Börek (Turkish Filled Pastries)
Börek is a general term in Turkish cuisine that applies to a family of pastries with about fifty different members. They have in common the fact that they are all pastry layers of some type enclosing a filling. There are two basic methods; one consists of rolling out very thin sheets of dough, called yufka in Turkish and phyllo in Greek. The other main type of börek, called nemse börek in Turkish, uses a dough very…
Ingredients
Fillings
- Peynirli börek (white cheese filling)
- Kıymalı börek (minced meat filling)
- Tavuklu börek (chicken filling)
- Ispanaklı börek (spinach filling)
Assembly
- 2 cups prepared filling (see above)
- 1 box yufka/phyllo pastry sheets
- Melted butter or high-quality vegetable oil
Steps
- Unfold phyllo sheets without breaking them. Lay flat and cover with a damp tea towel to prevent drying.
- Cut phyllo into lengthwise thirds (step 1 in the diagram). Lay out one; keep the other two covered with damp towel.
- Brush strip with melted butter. Place a heaped teaspoonful of filling on one end (step 2 in the diagram).
- Fold right lower corner upward over filling to form a triangle (step 3 in the diagram).
- Fold right upper corner over to the left (step 4 in the diagram).
- Continue folding to the end of the strip.
- Trim excess dough. Seal edges by rubbing a damp finger over the dough and pressing the edge of the triangle where the strip ends.
- Fry in oil at 340°F until golden brown, or bake at 350°F, 15 minutes.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Börek (Turkish Filled Pastries)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-02-25, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Wrapping börek.jpg by Mike Hayes (talk) 18:25, 2 July 2011 (UTC), Public domain, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.