Börek: A Guide to Turkey's Flaky Pastries

Börek is the family of Turkish savoury pastries made from yufka, thin sheets of unleavened dough, layered or rolled around a filling and baked or fried until golden. The classic fillings are beyaz peynir (white cheese), spinach and minced meat. On a Turkish breakfast table, a few warm pieces of börek with a glass of çay are one of the great small pleasures of the morning, and in Istanbul you find it everywhere, from corner bakeries to long weekend breakfasts.

What is yufka, and how is it different from phyllo?

Yufka is the foundation. It is a plain dough of flour, water and salt, rolled out with a long, thin rolling pin called an oklava into wide round sheets, thin enough to see light through but still pliable. Phyllo, which Turks call baklava yufkası, is thinner again, close to paper, and used for baklava and very crisp pastries. Börek yufka is a little sturdier, which lets it hold a filling and stay tender in the oven.

In Istanbul, many households buy fresh yufka from small shops that roll it by hand every morning, and some börek makers still roll their own. The texture of the sheet sets the character of the pastry, so good börek always starts with good yufka.

The main types of börek

Börek changes shape and technique more than it changes flavour. These are the ones you will meet most often in Istanbul:

• Su böreği (water börek): the most demanding and, for many, the finest. Sheets of yufka are briefly boiled, then layered in a tray with butter and cheese and baked. It comes out soft and rich inside with a golden top, something like a delicate lasagne.
• Sigara böreği (cigarette börek): yufka rolled tight around white cheese and parsley into thin cigars, then fried until crisp. A favourite with tea and a common meze.
• Kol böreği (arm börek): long rolls of filled yufka coiled into a spiral or laid side by side, baked and cut into pieces. Often filled with potato, spinach or minced meat.
• Paçanga böreği: a fried roll of pastırma (spiced cured beef) and melting kaşar cheese, often with tomato and green pepper. Rich, salty and an Istanbul classic on the meze table.
• Tepsi böreği (tray börek): sheets layered in a large tray with filling between them, brushed with a mix of milk, egg and oil, baked and cut into squares.

Which fillings are traditional?

Three fillings dominate. White cheese, crumbled with parsley, is the most common and the one most Turks grow up with. Spinach, wilted with onion and often combined with cheese, comes second. Minced meat cooked with onion and spices makes a heartier börek for later in the day. Potato with onion and pepper flakes, and leek in winter, are the usual variations. For more on what goes inside, our guide to Turkish cheeses on the breakfast table covers the cheeses in detail.

The filling should be seasoned with restraint. Börek is about the balance between pastry and filling, and a filling that shouts drowns out the butter and the layers.

Börek at breakfast with çay

Börek is at home at breakfast. It sits beside the cheeses, olives and eggs of a traditional Turkish breakfast, served warm, cut into squares or slices, and shared across the table. Its salt and butter call for something clean and hot beside it, and nothing does that like strong Turkish çay in its tulip-shaped glass.

Many Istanbullus also make börek the whole breakfast: a slice of su böreği or kol böreği from a börekçi (a börek shop) on the way to work, eaten at the counter with a glass of tea or a cup of ayran, the salted yoghurt drink. Some shops dust plain börek with powdered sugar, an old Istanbul habit worth trying once.

How to tell a good börek

A few signs separate a good börek from a tired one:

• Fresh from the oven. Börek is best warm, within a few hours of baking. Ask which tray came out last.
• Distinct layers. You should see and feel the sheets, not a single dense mass.
• An even golden top. Even colour means even baking; dark patches mean a hot, hurried oven.
• Moist, not greasy. Butter should flavour it, not pool on the plate. Fried börek such as sigara should be crisp and dry on the outside.
• A generous filling. Cheese should reach the edges, spinach should taste green, and meat should be well seasoned.

Above all, good börek tastes of patience. Rolling yufka and layering it properly takes time, and the difference shows in every bite.

A long breakfast table in Süleymaniye

Börek belongs to the slow, shared Turkish breakfast, and that is the kind of morning Moss Lounge the Bosphorus is made for. In Süleymaniye, on the historic peninsula, Adem Özen sets out a serpme breakfast of more than 40 dishes on a terrace that faces the Süleymaniye Mosque on one side and the Golden Horn and Bosphorus on the other, with endless çay to keep it going. He runs the place as a home rather than a restaurant, opening every day at 08:00, and a WhatsApp message reserves the table.