Traditional Borek

Name: Traditional Borek
Yield: 3-4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 kg flour; 2 tbsp sunflower oil for within the dough; 1 tbsp salt; 300 ml lukewarm water; 100 ml sunflower oil for the layers; you can mix ground beef with spinach, or spinach with feta cheese, grinded potatoes with ground beef, anything really; 2 large potatoes; 400 grams ground beef; Any seasoning of your choice

Flavour101 @flavour101

So I challenged myself a bit this weekend and made traditional Balkan borek, and I have got to say it was a challenge, let me walk you through the whole process, as the taste that this pastry has it's all worth the struggle 🤣

Flavour101 @flavour101

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Ingredients

2h (for beginners)

3-4 servings

Dough
1 kgflour
2 tbspsunflower oil for within the dough
1 tbspsalt
300 mllukewarm water
100 mlsunflower oil for the layers
Filling for the borek can be optional,
you can mix ground beef with spinach, or spinach with feta cheese, grinded potatoes with ground beef, anything really
2large potatoes
400 gramsground beef
Any seasoning of your choice

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Steps

2h (for beginners)

1

Mix the flour with salt, oil and lukewarm water, add the water gradually until you form dough but make sure the dough it's not too sticky or too rough/ dry to work with.
2

After you have started to formulate the dough, then knead for about 10 minutes until you have achieved to make it into a ball, and let it rest for 20 minutes.
3

After the 20 minutes rest, take the dough out of the bowl and start kneading it again and switch the direction on creating a cylinder form of the dough and cut it into 7-8 pieces
4

Make them into small balls and whichever ball is the smallest take from the bigger ones and add into the smaller ones until you create at least a similar gramatur between the balls which should be approximately 160 -170 g / or until they're even. Hence now it dropped to 7 balls.
5

Then start rolling out the dough balls, not too widely, shown as in the picture, and then repeat the same process with the other dough balls:
6

In a baking pan, cover it with sunflower oil, and lay the first circle of dough you created earlier, shown as in the pic down below, layer it with a little bit of sunflower enough so you can cover it all, and then add the second layer of the dough, again, shown as in the second pic:
7

Cover them with sunflower oil, and then cover the same, with some sunflower plastic wrap and a damp cloth and set aside for 20 minutes.
This will allow the dough to soften a lot so it could be easier to stretch it out later.
8

In the meantime, roast the ground beef, and grind the potatoes, and mix them together with any spices you would like, but ofc salt the most important, it should look something like this:
9

This next step was the most challenging one, before starting with it we need to prepare the setting.
On a surface, add a quite large and thin kitchen towel and you can put on the corners two water bottles to hold the sheet while we're working with the dough.
10

Take one layer of the dough (and cover the rest again with the plastic wrap /damp towel) and place it in the middle of the towel, and the start stretching it all around in each and every corner until it has covered all the towel(now mind you the dough has really gotten soften and it can be ripped off so easily so be very careful /gentle with it), it should look something like this:
11

To this add the potatoes / ground beef mixture, looking like this:
12

After you have covered it all, start rolling out the front part with the help of the towel(otherwise it ain't happening) up until the middle (shown as in photo) and then do the same process with the other part.
13

Cut the corners of the dough on each side, and then the right sight, up into the middle of the right side, and then take the right side and fold it shown as in the pic.
Carry it into a baking pan covered with sunflower oil, and repeat the same process with the rest of the layers.
14

Bake them at 250 degree Celsius / 482 fahrenheit, for 20 minutes.
and serve them with Greek yoghurt and enjoy it!