Title: Bulgarian Breads and Pastries
Categories: Bulgarian Pastry Side Bread
Yield: 4 Servings

Fried bread slices

Ingredients: hard bread, 3 eggs, 1 cupful milk, 1.2 cupful sunflower oil. Slice the bread into thin slices. Dip first in milk, then in the beaten eggs. Fry in hot oil. Serve Serve hot, sprinkled with sugar, honey, jam, cheese or whatever topping you prefer.

Mekitsas (Batter fried in oil)

Ingredients: 1kg flour, 3eggs, 1/2kg yoghurt, 10g yeast or 1 tsp of baking soda, 1 cupful water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cupful sunflower oil. Beat eggs and yoghurt together with the water and yeast or baking soda diluted in some cold water. Prepare a soft dough and let stand for 1 hour. Then roll into a sheet and cut out circles with a teacup. Fry in plenty of oil until a reddish hue is obtained. Serve with icing sugar, jam or cheese.

Round bread loaves with cheese

Ingredients: 1kg flour, 500g brined cheese, 5/2 cupfuls yoghurt, 3 eg gs, 1 tsp baking soda, 100g butter. Mix the flour, yoghurt baking soda, eggs and crumbled cheese. Prepare a dough and divide into 15 pieces. Shape each into a round loaf, making a hole in the middle, placing a piece of butter inside. Bake in a moderate oven in a dish lined with butter.

Banitsa with spinach

Ingredients: 1kg flour, 1kg spinach, 300g. white brined cheese, 3/2 cupful of yoghurt, 200g butter, 1 spoonful sunflower oil, 1 spoonful vinegar, salt. Cook the cleaned and finely cut spinach in some of the butter. After having cooled, stir in crumbled cheese and yoghurt. Knead a hard dough from the flour, oil, vinegar, salt and water. Roll into five sheets (1kg of ready rolled pastry sheets may also be used). Line a baking dish with butter, place 1 sheet on the bottom and top with the spinach filling. Add a second sheet, filling and so on. Baste in a moderate oven. The same recipe may be used for making banitsa with leeks.

Ears

Ingredients: 500g flour, 1tsp yeast, 150g white sheep7s cheese, 120g butter, 2 tsp salt. Make a hole in the flour and place 1/2 tsp salt, the diluted yeast and 1/2 a cupful of water in it. Knead a medium soft dough (add some more water if necessary) and let stand for about on hour. Roll into sheets, 3-4mm thick cut into squares and add crumbled cheese to each. Fold in two, seal the edges and drop into salt boiling water. Boil for 5min. Arrange the ears is a dish and pour over melted butter. Serve hot.

Banitsa (Cheese pastry)

Ingredients: 1kg flour, 400g white brined cheese, 4 eggs, 500g yoghurt, 1/2 a tsp baking soda, 100g butter, salt. Use the flour, salt and 3/2 cupfuls of water to make a hard dough which is divided into first-large balls. Let stand for ~1hour, then roll into about 1mm thick sheets. Line with melted butter and top with a mixture of beaten eggs, baking soda, yoghurt and crumbled cheese. Roll together and place in a lined dish, either Lengthwise or in circles. Bake in a moderate oven and some water when ready. Cover with a cloth to make it soft.

Jan Terziyski. With Special thanks to Pavlin Radoslavov jan@dragon.mm.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.

From: Jim Weller Date: 19 Jan 98

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