By Victoria Loutas
Golden crispy perfection. We’re talking about Bougatsa of course! Bougatsa is a traditional Greek breakfast pastry made with filo pastry and semolina custard filling.
Bougatsa has origins from the Byzantine period and began as a dough that was stuffed with numerous sweet and savoury fillings. Over time, the dish evolved to incorporate a thinly rolled, hand-made phyllo pastry.
The dish can be served as a part of people’s breakfast meal, although it’s usually considered quite filling to have as an additional dessert (unless you only have a tiny piece). This is why it’s usually best served on its own for breakfast or along with a cup of Greek coffee.
Follow this simple recipe to make your own bougatsa at home;
Ingredients;
1 litres full cream or skim milk
1/2 cup fine semolina
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
2 eggs
Puff pastry, cut into 6cm squared pieces
Method
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees and place baking paper on a cooking rty
- Pour 950mls of milk into a saucepan to heat
- Combine the remaining 50mls of milk with the semolina, sugar and eggs in a bowl and mix well
- Once the milk has warmed, add the mixed ingredients to the saucepan and stir until the mixture thickens and begins to boil
- Once the custard boils, take off of the head and let cool to room temperature
- While the custard is cooling, cut the puff pastry into 6cm x 6cm squared pieces
- Place a heaped tablespoon of the custard mixture into the puff pastry square, bring the four corners of the pastry toward the middle and press together to deal
- Place the parcels on baking tray and bake in the oven at 175°for approximately 35 minutes or until golden
- Top the bougatsas with icing sugar and cinnamon and enjoy!
