Cheeses for baking and pastries
Khachapuri, borek, pao de queijo, cheese scones and the cheese breads of the world.
Cheese has been baked into bread and pastry for as long as both have existed. Georgia's khachapuri, Turkey's börek, Greece's tiropita, Brazil's pão de queijo, Colombia's pandebono, the English cheese scone, the French gougère and Odisha's chhena poda all bake cheese into something golden and new. Baking concentrates a cheese's flavour and browns it, adding notes of toast and caramel.
Cheese breads
Pão de queijo, from Minas Gerais in Brazil, mixes cassava starch with milk, eggs and grated cheese, traditionally the local queijo Minas, into small, chewy rolls. Colombia's pandebono and Paraguay's chipa are close cousins made with cassava or corn. Georgia's khachapuri is the national bread, and each region has its own: round Imeretian khachapuri, the boat-shaped Adjarian kind, and Megrelian khachapuri with extra cheese baked on top.
Pastries
Börek and tiropita wrap white cheese in thin sheets of yufka or filo, and the Balkan banitsa and gibanica layer cheese and egg between them. Gougères, from Burgundy, are choux puffs baked with Gruyère or Comté. Cheese scones and cheese straws are British tea-time bakes made with mature cheddar. Polish sernik and German Käsekuchen bake twaróg and quark into cheesecake, and Italy's pastiera fills pastry with ricotta and cooked wheat for Easter.
Baked Indian sweets
Chhena poda, from Odisha, is perhaps India's best-known baked cheese: fresh chhena kneaded with sugar, semolina and cardamom and baked slowly, traditionally over a wood fire, until the outside caramelises. Its name means burnt cheese. Baked rasgulla and baked sandesh, made in ovens, are newer variations from Bengal. Bakeries in Indian cities also sell cheese buns and cheese straws, often made with processed cheese.
Worth knowing
- Khachapuri: Georgian cheese bread
- Börek: Turkish pastry filled with white cheese
- Tiropita: Greek cheese pie in filo
- Pão de queijo: Chewy cheese rolls of Brazil
- Pandebono: Colombian cheese bread
- Gougère: Burgundian choux puffs with Gruyère
- Banitsa: Bulgarian layered cheese pastry
- Chhena poda: Baked cheese sweet of Odisha
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Baking and pastries on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreFetaφέτα
A crumbly Greek brined cheese made from sheep and goat milk.Sheep · Brined · Tangy and lactic
🇬🇪 GeorgiaChkintiჭყინტი ყველი
A fresh, hand-squeezed cow's milk cheese from Georgia's Imereti region.Cow · Fresh
🇹🇷 Turkey and 1 moreBasket cheesesepet peyniri
A fresh, unsalted or lightly salted whey and curd cheese shaped in reed baskets from the Aegean coast.Goat · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 2 moreGruyère
A hard, pressed Swiss cheese made from raw cow's milk, aged for several months.Cow · Hard · Sweet and caramel
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreQuarkTvorog
A fresh, acid-set cow's milk cheese with a smooth texture and mild taste.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇫🇷 FranceComté
A hard, cooked-pressed cow's milk cheese from eastern France, aged up to three years.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇬🇧 United KingdomCaerphilly
A hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from South Wales with a mild lemony taste.Cow · Hard · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 FranceSaint-NectaireSench-Nectari
A semi-soft washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from the volcanic Auvergne region of France.Cow · Semi-soft · Nutty
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreBel Paese
A semi-soft cow's milk cheese from Italy with a mild buttery flavor and pale yellow color.Cow · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy
🇫🇷 FranceCrottin de Chavignol
A small French goat cheese from the Loire Valley, aged to develop a white or blue rind.Goat · Bloomy rind · Nutty
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreSireneбяло саламурено сирене
A crumbly, brined white cheese from Bulgaria made with sheep or goat milk.Mixed · Brined · Salty
🇸🇪 SwedenVästerbottenVästerbottensost
A hard, salty Swedish cow's milk cheese aged at least a year in VästerbottenCow · Hard · Salty
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMizithraμυζήθρα
A fresh Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, eaten soft or dried for grating.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 1 moreZiger
A fresh Swiss whey cheese, often eaten plain or fried with salt and pepper.Mixed · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇵🇹 Portugal and 1 moreRequeijão
A versatile dairy product ranging from whey cheese to creamy spreads across Portugal and Brazil.Cow · Whey · Milky and fresh
🇹🇷 TurkeyMihaliç Peyniri
A hard, brined sheep’s milk cheese shaped into rounds or slices for Turkish cookingSheep · Hard
🇮🇹 ItalyRicotta di fuscella
A fresh cow's milk ricotta from Campania, shaped in a truncated cone basket.Cow · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Caerphilly: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Bel Paese: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Mizithra: grongar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Västerbotten: Nata Uploaded by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), CC BY 2.0, source
- Crottin de Chavignol: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Saint-Nectaire: Homer Ectus, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gruyère: Rolf Krahl ( Rotkraut ), CC BY 4.0, source
- Sirene: Иван, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Feta: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Comté: Myrabella, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Schabziger: Flyout, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chkinti: Georgian Recipes at Georgia About, CC BY 3.0, source
- Basket cheese: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Quark: SKopp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Requeijão: Comte0, CC BY-SA 4.0, source