Baked Pastry with Leeks and Chard (Fırında Pırasalı ve Pazılı Börek)

With winter comes, my favorite winter vegetables: chard and leeks. I started buying chard and leeks because of their nutritional value which I feed my little kids on a weekly basis. I grew up eating chard which I was not fond of but my mother only made it with a yogurt soup with grain which is eaten cold. I don’t recall eating it any other way. For böreks, my mother only used spinach and never chard. After I learned cooking many years later, I tried böreks with Swiss chard and regular chard and I was very happy with the results. This time I wanted to add leeks since I had them on hand and really it was so light and delicious!

I prepared the stuffing ahead of time and froze it as it is almost impossible for me to make everything the same day with two little kids and work.  I made the dough the same day I made the böreks and the stuffing tasted as if fresh. We all enjoyed them; especially my boys. They kept wanting more and more. Even though I was in a hurry when making them and didn’t take very good pictures, I think the pictures are acceptable and will explain the steps pretty well.

Caveat: You will most likely have leftover dough. I could have adjusted the proportions for the recipe, but I did not want to do that without really trying it. You can use the left over dough for any type of stuffing you like or even a small pizza.

Now it’s time for the recipe.

For the Dough:

6 ¼ cups white flour

2 ½ cups warm water

1½ tsp yeast (optional)

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp red pepper paste (optional or red pepper can be substituted)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup olive oil for brushing boreks

½ cup flour for rolling

For the Stuffing:

2 bunches of chard (around 10 chard leaves)

2 leeks

2 garlic cloves

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp cumin

1 ½ tsp red pepper flakes

¼ tsp black pepper

1 ½ tsp salt

Prepare the Dough:

Let yeast sit in warm water for 25-30 minutes until it bubbles.

Using a Stand Mixer: 

Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer. Add the flour, salt, red pepper paste and olive oil in the mixer bowl and run it on stir. Gradually add the yeasty water. Change the speed to 2 and let it knead the dough until it is soft. It should take less than five minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let it sit for two hours.

Manually:

Add the flour, salt, red pepper paste, olive oil and half of the water and start kneading. Add the rest of the yeasty water gradually and continue to knead until soft dough is attained. It should take about 15-20 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let it sit for two hours.

Prepare the Stuffing:

Remove stems of chard from leaves.  

First steam stems of chard until soft as they will take longer to cook than the leaves. Remove and steam chard leaves until wilted. Chop both stems and leaves small.

Slit leeks in half and wash thoroughly several times to remove all the dirt between the layers. 

Chop finely. Heat olive oil in a pan. Sauté leeks first for 4-5 minutes. 

Add chopped chard, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper flakes and black pepper. Stir for a couple minutes and remove from heat and cool.

Prepare softball size dough balls and sit aside. 

Take about 2 tbsp of flour and place on the dough rolling surface. Take one of the balls and place it on top of the flour. Add another 2 tbsp of flour on top of the dough ball. 

Flatten with your fingers and start rolling. 

Make the pastry 9-10 inches in diameter, smaller if smaller pastries are desired. 

Add 3 tbsp of the stuffing in the middle of the rolled dough and fold the outer 1 inch from the left, right and the bottom to create a triangle. 

Place on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Repeat until all the dough and the stuffing are used up.

Heat up oven to 375º. Bake for 15-25 minutes or until the böreks take a golden color. 

Enjoy with hot tea or with cold yogurt or yogurt drink. 

Rose Pastry with Beef and Spinach (Etli ve Ispanaklı Gül Böreği)

I have made these boreks with potatoes, spinach and cheese filling separately in the past. This is the first time I am trying them with meat. All versions turned out really good. Anything with phyllo dough tastes wonderful; at least that’s what I think. The shapes of these boreks are attractive which makes me wanting to eat one more and one more…The filling is very easy to make and can be prepared ahead of time. These can be served as an appetizer, main dish or a snack. I had them with hot Turkish tea and it was delicious!

1 lb ground beef (95% lean)

1 bunch spinach (approx 1 lb)

1 medium onion (chopped finely)

2 cloves garlic (chopped finely)

¾ cup parsley (chopped finely)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp red pepper flakes or paprika

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black ground pepper

1 package (1 lb) phyllo dough

½ cup milk

½ cup olive oil

1 egg

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the ground beef and cook until the beef is no longer pink and releases its water. Pour out the water and add the olive oil. Stir. Add the onions and sauté until onions are transparent. Add the garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and the black pepper. Saute for a couple of minutes and turn off heat. Add the chopped parsley and stir again. Let it cool.

Wash the spinach several times. Remove the stems and steam for about 3 minutes. Let it cool. Chop coarsely and add to the meat mixture.

Mix the milk, olive oil and egg until everything is integrated well.

Lay one phyllo dough sheet on the working surface (long side towards you). 

Brush the all the phyllo dough sheet with the milk/olive oil/egg mixture. 

Lay another sheet on top of it. 

Add 3 tbsp of the stuffing along the edge of the sheet (approximately 1 inch from the edge). 

Roll the sheet gently and brush with the milk/olive oil/egg mixture before rolling on top of the upper edge. 

