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Turkish Borek From Scratch

So excited to share this crunchy layered, buttery, feta cheese-filled borek recipe from scratch! Don’t worry there is an easy way to make all these thin phyllo dough layers together. This borek recipe is called “baklava borek” because of the look, taste, and similar method of making it. We will use starch to make the layers and in a short time, it will be ready to put in the oven.
Prep Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Course Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Turkish
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

For the dough

  • 1/2 cup lukewarm water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (olive or sunflower or any kind)
  • 1 large egg
  • cup all-purpose flour first put 3+1/2 cup and use more to make a soft unsticky playable dough
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 200gr. wheat or corn starch or more

For pouring over the borek dough: 150gr. butter or mix of 1/3 of it with vegetable or olive oil

    For the feta cheese filling:

    • 250gr. Turkish white cheese or mixed with some mozzarella or kashar or any kind of melting cheese
    • 1/3 bunch parsley finely chopped

    Instructions
     

    Instructions:

    • In a mixing bowl add egg, lukewarm water, milk, and vegetable oil, about 4 cups flour, salt, baking powder and begin to mix. Continue to knead to form a soft playable, unsticky dough adding more flour if needed.
    • Take out the dough into a starch sprinkled board and cut it in half. Cut each half into 5 pieces and shape them into a ball. After this point use only starch to shape.
    • Roll out each piece with a rolling pin in a salad plate sifting plentiful of starch over each layer. You will end up with two batches with 5 layers. Make sure you add enough starch between the layers because it will create a thin layer later.
    • Beginning from the first batch roll out the 5 layers together with a rolling pin again as much as you can. It should be bigger than the pan you are going to use. Your pan can be round or rectangular, it doesn’t matter. You can cut the dough to fit inside the pan and use the sides to fill the borek. (See the video for more details.)
    • After you cut a shape place it in a pan and place the sides over it separating some of the layers if possible and add the cheese filling over the dough. I used feta cheese and chopped parsley mixture. But you can also use a mix of different cheeses or make a spinach filling or minced meat filling with onions and simple seasonings.
    • You can roll out the second batch and repeat the steps but this time keeping the fitting shape for the top layer. Cut the borek in squares. Melt the butter and olive oil and pour over the borek.
    • Bake the borek in a preheated 180C degree oven for about 40 minutes until golden color on top and bottom. Serve warm after 101-5 minutes out from the oven. Keep the leftover borek in an airtight container and reheat both sides in a pan, lid closed to regain its crunchiness again, and enjoy with a Turkish tea:)

    Video

    Notes

    Filling Options For Borek Recipe:
    You can make any filling with the borek such as cooked onion and ground beef filling seasoned with salt and black pepper. Or again stir-fried onion and mashed potatoes seasoned with red pepper flake and salt (i might do another video for the fillings) or even spinach filling would be lovely and traditional also to go with this borek recipe…
    Keyword borek, börek recipe, cheese borek, hand made borek, hand made phyllo dough, turkish borek