Who makes the best Börek in the Balkans?
They can be round, square or spiral and stuffed with mince meat, cheese or even nettles. Börek is a popular snack in the Balkans.
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00:00Wafer-thin yufka dough with a hearty filling. Börek, also known as burek or bürek, is
00:08a traditional pastry served across southeastern Europe, Turkey and many more countries too.
00:13But who makes the best? We asked around in Turkey, Serbia and Albania.
00:17I've tried börek in many parts of the world, but the variety in Turkey is unmatched.
00:27As a local, I'd say the börek from Nis, in Serbia, is not only the oldest, but also the best.
00:35My favourite type of börek, because I am from Tirana, is börek made with milk.
00:40Our journey begins in Istanbul in western Turkey. Here you can find the Turkish classic
00:45kolböre, a rolled dough usually filled with minced meat, a local bestseller.
00:54I'm Bülent Delbay. I've been making börek for 35 years at the family business.
00:59For great börek, come to Istanbul. Bon appetit!
01:07To make kolböre, you'll need flour, salt, water, sunflower oil, margarine and in this
01:15case the minced meat filling.
01:19First flatten the kneaded dough as thinly as possible. A little sunflower oil prevents
01:23it from sticking to your hands.
01:29We try to thin it out evenly on all sides.
01:33But we're not there just yet. The dough needs to be wafer-thin. To stretch it, the
01:37bakers whirl it skillfully through the air. Not forgetting, of course, the edges. The
01:42dough should be perfectly even, corner to corner.
01:49The example we give to people is that it should be as thin as a cigarette paper. But
01:53for us, making it is like walking. You don't think about how you walk. And we don't think
01:58about how we stretch dough.
02:01Now time for the filling. Minced meat is the big seller in this bakery. Ground beef, salt
02:06and pepper and cooked onions.
02:13Rolling is one of the parts in kolböre that requires significant skill. The filling shouldn't
02:18be too tight or too firm. If you pack it too tightly, the inside of the pastry doesn't
02:24cook. A small amount of air should be left inside so that the filling is cooked evenly
02:33and the pastry has a crispier texture.
02:40Time for the last fold.
02:46Now our börek is ready.
02:49Ready for the oven, that is. 35 to 45 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
02:56The börek here comes in all shapes and sizes and with various fillings, such as cheese
03:04or potatoes. But which is the best?
03:11In Turkey, being a meat-loving nation, we have lots of minced meat varieties and cheese
03:18varieties too. But it changes with the seasons. For instance, in winter, spinach and chard
03:24are included in börek.
03:29Börek is an age-old and very proud tradition here.
03:37Börek is a tradition that dates back thousands of years. But it held extra-special significance
03:43in the Ottoman cuisine. There were specially trained börek masters in the Ottoman Empire.
03:50Turkey is proud of its börek. But so are other countries, too.
03:59Like Serbia, for example. The residents of the third-largest city, Niş, even host a
04:04festival for the pastry, the Days of Börek. The classic filling here is cheese. And crucially,
04:11it has to be round. A baker from Constantinople, now Istanbul, invented it right here in the
04:1715th century, or so the story goes. Today it's considered one of the best hangover cures.
04:24You can tell by looking at me that I love börek. Cheese, meat, I'm not picky.
04:31I usually eat börek for breakfast. It's one of my favorite breakfasts, and always with
04:35drinking yogurt.
04:38In Albania, people are more flexible when it comes to the shape and filling of the börek.
04:43In addition to meat and cheese, the pastry is sometimes filled with spinach or even beans.
04:49It is eaten as a snack or as a main course.
04:53I work every day, so often I pack some börek. It's a meal that's good as a takeaway. I take
04:59it with me three or four times a week.
05:03As a breakfast, hangover cure, or just a snack between meals, börek is extremely versatile.
05:09Have you tried it?