This is a traditional Bulgarian pastry which uses hand-made filo dough and can be stuffed with all manner of things, both sweet and savory. I made it for New Year’s Eve and it was a smashing success, if I do say so myself. My uncle went so far as to say that it was better than my grandmother’s, an honor of which I would never suspect myself to be worthy. (My grandmother being the queen of banitza, and of cooking in general.)
The traditional filling for this pastry is made from feta cheese and eggs, some people add whole cumin seeds, I like to add a bit of black pepper instead. Buy your feta from a Mediterranean or other ethnic market if you can, otherwise you will likely get a substandard product for a high price. Feta should smell slightly briny and salty, but not like old socks. It is a ‘fresh’ cheese, like ricotta and cottage cheese and should have a similarly mild odor. Look for Bulgarian Sheep’s milk feta. (They have French and Greek varieties which are saltier and less rich tasting.) If you are not getting it pre-packaged, but cut to order, take a look at how it is stored, it should be completely covered in the brine, some places only cover it half way and you end up with a faint smell of socks, which isn’t good.
Banitza is made from a few basic ingredients, but the method can be tricky to master. The key is to be patient and make sure you leave yourself enough time to prepare this dish.
Special equipment:
- go to your hardware store and buy a 1″ wood dowel
You will need (for the dough):
- 1 kg. / 6.5 -7 cups of bread flour (I like King Arthur unbleached)
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 250 ml. / 1 cups sparkling lemonade
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- warm milk (to bloom the yeast)
- 3 eggs, whisked together
For the filling:
- 500 g. / 4-5 cups crumbled feta cheese
- 4 eggs
- 1 packet of butter (technically you could use olive oil, but don’t)
Sprinkle the yeast into the milk (If you stick your finger in the milk it feels should feel hot, but not enough to burn you.)
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar (a mesh colander will do the trick for this, you don’t need a sieve.) Make the dough by combining the eggs, yeast, milk, and lemonade. I use my Kitchenaid, mixer, which is handy, because I’m not a very strong person, but my grandma has always done this by hand. The final dough should be smooth, elastic and not too soft, similar to pizza dough. If it looks like you need more flour or water, add it a tablespoon at a time.
Knead the dough: Place the ball of dough on an even surface, cradle it with your left hand from the bottom, then fold the dough over onto itself with your right hand and press the heel of your right hand into it. Turn the dough slightly and repeat. Do this about 40-50 times. If you hands start to stick sprinkle a bit more flour on.
Preheat the oven to about 450ºF / 235ºC
Place the dough in a glass or plastic bowl that is big enough to contain it as it expands, cover it with a damp tea towel and place it in a warm cozy place… like on top of a preheated oven, or on top of the dishwasher during the drying cycle. Let it sit until it doubles in size.
Mix together the crumbled cheese and the eggs for the filling, melt the butter in a little bowl and place both within easy reach.
Here is the tricky part. Separate the dough into balls roughly the size of a large orange (pull and twist), keep the balls you’re not using covered with the damp towel so they don’t develop a crust.
Roll the dough ball around a bit to make sure it’s fairly round. Then flatten it out slightly with your hands, and start rolling it out with the aforementioned wood dowel, which is really your rolling pin. The goal is to get the dough to be as thin as possible without tearing.
Once you have it flattened to about 3/4″ or so, start rolling the dough over onto itself using the rolling pin and gently start to apply pressure with the middle part of you fingers pushing the dough outward and down, spreading it out. Rotate the sheet of dough and roll it up from different directions to keep it relatively round.
Keep doing this until you have a sheet about 1/8″ thick, or thinner. Then drizzle a good bit of butter over the sheet, and spread the feta-egg mixture over the sheet, getting as close to the edges as you can and being careful not to tear it. Roll it up and place it into a buttered pan twisting it gently rolling it up into a spiral.
Repeat the above procedure until you run out of dough, arranging all the sheets into a continuing spiral. Once you’re done, pour the remaining butter over the top, smooth it over the whole banitza, and place it in the oven. Bake for about 35 minutes until it’s golden brown. Cover with a slightly damp towel, let it sit for 5 minutes then cut into pieces and serve hot.
This article was originally published at umamitv.com
