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Borek (also burek, boereg, and other variants on the name) is sort of pie popular throughout the former Ottoman Empire. They are made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo or Yufka, and are filled with salty cheese (often feta), minced meat, potatoes or other vegetables.
Börek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after
baking, or as individual pastries. The top of the börek is often
sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Name
Börek originated in Turkish Cuisine and is one of its most significant
and, in fact, ancient elements, having been developed by the Turks of
Central Asia before their westward migration to Anatolia.Börek in
Turkish refers to any dish made with "yufka", the Turkish word for
phyllo pastry. The Turkish Language is unique in having an extensive
semantics associated with the word börek. Consequently, most of the
time, the word "börek" is accompanied by a descriptive word referring
to the shape, ingredients, technique for cooking or a specific region
where it is typically prepared, for example, kol böreği, su böreği,
talaş böreği, tatar böreği or sarıyer böreği.
Other languages, which have borrowed the word, use it in a specific and
narrow sense, where it refers only to dishes prepared with
yufka/phyllo. In Turkish, the word has a wider range of meanings,
however, and can refer to puff pastry, known as nemse börek in Turkish,
and other types where the dough is processed somewhat differently from
the standard yufka recipe. Some exaples are su böreği, where the sheets
are boiled briefly before layering, and saray böreği (palace börek)
where butter is rolled between the sheets.
The name comes from the Turkic root bur- 'to twist',which also describes a layered dough dish) or possibly from Persian būrek.
Börek
Börek is the name used for pastries made with phyllo dough. Su böreği
("water börek") is the most common type. Layers of dough are boiled in
large pans, then, between the boiled dough layers, a mixture of cheese,
parsley and oil is scattered. Sigara böreği ("cigar börek," named for
its shape) is often filled with feta cheese, potato, parsley and
sometimes with minced meat or sausage. A variety of vegetables, herbs
and spices are used in böreks such as spinach, nettle, leek, potato,
eggplant, courgette, ground black pepper, etc.
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