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Authentic Bulgarian Banitsa Recipe
This traditional Bulgarian banitsa is made with phyllo dough and feta cheese and is great for feeding a large family crowd. I recommend serving it for breakfast or during the holidays with some good luck charms.
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Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 packet of Phyllo dough 16 sheets, or around 1 pound / 500 g
- 14 oz Feta cheese 400 g
- 4 oz unsalted butter 113 g
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 cup yogurt
- 3 eggs
- salt by taste
- 1 tbsp savory
- 1 tsp cumin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Cut the butter into chunks and transfer it into a small saucepan. Pour the canola oil into the pan and melt the butter over medium heat.
- Crumble the cheese using your hands or a fork. Cutting the cheese into tiny blocks beforehand will make this process easier.
- Whisk the eggs, yogurt, salt, and cumin in a glass bowl.
- Mix the egg mixture and crumbled cheese until they're evenly combined.
- Grease a round baking pan with some of the melted butter.
- Place one of the phyllo sheets on your work surface and lightly brush it with some of the butter. Make sure you spread the butter over the entire sheet.
- Place another sheet on top, brush it with butter, and spread a handful of the egg and cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle some of the savory on top.
- Roll both sheets into a log, then roll the log into a spiral and place it in the middle of the baking pan.
- Repeat the same process with the rest of the sheets and roll each log in a circular fashion around the center.
- Brush the top of the banitsa with the melted butter until it's completely covered.
- Place the pan in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. After you take the banitsa out of the oven, sprinkle its top with some water and cover it with a towel for 15 minutes. This will keep the banitsa moist and prevent it from drying out.
- Serve while still warm.
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Notes
- The pan I used was 11 inches and it perfectly fit the ingredient quantities listed.
- If you don't have a round baking pan, you can use a standard rectangular baking sheet and place the rolls next to each other.
- Make sure that the yogurt and eggs are both at room temperature. If they're cold, they won't mix evenly.
- Don't roll the pastry sheets too tightly as they can tear off pretty easily and leak some of the mixture.
- Banitsa is traditionally served with a cup of yogurt mixed in a 1:1 ratio with water and salt. The drink is known as Ayran and originates from Turkish cuisine.
- This recipe is best made with Bulgarian yogurt as it is slightly more acidic. However, Greek yogurt will also do if you can't find Bulgarian.
- It'd be great if you manage to use Bulgarian feta cheese but any feta cheese will work. If you like the end result I recommend trying your next banitsa with goat feta cheese!
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Nutrition
Calories: 465kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 140mg | Sodium: 776mg | Potassium: 138mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 699IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 306mg | Iron: 2mg
I do my best to provide you with the nutritional information for recipes but I'm not a certified nutritionist. The nutritional information provided should only be treated as an estimate since it will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
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