine them and start adding small amounts of flour to the liquid. Then, start kneading the dough with your hands until a soft elastic dough forms and is no longer sticky to the touch.
Shape the dough into a large ball. Place it in a large mixing bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
To make the dough in a stand mixer
Place half of the sieved flour and salt in the mixer bowl, then add half of the water, olive oil and vinegar.
Using the kneading attachment on your stand mixer, start kneading the dough on a low setting. Gradually, add the rest of the water and more flour to make an elastic soft dough. That will take roughly 15-20 minutes.
Finish kneading the dough by hand to make sure your dough is no longer sticky. Shape the dough into a large ball place it in a bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
Step 2: Roll the dough into pastry sheets
When the dough doubles in size, flatten it with your fist and cut it into 6 equal pieces, then shape each piece of dough into smaller balls.
Place the dough balls on a tray and cover them with a kitchen wrap or a warm tea towel and let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes.
Start rolling the first dough ball with a long thin rolling pin. Keep the rest of the dough balls covered with a tea towel to prevent a dry crust from forming on the dough.
Roll and pull the dough by hand into a large, round and very thin sheet of pastry, roughly with the same dimensions as the pan you will be using for baking.
Step 3: Assemble the feta filo pie
Prepare a 32 cm round baking pan. Brush the bottom and the walls of the tray with melted butter.
First, whisk the eggs in a large bowl until bubbles appear on the surface. Break the feta with a fork into crumbs. Add the oil and the crumbled feta to the beaten egg and stir to combine. You do not need to add salt to the filling because the feta cheese is salty. Then, drizzle the feta and egg mixture lightly all over the filo pastry.
Fold the thin pastry sheet with the filling inside into a long roll, like you are doing with a thin pancake. Arrange the long pastry roll along the edge of a round baking pan. Repeat the same with the rest of the pastry sheets and filling, and assemble the pie from the outside to the centre of the baking pan.
When you assemble the pie, drizzle sparkling water over it and brush it with oil on top.
Step 4: Bake the feta filo pie
Cover the pie with kitchen foil and bake it for 40 minutes in the middle of a preheated oven on moderate heat (170°C /338°). For crispy pie, remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking.
Take the cooked feta filo pie out of the oven, drizzle lightly water and cover it with a clean tea towel. Let the feta pie rest for 15 minutes.
🍲 SERVE THIS DELICIOUS FETA FILO PIE
In Bulgaria and neighbouring countries, feta pies are consumed for breakfast or as a snack. It tastes the best hot, straight out of the oven.
Enjoy this delicious pastry dish with a glass of Balkan yoghurt drink Ayran. Another local drink that compliments the savoury feta pie wonderfully is bozza. Made of fermented wheat, bozza has a thick texture similar to a milkshake and an unusual, crisp, sweet and sour taste. You can buy it sometimes in international supermarkets. I love savoury feta pie paired with sweet and sour bozza!
Bon Appétit! 👨🍳👨🍳👨🍳
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featured AUTHENTIC borek RECIPES FROM THE BALKAN CUISINES
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Balkan-Style Feta Filo Pie
Equipment
- 32 cm round baking tray
Ingredients
For the homemade filo pastry
- 700 g plain flour + 100g for kneading
- 380 ml lukewarm water
- 20 ml cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup sparkling water
For the filling
- 500 g feta cheese
- 3 eggs
- 150 ml melted butter
Instructions
To make the dough in a dough mixer
- Sieve the flour straight into your dough mixer bowl. Add half of the water with the salt, oil and vinegar to the flour and start kneading with the mixer on a low speed. Add extra flour and water gradually while kneading with the mixer until you have a soft elastic dough. This will take roughly 15-20 minutes.
- Finish kneading by hand to make sure your dough is no longer sticky. Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
To make the dough by hand
- Sieve the flour into a heaping pile onto your working surface and make a well in the middle of the flour. Pour half of the water with the oil, vinegar and add the salt in the well of flour. Whisk the liquids lightly with a fork to combine them. Start mixing small amounts of flour into the liquid until a dough is formed. Begin kneading the dough by hand. Gradually, add the rest of the water and extra flour into the dough and continue kneading the dough by hand until you have an elastic soft dough that is no longer sticking to your fingers. Shape the dough into a ball. Place the ball of dough inside a bowl, cover the bowl with a kitchen wrap and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
- Flatten the rested dough with your fist, then divide it into 6 equal pieces. Shape a ball with each piece of dough. Place the dough balls on a tray and cover with a plastic wrap. Leave the dough balls to rest for 20 minutes.
To make the filling
- On a plate, crumble the feta cheese with a fork. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until foam forms on the surface. Add the oil and the crumbled feta to the bowl. Stir all ingredients well.
To assemble the feta pie
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/330°F degrees. Brush a 32 cm round baking tray with melted butter.
- Roll the first ball of dough into a round thin pastry sheet. Start pulling the ends of the pastry sheet with your fingers in all directions until you have a very thin, almost see-through, round sheet of pastry. The pastry sheet should be roughly the same size as your bakin tin.
- Drizzle the feta filling lightly onto the ready pastry sheet. Fold the closest end of the pastry sheet with the feta filling inside approximately 1 cm. Start rolling the pastry sheet like a pancake, with the feta filling on the inside. Place the roll along the inside wall of the baking tray.
- Repeat the same steps with the rest of the balls of dough. Assemble the pie from the outside to the centre of the baking tin.
- Sprinkle soda water over the feta pie and brush the the top of the pie with a little bit of oil. Place the pie in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- Check the feta pie after the first 10 minutes of baking. If it is getting worryingly brown on the top, cover the tray with kitchen foil. Place the foil with the shiny side down, to reflect the heat toward the pie.
- When the feta pie is ready, take it out of the oven. Cover it with a tea towel and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. If you want your pie softer and not that crispy, drizzle a little bit of water over it as soon as it is out of the oven and cover with a tea towel.
