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Baked and breads

Banitsa

Bulgarian filo pastry layered or coiled with sirene, eggs and yoghurt, baked golden for breakfast and holidays.

Banitsa is a Bulgarian pastry of thin sheets layered or rolled with a filling of crumbled sirene, beaten eggs and yoghurt, baked until golden. It is a common breakfast with yoghurt or boza, a fermented grain drink, and a fixture of holidays, especially New Year's Eve, when small lucky charms are baked into it.

What goes in

Sirene: 30%30%Thin pastry sheets: 25%25%Eggs: 15%15%Yoghurt: 15%15%Butter or oil: 10%10%Baking soda: 5%6parts
  • Sirene630%, Crumbled white cheese.
  • Thin pastry sheets525%, Kori.
  • Eggs315%, Beaten.
  • Yoghurt315%, Bulgarian sour yoghurt.
  • Butter or oil210%, Between layers.
  • Baking soda15%, Lightens the yoghurt.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Knead Mix yoghurt with a pinch of soda, then beat in eggs and crumbled sirene.
  2. Step 2: Layer Brush each pastry sheet with fat and scatter with filling.
  3. Step 3: Layer Roll or fold the sheets and arrange them in a buttered tin, in layers or a coil.
  4. Step 4: Fill Tuck in any New Year charms.
  5. Step 5: Bake Pour over any remaining filling and bake until puffed and golden.
  6. Step 6: Rest Cover with a cloth to soften slightly, then serve warm.
  7. Sirene: 30%30%Thin pastry sheets: 25%25%Eggs: 15%15%Yoghurt: 15%15%Butter or oil: 10%10%Baking soda: 5%
    Finished Banitsa, by share.

Lucky charms

On New Year's Eve and at Christmas, Bulgarian families bake banitsa with kusmeti, small fortunes written on paper or attached to cornel twigs, tucked into the pastry. Each person's piece reveals their luck for the year: health, love, travel or money. Banitsa is also served at weddings, name days and family gatherings.

Shapes and fillings

Banitsa can be made as flat layers in a tray, as a spiral coiled in a round tin, or as twisted rolls. Sheets of thin pastry called kori are bought or rolled at home. The classic filling is sirene with eggs and yoghurt, but versions with spinach, leeks, pumpkin, cabbage or rice are also common. The pastry is often soaked with a little sparkling water or milk before baking.

Where it is used

New Year's EveBreakfast with bozaName days

The cheeses in it

SireneThe filling cheese of banitsa.

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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