Made Banitsa today, a Bulgarian speciality. In essence Banitsa is a pie-like dish having a filling of egg and cheese – although my impression from after tried it is that any tasty filling should do just fine. Of course, since this was the first time, I made it according to my impression of “that is how you’re supported to make proper Banitsa”. Unfortunately I could not find Sirene cheese so a rather nice Feta had to jump in as a substitute.
The dough should be very firm and simply consist of flour, water, salt, some oil and perhaps some vinegar (I used some vinegar and thought it gave a nice touch). Serious kneeding is required to get it in a nice state for making very thinly layered strips – this is the big trick when it comes to Banitsa. I used a combination of a rolling pin, elbow greese, and cursing to make a number of somewhat presentable strips. I’m not sure about the traditional technique for making these strips is but I imagine that Bulgaria is a net importer of elbow greese.
Anyway, spread some filling (eggs, cheese, and oil) on each strip, roll em’ up and put in nice spiral pattern in a pie pan. Stick in oven at about 200°C until they look ready, took just over 40 minutes for me and when the oven has done its thing, try to avoid stuffing yourself with the burning hot, but delighfully scented, Banitsa. Instead let it cool down for a while under a kitchen towel before cutting up in portions of potentially life threatening size. Very very tasty but I still managed to leave enough to properly evaluate its potential as a fridge cool snack.
