Brek Turkish Pasties Recipes

BOREKS (TURKISH PASTRIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Crumble the feta cheese, then mix feta with the chives (or dill), parsley, and pepper.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Skim off any foam that accumulates.
• Cut the phyllo pastry sheets into 3-inch strips. Take one strip and cover the rest with a clean, damp cloth.
• Brush the first phyllo strip with melted butter, and place a teaspoon of feta/herb mixture on the bottom right corner of the phyllo sheet, about 1/4-inch from the edge.
• Pick up the bottom right corner of the phyllo sheet and fold it up and over the feta/herb mixture so the corner reaches the top edge of the phyllo sheet and forms a triangle. Keep folding the pastry over itself, being careful that the filling remains intact, until you reach the end of the phyllo sheet and have a triangle shaped pastry.
• Repeat steps #5 and #6, using remaining phyllo sheets and feta/herb mixture.
• Lay pastries on a baking sheet, and brush with remaining melted butter. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

BöREK - TURKISH PASTIES

Steps:

• To make dough: Melt butter. Add milk, sugar and salt. Check the temperature (it should be 35-37 C) and crumble yeast into the mixture. Add eggs and egg whites, stir. Gradually add flour; knead the dough for about five minutes or until it is smooth and elastic and starts to pull away from the edges of the bowl. Cover and let rise for 30-60 minutes.
• To make cheese filling: Finely chop onion and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and cook onion and garlic until softened. Let cool. Crumble feta in a bowl with a fork and mix all ingredients together into a paste.
• To make ground beef filling: Finely chop onion and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and cook onion, garlic and ground beef until browned. Add all remaining ingredients except for egg. Check the taste: the filling should taste fairly strong and salty. Let cool and finally mix in egg.
• Preheat oven to 225°C Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Oil the baking board and turn the dough on it. Divide the dough in half and cut each half into 8 pieces.
• Roll each piece out into an oval about ½ cm thick. Divide the fillings between the 16 ovals. Turn a few centimetres of the dough on top of the filling on each side and pinch the ends together tightly, so you have a boat-shaped pasty. (You can bring the sides quite close together, as the pasties "open" a bit as they bake). Carefully transfer the pasties on the baking sheet. Brush the sides with egg yolk and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.