Place in a greased baking tray and brush with the milk/olive oil/egg mixture again. 

Start with one end and roll it circular to give it a rose like shape. 

Brush the borek roll with the milk/olive oil mixture so it sticks together well.

Repeat until all the phyllo dough sheets and stuffing used up.

Bake at 350º for about 50 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and enjoy warm.

Spinach and Feta Borek (Ispanaklı ve Beyaz Peynirli Börek)

Two years ago, I made a spinach and feta börek and prepared the recipe and all the pictures step by step and never got around to publishing it. Just recently, I made this börek and documented it again. This time, I made a few changes in the recipe and I decided to publish this version instead of the previous one. The taste of this one surpassed the previous one, so I decided to publish this version.

Note: The Phyllo dough sheets can be found in the frozen section of most markets. If the Pyhllo sheets are too big for the tray or Pyrex dish you are using, the phyllo sheets can be folded to reach the size of the baking dish.

1 package Phyllo sheets
½ cup yogurt
½ cup olive oil
1 egg


For the Filling:

2 bunches fresh spinach (approximately 2 lb)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped fine)
2 shallots (chopped fine)
1 cup feta cheese (crumbled)
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp salt (if the feta cheese is not too salty)
Pinch of black sesame seeds

Preparation of Filling:

Wash the spinach thoroughly. In a large pot, boil water and add the spinach in the boiled water for 2 minutes. Do not keep them in the boiled water long as their texture will become mushy. Immediately run the spinach under cold water in order to stop the cooking process. Create small balls from the spinach and give them a nice squeeze to remove the excess water in the spinach. Chop each spinach ball coarsely and with your hands, separate the spinach leaves from each other as sticking together will hinder the salt and spices to get inside the spinach.

Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 2-4 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the spinach to the onions and garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the cheese for the filling and sauté for 5-6 minutes. Make sure the salt, cumin, black and cayenne peppers are distributed evenly in the spinach.

Remove the spinach filling from heat and let it cool. When the filling cools down, add the crumbled feta cheese. If the feta is very salty, no salt is needed for the filling as feta cheese may compensate for the salt.


Putting All Ingredients Together:

In a deep bowl, add the yogurt, olive oil and egg. Mix vigorously until all three ingredients are mixed well.

Using a brush, spread a small amount of the yogurt-olive oil-egg mixture in a large Pyrex dish. This is to prevent the Phyllo sheets from sticking to the Pyrex dish.

Open the Phyllo dough package. Place a damp cloth on top so that the Phyllo sheets do not dry out. These are the same dough sheets that are used for baklava.

Place one sheet of the Phyllo dough in the Pyrex dish. Dip the brush in the yogurt-olive oil-egg mixture and brush the Phyllo sheet. Do this one by one until half of the Phyllo sheets are used up. After half of the phyllo sheets are layered, spread the spinach filling on top. Add another sheet of the phyllo sheet on top of the filling and brush with the yogurt-olive oil-egg mixture. Continue the process of brushing each Phyllo sheet and placing them on top of each other until all the Phyllo sheets are used up. If you have any of the yogurt-olive oil-egg mixture left over, pour it on top and spread it evenly with a brush. The result will be a spinach filling in the middle of the layered phyllo sheets. Half of the phyllo sheets will be in the bottom of the filling and the other half will be on top of the filling.Sprinkle black sesame seeds on top.

Bake at 350º F in the middle rack of the oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool before cutting, otherwise the bottom part of the börek may get soggy.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Spinach and Spicy Cheese Bread Pockets (Katıklı Ekmek)

Katıklı ekmek is very popular in Antakya, Turkey. Some stuff the dough with spinach and çökelek mixture and some spread this mixture on top of a thin sheet of dough. The preparation of the dough is different than mine because in Antakya, Turkey, the mixture is sent to a bakery and the dough from the bakery is used. Then, it is baked in the wood ovens in the bakery which gives the bread/borek a very distinct and wonderful texture and flavor.

Katıklı can be served during breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack with hot tea.


For the Dough:

4 cups flour
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups water


For Stuffing:

2 bunch spinach
3 çökelek balls
½ tsp salt


For Brushing:

2 tbsp olive oil


Preparation of the Dough Using a Mixer:

Combine all ingredients for the dough in the bowl of the mixer, except the water. Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Make sure to attach and remove it when the mixer is unplugged. Using the speed control knob, put the speed of the mixer to 2. Then increase the speed to 4. Pour the water gradually to the bowl while the mixer is working. Increase the speed of the mixer to 6. Mix for 3-4 minutes. Remove the dough from the mixer.

Preparation of the Dough Manually:

Combine all ingredients in a deep bowl except the water. Pour some of the water in the bowl and start kneading for 5-10 minutes. Keep adding water gradually while kneading until the dough becomes soft.

Let it sit for about 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 small pieces and make small balls with each piece.

Wash the spinach thoroughly so that there is no dirt in the leaves. Boil water in a large pot. Place the clean spinach leaves in boiling water for two minutes and remove. Immediately, run cold water over the spinach to stop the cooking process. Squeeze all the water out of the spinach. Chop the spinach coarsely.

