Sephardi

Bourekas

Name: Bourekas
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: Sephardi
Ingredients: 500 g Puff pastry; 200 g Feta cheese; 150 g Quark (farmer cheese); 1 pcs Egg; Black pepper; 1 pcs Egg; 2 tbsp Sesame seeds

Awaiting expert review

Savory puff-pastry turnovers filled with cheese and sprinkled with sesame. A Sephardi pastry of Ottoman origin.

Servings: 16 servings
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 25 min
Difficulty: moderate

Kashrut · dairy

Shabbat Sukkot Shavuot

Ingredients

16

servings

500 g Puff pastry, chilled or thawedKashrut: In traditional practice it is bought with kosher certification. Depending on the fat it is either butter-based (dairy) or margarine-based (parve); the certification label decides.
200 g Feta cheeseKashrut: Dairy (milchig). Cheeses require certification because of the rennet (for hard and aged cheeses, under halakhah, *gevinat akum*).
150 g Quark (farmer cheese), or ricottaKashrut: Dairy (milchig). In traditional practice it is bought with kosher certification.
Black pepper – to taste

Filling

1 pcs EggKashrut: Parve. In traditional practice eggs are cracked one at a time, and eggs with a blood spot are discarded.

Topping

1 pcs Egg, for brushingKashrut: Parve. In traditional practice eggs are cracked one at a time, and eggs with a blood spot are discarded.
2 tbsp Sesame seedsKashrut: On Passover, Ashkenazi practice classes it as *kitniyot*.

Method

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 200 °C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2: Crumble the feta with a fork, mix it with the farmer cheese and one egg, and season with pepper. Salt is usually not needed.
Step 3: Roll the puff pastry out to a thickness of about 3 mm and cut it into 10 cm squares.
Step 4: Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of each square, brush the edges with water and fold into a triangle. Press the edges firmly with a fork.
Step 5: Place the pastries on the baking sheet with space between them, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame.
Step 6: Bake for 20–25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.
Step 7: Serve warm, traditionally with a hard-boiled egg, cucumber and tomato.

Tips

The pastry must stay cold while you work; if it softens, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes.

History and origins

HistorySephardimIsrael

Bourekas derive from the Ottoman börek; Sephardi Jews settled in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, the Balkans, Greece) adopted and adapted them. They spread to Israel with immigrants from Turkey and the Balkans.¹

MinhagSephardim⁂ To verify

In Turkish and Balkan Sephardi families, bourekas were traditionally served for Shabbat breakfast together with eggs cooked overnight (huevos haminados).

Modern practiceIsrael⁂ To verify

Distinguishing the shape by filling (triangle for cheese, half-moon or rectangle for potato) is more an Israeli bakery convention than a binding rule.

Regional variations

MinhagSephardim

Besides cheese they are filled with mashed potato, spinach, mushrooms or eggplant; traditional Sephardi borekitas are made from a homemade oil dough.

Sources

Secondary literature

1Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food