Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society Become a member!

Pastry & pies

Spinach burek

A coiled pastry of spinach and white cheese, bought hot from the bakery for breakfast.

Recipe from Туѓино Јабано

Spinach burek
Prep
30 min
Cook
40 min
Total
1 hr 10 min
Fasting
Not suitable

Ingredients 9 ingredients

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200°C and oil a round tin about 30 cm across.
  2. Soften the onion in two spoons of the oil over a low heat until it is translucent but not coloured, then let it cool. Warm onion will start to cook the eggs.
  3. Salt the shredded spinach and work it with your hands for a minute, then squeeze the water out in fistfuls. Wet spinach is the one thing that reliably ruins this pie — the bottom layers go grey and slack.
  4. Mix the spinach with both cheeses, the eggs, the cooled onion and plenty of pepper. Taste before you add more salt; sirenje carries a lot.
  5. Whisk the remaining oil with the soured milk to make a thin brushing liquid.
  6. Lay out two sheets of filo, brush them and spread a line of filling along one long edge. Roll into a loose rope — loose, so it has room to swell — and coil it into the middle of the tin.
  7. Carry on with the rest, coiling each new rope around the last until the tin is full. Brush the top with whatever is left.
  8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the coil is crisp and deep gold. Cover it with a cloth for ten minutes out of the oven if you want a softer top.

If you cannot find it

Substitutions that work outside Macedonia.

Sirenje (white brined cheese)
Feta, crumbled, rinsed briefly if it is very salty.
Urda (fresh whey cheese)
Well-drained ricotta, or dry curd cheese pressed through a sieve.
Hand-stretched kori
Shop-bought filo, used two sheets at a time so they do not tear.
Kiselo mleko (soured milk)
Natural yoghurt let down with a little water.

More in this course

Cook something that is not here?

Send us the recipe as you make it at home. We read every one.

Send us a recipe

Send us a recipe

Write it as you would tell a friend. Somebody will read it and write back before anything is published.

Used only to ask you about the recipe. It is never published and never shared.

Every recipe on this site is published in all three languages. Write yours in whichever one you cook in — we will take care of the other two.

Is it fasting food?

Fasting means no meat, no dairy and no eggs. Fish is treated as permitted.

One per line, with the quantity.

Leave a blank line between steps.

Optional. One per line, like “Ajvar — roasted red pepper paste”.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 5 MB.