Balkan Savory Cheese Pie With Phyllo/ Filo Dough (Pita Sirnica, Bosnian Food in America)

#cheesepierecipes #bosnianfoodusa

Full recipe: https://tinyurl.com/hjv55r7

Savory cheese pie (sirnica) made with phyllo dough belongs to the family of Balkan pies, and it’s one of the most popular Balkan dishes. This easy one-pan cheese pie is so simple it can be on your table in under sixty minutes, even if you’ve never made a pie before in your life. (Balkan pies are also called pitas.)

(Bonus? Each time you make this pie with cheese it’ll get better and better!!)

This dish has several names in the Balkans. In Bosnia and Herzegovina it’s usually called ‘pita sirnica,’ while in Croatia it goes as ‘pita sa sirom.’ In Serbia and beyond you’ll often find it under the name of ‘pita gužvara’ or ‘gibanica.’

However you call them, cheese pies are among the Balkan cuisine favorites. In taste Balkan cheese pies are similar to soft and tasty quiches (except a quiche recipe usually doesn’t call for phyllo).

As the name ‘sirnica’ (aka cheese pie) indicates, this is a one-pan pie recipe defined by its tasty cheese filling.

Traditionally the young cow, goat or sheep cheeses were used as stuffing. As some of these cheeses aren’t readily available, Balkan diaspora expanded the number of different cheeses that can go into the filling. Today cheeses for cheese pie filling include ricotta, feta, cottage, farmer’s, Philadelphia, mozzarella and other cheeses.

Filling (stuffing) for cheese pies is made by combining (usually two) different cheeses, sour cream, salt and some eggs.

If you live outside Balkans the best cheese combination for this cheese pie is feta with (drained) cottage or ricotta with some sour cream. If you’re living in the Balkans young cow cheese with a local type of feta (travnički sir), together with kajmak or sour cream are still the best.

Back in the day making homemade dough for pies was the norm. However, this has changed with the availability of store dough (phyllo/ filo). What this means is that you don’t need to make phyllo from scratch to make and eat a delicious cheese pie.

You will need one 16 ounce (500g) box of filo, and it is usually located in your grocery store’s freezer section. There are about 16-18 sheets of filo in each box, so make sure you spread the filling evenly, leaving two or three sheets of dough for the top.

Bon appetit!

Full recipe for Balkan cheese pie (sirnica) with phyllo dough: https://tinyurl.com/hjv55r7
Video recipe in Bosnian/ Serbian/ Croatian:    • Slagana Sirnica sa Gotovim Korama (Ju...  

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