Croatian Cooking: Croatian Burek Recipe

December 26, 2014 SJ Begonja 108 Comments

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Croatian Cooking: How to Make Burek Recipe
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- - Have you ever tried any another burek recipe? If you try this recipe, I’d love for you to share with us (inc. photos) in the comments below.
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Croatian Cooking: How to Make Burek Recipe

I have made burek loads of times along with many of these other Croatian recipes. Although, I have never made burek properly & never this well. I have always wondered how to make burek like a real Croatian. Burek is made here in Croatia and also in many of the ex-Yugoslavian countries plus a bunch of other parts of the world. I have heard it referred to as bourék, byurek, pita, bourekas and cheese pie, but Croatian Burek is WAY better than any pie I have ever had.

I take my hat off and bow my head to John from He Needs Food, who is sharing this recipe for burek with you and I. John’s is an ex-chef, who lives in my old hometown of Sydney, who has a website dedicated to cooking, including Croatian recipes and tales from his travels abroad. He also has the most mouth watering photos.

Burek for those of you who do not know, is filo (phyllo) pastry filled with either cheese, meat, potato, spinach, apple…. in fact almost anything. Burek is the food you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just as a snack. It’s not exactly very healthy, but on the upside if you eat a big slice of burek, it is sure to fill you.That way you can skip your next meal. I personally never skip meals as someone once told me that’s bad for you (that’s my story and I am sticking to it) so I always find room for the next meal. But that’s a good tip for those of you who can’t skip meals.

Please do not judge me, but I have always used the store bought filo pastry when I make burek. I know, I know, it’s terrible. While my cheese burek turns our great thanks to some great tips that Mr CtD’s Baba {Grandmother} shared with me, it’s not anything like the REAL thing I buy ~~every day~~ as a hangover cure here in Croatia.

The thought of making the filo pastry from scratch always seemed so impossible. Many Croats I know kept telling me just how teško {hard} it is to make – so, needless to say, I avoided even trying it. But then, I stumbled upon John and his easy peasy way to make the filo pastry. Okay, it’s not as easy as unwrapping the store bought pastry, but he makes it look and sound so much better than that. As with all of the Croatian recipes I share, there are a gazillion ways to make the same thing, but this one to me is a standout! I told John that I was scared to make the filo pastry he said that;

Stretching the pastry is not only fun, but far from scary. You just need to be gentle!

Now I just need Mr CtD to come home from work so we can try this out for ourselves, but because there are still two weeks till that happens, I could not wait to share this with you.

What You Need For The Burek Dough Recipe (makes 2)

500 g plain flour
One tsp salt
300 ml water (approx)
vegetable oil

What You Need For The Cheese Burek Recipe

200g cottage cheese
50g fetta cheese, crumbled
1 lightly beaten egg
vegetable oil

Prepare your filling by placing both cheeses into a mixing bowl and stir through the beaten egg.

Cheese Burek. Photo Credit He Needs Food

What You Need For The Meat Burek Recipe

1 tbsp oil
1 small onion (8o g) finely diced
250 g beef mince
1 small potato (80 g) diced to 5 mm pieces, blanched for 1 minute in boiling water, drained
1 clove garlic, finely grated
½ tsp rosemary, finely chopped
½ tbsp smoked paprika
½ tbsp Vegeta, or salt

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion until soft. Add the beef mince and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the potato, garlic, rosemary and paprika and keep mixing until the beef is cooked all the way through. Season with the Vegeta, or salt. Place the meat mixture into a fine sieve and set it over a large bowl or the sink, to allow any liquids to drain. Gently press it down with the back of a large spoon to speed up the draining. The mixture needs to be dry and completely cooled. Assemble and bake in the same way as the cheese burek.

Get Ready to Stretch – How to Make Burek Dough

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Place the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Gradually add the water a little at a time, mixing with your hand, until the dough comes together. You may not need all of the water.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until soft and elastic. Divide into four and flatten to about 2½ cm or an inch.
Take a bowl big enough to hold all four pieces of dough when you stack them on top of one another (I used a small saucepan).
Pour a little vegetable oil into the bowl, place one piece of pastry into it, pour a little more oil over it and repeat until all four are in the bowl. Pour enough vegetable oil over the top to virtually cover the stack of dough.
Set aside for half an hour while you make the cheese or meat filling. If you have found Croatian cooking a little tricky, use this time for a stiff drink.
To prep the work surface you need to spread a thin layer of vegetable oil all over it, so make sure you are using something like a stone bench top or laminate. Don’t go oiling up your wooden table!
Take one disc of pastry from the oil, scrape off the oil, then place it onto your oiled work bench. With oiled hands, flatten the disc from the inside to outside until it is about 5 mm thick.
Because the recipe is from our friend John, he asked us to link to his blog post to get the rest of the steps to make burek so go on over here to get the last steps.

John has many other tasty Croatian inspired dishes on his site He Needs Food, plus you can follow him on Instagram, just don’t blame me if you get hungry from staring at his photos

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Have you ever tried any another burek recipe? If you try this recipe, I’d love for you to share with us (inc. photos) in the comments below.

Pin it for later!

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About SJ Begonja

Sarah-Jane Begonja packed up her life as a Marketing Manager in Australia and now calls Croatian home. SJ first fell in love with Croatia in 2000 and now shares her passion for discovering Croatia and sharing hints and tips about traveling Croatia, and making Croatian food. Plus she talks about her experiences as an expat making Croatia home.

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