Byrek

Byrek-

This dish, similar to spanikopita, can be made with cheese, spinach, beans, tomatoes and onions, eggs or meat. Basically any sort of savory filling can be added. You can buy store bought phyllo dough, or make your own simple dough from scratch (of course all of the Albanians make it from scratch!)

Basic Phyllo Dough Recipe (dough-brum):

2 1/2 cups bread flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm water
1 egg, beaten
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar

Sift flour and salt and make a well.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour in well. Work into dough. Knead 10 minutes. Cover with a damp towel. Set aside 20 minutes.


Split the dough into 14 roughly equal sized balls. Roll out slowly (slowly-ngadalë) one by one on a board covered with starch or flour (starch-niseshte) until very thin. The way my host does this is by using a very thin wooden dowel. As she rolls out the dough, she rolls the dough onto the dowel in order to transfer the dough to the pan. This part takes a lot of practice, don’t worry if the dough tears a bit, just patch it back together and keep layering! Layer (peta- layer of dough) the first 7 in a large round shallow pan, putting a layer of melted butter or oil in between each layer. After 7 layers, put in the filling and then continue to layer the remaining dough. Pour the remaining oil or butter onto the top (you can also pour milk on top). Cut into pieces before placing in the oven. Cook at 200 degrees C (about 400 F) for 45 min. or until golden brown.

Të bëfte mirë! (Bon Appetite!)

(thank you to Burbuqe for showing me this process and allowing me to take her picture and also to Courtney and Mrs. Çepa for additional information!)