Flavors from elsewhere
The irresistible Greek bougatsa
Latest edition : 05 May 2021
In the morning, the Greeks eat it quickly on the way to work. Almost every bakery offers it. In Thessaloniki and Chalkidiki, there are even bougatsopolia, small pastries specializing in this pie that tastes like coming back! In families, bougatsa is often served for breakfast but also as a snack.
It is baked in a large rectangular pie dish, then cut into small squares
and, for the version filled with semolina cream, sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar. But the bougatsa can also be garnished with feta cheese, spinach or minced beef or lamb. In this case, we obviously forget sugar and cinnamon!
The origin of this Byzantine specialty dates back to the time when Constantinople still belonged to the Greeks before arriving in Macedonia.
We tasted it in the city of Kavala at the sparkling Penelope,
on the advice of famous chef Stelios Digkas, president of the Hellenistic Federation of Chefs and president of the Academy of Gastronomy, whom we met in town that day.
“A real bougatsa should be hot and sweet on the inside, and crispy on the outside, with cinnamon and icing sugar! says Penelope.
Each pastry chef adds their personal touch, but the basic recipe remains the same. Here is the one we tried.
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Beat the eggs with the sugar to whiten them and obtain a frothy mixture (in a food processor or with an electric mixer).
Pour the fine semolina.
Continue beating the mixture for 3 or 4 minutes.
Gently add the previously warmed milk and mix gently.
Pour the mixture into a Dutch oven and continue mixing for a few minutes until the cream thickens.
Zest the lemon and add the zest to the cream.
Continue stirring to allow the lemon zest to develop its flavor.
To melt the butter.
Pour a little melted butter into the pie plate. Grease it well with a brush.
Place a sheet of filo pastry on the baking sheet. Pour a little butter, spread with the brush.
Cover with a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th sheet of filo pastry, making sure to spread melted butter on each.
Stir the stuffing mixture well and spread on the 5th sheet. Be careful not to burn yourself!
Cover with a sheet of filo pastry and gently press down.
Butter the filo pastry then add, one by one, the remaining 4 sheets of filo pasta, making sure to butter each one before covering it.
Fold the edges up to prevent the cream from flowing. Butter the edges with the rest of the melted butter.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 30 to 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
Remove the bougatsa by gently sliding a spatula to loosen the dough and smooth it out on a board.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and then icing sugar.
Leave to rest again before cutting the bougatsa.
Kalí órexi