Stuffed Börek Braid With 4 Different Fillings

The only thing better than a börek with 1 filling is a börek with 4 fillings! 

Yield: 1
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Difficulty Level: Moderate

Ingredients:

For the börek dough:

  • 3¾ cups flour
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ package dry yeast
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • ¼ stick butter, melted
  • 2 whisked eggs for the egg wash
  • sesame seeds to garnish

For the spinach filling:

  • 10 oz spinach, cooked
  • 2 tbsp diced red onions
  • 2 tbsp roasted pine nuts
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper

For the pomegranate cream cheese filling:

  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • seeds from 1 pomegranate
  • 1 tbsp chopped mint

For the chicken filling:

  • 8 oz ground chicken
  • 1½ cups sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper

For the cheese filling:

  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 8 oz crumbled feta cheese

For the baba ganoush:

  • 2 eggplants
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp chopped mint
  • 3 tbsp plain yogurt
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. For the börek dough, combine the flour, water, salt, dry yeast, and sugar and knead for about 5 minutes until a smooth, elastic dough forms. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll them out as thinly as possible. Combine the olive oil and melted butter and brush some of it over a large plate. Brush the mixture over both sides of each dough pieces and then stack the dough pieces on top of each other on the greased plate. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the spinach, pomegranate cream cheese, chicken, and cheese fillings. After 30 minutes, spread each dough piece out by hand as thinly as possible, spoon half of a filling along the edge of each dough piece, tightly roll up each dough strand, and place them all next to each other. In the end, you should have 2 spinach-filled dough strands, 2 pomegranate cream cheese-filled dough strands, 2 chicken-filled dough strands, and 2 cheese-filled dough strands.

2. Grease a metal rolling pin with butter, place it in the center of the stuffed dough strands, and drape the stuffed dough strands over the rolling pin.

3. Braid the outer strands of dough so that you have 3 braided dough strands on either side of the rolling pin. Brush the egg wash over the dough and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Transfer the stuffed börek braid to a preheated oven and cook at 375°F for 1 hour.

4. For the baba ganoush, cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, press the garlic slices into the eggplants, drizzle olive oil on top, and cook with the stuffed börek braid for 20 minutes. Once the cooked eggplants have cooled, combine the pulp with the remaining ingredients to form a cream. Once the stuffed börek braid has finished cooking, remove the metal rolling pin and pipe the baba ganoush into the opening.

Get the recipe for the Butter Chicken Naan Braid featured in the bonus video.

Comments

Also hefty