Crumble the çökelek onto the spinach.

Add the salt. Set aside.

Grease two large baking trays. Place a ball of the dough on the tray and start stretching the dough with your hands until each ball is side enough to place some stuffing.

Place the stuffing one side of the dough and cover it with the rest of the dough.


The dough will stretch and the stuffing will become visible from the outside of the dough. Repeat this process for all eight pieces of dough. Brush some olive oil on top of these pockets.

Bake at 375º F in the middle rack of the oven for about 20 minutes. You may need to brush the top of the pockets with olive oil while baking once or twice. When the top portion is golden brown, turn around and brush the other side with olive oil and bake until golden brown.

Enjoy warm with hot tea.

Ispanaklı Sac Böreği (Borek with Spinach on Griddle)

Another type of borek that is unique to Iskenderun/Hatay region is the Spinach Borek on a convex griddle. This version (with spinach) is more widespread in this region. However, nowadays potato, zucchini and meat versions are frequently prepared on sac (convex griddle). To reiterate, even though Turkey is a small country compared to the United States, Turkish food is very heterogeneous. There are so many foods that are unique to only one city or one region. For instance, some cities in Hatay province may not recognize this borek because of its specialty specifically for one small area. Common Turkish cuisine may be prepared and consumed all over Turkey, but sometimes with different versions.

I have made Patatesli Sac Böreği (Borek with Potatoes) previously which was posted on my blog. This recipe is almost the same. I used wheat flour for the potato borek, here I am using regular white flour. Of course the fillings are different too, but the process is the same. Since I do not have a convex griddle, I used a regular non-stick pan.

It may look very time consuming to make these boreks, but believe me it does not take much time to prepare the borek, especially if you prepare the filling the day before. The day you cook the boreks, all you have to do is prepare the dough. If you have a stand mixer, that will take you less than 4 minutes. The only disadvantage is that you have to constantly watch the boreks while cooking so that they do not burn and you do not set your fire alarm.

I am proud to say that both the spinach and the green onions were from our local farmer’s market. They were so fresh. I actually took the previous recipe of 'Spinach Saute' and spiced it up a little bit before I used it as a filling for these boreks.

Here is the recipe with illustrations.

For the Stuffing:

2 bunches of spinach
7 large green onions (chopped) (or 1 medium white or yellow onion)
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove (chopped finely)
3 tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp paprika
1 tsp salt


For the Dough:

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 ¾ of cups water

For Drizzling During Cooking:

1/3 cup olive oil


Preparation of Stuffing:

Wash the spinach thoroughly. In a large pot, boil water and add the spinach in the boiled water for 2 minutes. Do not keep them in the boiled water longer as their texture will become mushy. Immediately run the spinach under cold water in order to stop the cooking process. Create small balls from the spinach and give them a nice squeeze to remove the excess water in the spinach. Chop each spinach ball coarsely and with your hands, separate the spinach leaves from each other as sticking together will hinder the salt and spices to get inside the spinach.

Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 2-4 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the spinach to the onions. Add the rest of the ingredients for the filling and sauté for 5-6 minutes. Make sure the salt and pepper are distributed evenly in the spinach.


Dough Preparation:

Using a Stand Mixer:

If you are using a mixer, place the flour and the salt in the bowl of the mixer. Attach the dough hook to the beater shaft which comes with your mixer. Start with the lowest speed and start pouring water gradually from the pouring chute. Increase the speed to 2 and then to 4 and mix for about 2-3 minutes until the dough is soft and sticky. Do not forget to add the 1 ¾ cup of water slowly to the dough. The dough will stick to your hands when it is finished (in about 2-3 minutes) but that is okay. Cover the bowl that has dough in it with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Kneading with Hands:

If you are kneading with your hands, place the flour and salt in a large shallow bowl. Keep a bowl of water handy since you will be dipping your hands in the water quite often. Add some water to the flour to start the dough making process. Keep adding water slowly and start kneading. Keep kneading and keep dipping your hands in the water while kneading. Continue kneading until the dough becomes soft. Place in a bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes.

For Cooking:

Heat a large non-stick pan. Keep the 1/3 cup olive oil handy in a bowl with a small spoon. Take a piece of dough in the size of your fist and make ball.


Add a little olive oil to the ball and with your hand flatten the dough a little.

Keep the dough in your left hand and place a spoonful stuffing inside.


Close the stuffing with the dough by pulling the dough from each side and joining at the center.

Add a little more olive oil to the ball (this is left to your judgment) and smoothen the ball with your hands.

Drizzle some olive oil in the heated non-stick pan. Place the stuffed ball at the center of the non-stick pan and start pressing with your fingers from the center to the outer side of the ball until you have a large disk of dough with the stuffing inside.





This will allow the stuffing inside the dough ball to be distributed evenly on every side of the dough disk. You will have some tears and broken dough here and there but do not worry that happens when you first try this.

Cook each side until the color turns golden brown. You may keep turning back and forth until you reach the desired color.


Enjoy with Turkish tea as an afternoon snack or with yogurt and any kind of salad for a lunch or dinner.