I prepared the stuffing ahead of time and froze it as it is
almost impossible for me to make everything the same day with two little kids
and work. I made the dough the same day
I made the böreks and the stuffing tasted as if fresh. We all enjoyed them; especially
my boys. They kept wanting more and more. Even though I was in a hurry when
making them and didn’t take very good pictures, I think the pictures are
acceptable and will explain the steps pretty well.
Caveat: You will most
likely have leftover dough. I could have adjusted the proportions for the
recipe, but I did not want to do that without really trying it. You can use the
left over dough for any type of stuffing you like or even a small pizza.
Now it’s time for the recipe.
For the Dough:
6 ¼ cups white flour
2 ½ cups warm water
1½ tsp yeast (optional)
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp red pepper paste (optional or red pepper can be
substituted)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup olive oil for brushing boreks
½ cup flour for rolling
For the Stuffing:
2 bunches of chard (around 10 chard leaves)
2 leeks
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 ½ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp black pepper
1 ½ tsp salt
Prepare the Dough:
Let yeast sit in warm water for 25-30 minutes until it
bubbles.
Using a Stand
Mixer:
Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer. Add the flour,
salt, red pepper paste and olive oil in the mixer bowl and run it on stir.
Gradually add the yeasty water. Change the speed to 2 and let it knead the
dough until it is soft. It should take less than five minutes. Cover with a
damp cloth and let it sit for two hours.
Manually:
Add the flour, salt, red pepper paste, olive oil and half of
the water and start kneading. Add the rest of the yeasty water gradually and
continue to knead until soft dough is attained. It should take about 15-20
minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let it sit for two hours.
Prepare the Stuffing:
Remove stems of chard from leaves.
First steam stems of chard until soft as they
will take longer to cook than the leaves. Remove and steam chard leaves until
wilted. Chop both stems and leaves small.
Slit leeks in half and wash thoroughly several times to
remove all the dirt between the layers.
Chop finely. Heat olive oil in a pan. Sauté leeks first for 4-5 minutes.
Add chopped chard, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper flakes and black pepper. Stir
for a couple minutes and remove from heat and cool.
Prepare softball size dough balls and sit aside.
Take about
2 tbsp of flour and place on the dough rolling surface. Take one of the balls
and place it on top of the flour. Add another 2 tbsp of flour on top of the
dough ball.
Flatten with your fingers and start rolling.
Make the pastry 9-10
inches in diameter, smaller if smaller pastries are desired.
Add 3 tbsp of the
stuffing in the middle of the rolled dough and fold the outer 1 inch from the
left, right and the bottom to create a triangle.
Place on a baking sheet and
brush with olive oil. Repeat until all the dough and the stuffing are used up.
Heat up oven to 375º. Bake
for 15-25 minutes or until the böreks take a golden color.
Enjoy with hot tea
or with cold yogurt or yogurt drink.
