Bougatsa (a delicious Greek Pastry)

Many years ago I was given this recipe by a dear friend Rosemary (thank you Rosemary!).

Bougatsa is a Greek semolina custard filled pastry which is often baked fresh and served warm for breakfast as individual pastries, or baked in a tray and cut into portions to serve.  It is perfect with a strong cup of black coffee!

I have baked this recipe in an oblong 30cm x 18cm baking dish, but recently I have seen on Instagram bakers who have also prepared it in a round cake tin which looks gorgeous.

With this recipe I use a 24cm (base measurement) round springform cake tin.  You can bake this a little ahead of time (up to 3 to 4 hours) to serve after a meal … the custard is still a little warm, and as it has had more time to “set” it is easier to cut into relatively even pieces.  If you wish to serve it earlier, let the Bougatsa rest for about an hour before cutting … the filling will bulge a touch on the plate, but it is still so delicious!

I love dishes with custard, and this filling is fantastic … I have altered it a little from the original which I know most of us cooks will do with any recipe.  It is important to use a “fine” semolina so that the custard has a silky consistency.  I like to make the custard a day ahead so that it is an easy preparation the next day with only having to prepare the fillo and bake.

Leftovers are fine kept in the fridge until the next day, but the pastry will soften which I actually don’t mind.

Rosemary gave me a tip for making individual parcels by lining a muffin tin with 8 squares of buttered fillo in each hole, filling them with the custard, then bunching up the fillo on top to form a parcel.  I haven’t tried this myself, but it is on “the list”.

In terms of the fillo pastry I use refrigerated pastry as opposed to frozen pastry which has to be thawed in the fridge before use.  I find the latter tends to tear more easily and is more fragile to handle.  I buy Antoniou fillo (see here), which gives me the amount of sheets I need for this recipe (18), and sometimes there are more sheets than I need but at least I never run short.

I hope you like this version of Bougatsa as much as my family do 🙂

5.0 from 2 reviews

Bougatsa (a delicious Greek Pastry)

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

Author: Gina @ The Passionate Pantry

Serves: 24cm round

Ingredients

FILLING INGREDIENTS

• 700g full fat milk
• 300 full fat cream
• 140g raw sugar, or plain white sugar
• 140g fine semolina
• 5 egg yolks
• 20g cornflour
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes, or ½ tsp fine sea salt
  
  

PASTRY INGREDIENTS

• 1 x 375g pkt fillo pastry (you need 18 sheets for this recipe)
• 160g butter, melted
  
  

TOPPING

• 3 tbls icing sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

METHOD FOR FILLING

1. Place all the ingredients into TM bowl and cook 10 minutes / 90 / speed 4
2. Pour custard into a container … place a piece of Glad Wrap directly on top of the custard to stop a skin forming, and allow to cool at room temperature for an hour, then leave the Glad Wrap on top of the custard, cover with a lid and place container into the fridge to get completely cold
3. This can be done a day ahead … filling must be completely cold before continuing with the recipe
   
   

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan forced and place rack into middle of oven
2. Butter base and sides of a 24cm (base measurement) round springform cake tin
3. Combine the icing sugar and ground cinnamon for the topping and put aside
4. Have the melted butter ready, place your pastry brush beside it, then unwrap the sheets of fillo and put them to the side of where you are going to work (it is important that you work relatively quickly when using fillo otherwise it can dry out if left too long on the bench … I don’t worry about covering it when doing this as they don’t sit out long enough to dry out)
5. Place a sheet of filo on your bench and lightly brush with butter, place another sheet directly on top of it and brush with butter again so that you now have two sheets stuck together
6. Then working to create a circle, place a third sheet of fillo on top of the other two on a slight angle and brush lightly with butter, repeat process with a second sheet of fillo directly on top so that you now have two more buttered sheets stuck together sitting on top of the original two but on a slight angle
7. Continue in this fashion, moving each two pieces of buttered fillo on a slight angle until you have a total of 10 buttered sheets in a circle … it doesn’t need to be perfect
8. Lift up the 10 sheets of fillo together and place them into the cake tin, carefully push the filo into the base, leaving the extra fillo to hang over the edges
9. Place cold custard into dish and spread it out evenly to the edges with the back of a spoon, then put aside cake tin
10. Lightly butter the final 8 sheets of fillo using the same process as you did before (2 sheets stuck together one on top of the other, and then rotate on a slight angle for the next 2 until you have a rough circle … but this time you are only using 8 sheets and not 10)
11. Lift up the 8 fillo sheets and place on top of the custard
12. Loosely fold all the overhanging pastry towards the middle of the Bougatsa … don’t push down on them too much as you want them to be a little loose, and again it doesn’t need to look perfect … it will look great when it is baked and you see the loose leaves of the pastry
13. Lightly brush the top of the pastry with the rest of the butter going right to the edges … if you have used up all the butter then melt a little extra to go on top … I find I always have at least a couple of tablespoons of melted butter leftover from brushing the sheets, but you need to ensure the top pastry is buttered so that it colours nicely in the oven so melt more butter if needed
14. Place cake tin onto a baking tray and put into oven for 30 minutes, turn Bougatsa around and continue for a further 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top is a deep golden colour (I like to have a deep colour on the crust ... if you get that colour a little earlier then finish baking)
15. Remove Bougatsa from the oven and allow to rest in the tin for the required time (see below)
16. Dust top with sugar and cinnamon mixture before serving
17. Bougatsa can be served after resting for an hour, but it can also be made ahead and left on the bench for three to four hours before cutting and serving … the custard will still be a little warm and you will find it a easier to cut neat pieces
18. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for a further day or two, but the pastry will soften in this time

Notes

I have baked this recipe in an oblong 30cm x 18cm baking dish, but recently I have seen on Instagram bakers who have also prepared it in a round cake tin which looks gorgeous.

With this recipe I use a 24cm (base measurement) round springform cake tin.

You can bake this a little ahead of time (up to 3 to 4 hours) to serve after a meal ... the custard is still a little warm, and as it has had more time to "set" it is easier to cut into relatively even pieces. If you wish to serve it earlier, let the Bougatsa rest for about an hour before cutting ... the filling will bulge a touch on the plate, but it is still so delicious!

It is important to use a "fine" semolina so that the custard has a silky consistency. I like to make the custard a day ahead so that it is an easy preparation the next day with only having to prepare the fillo and bake.

Rosemary gave me a tip for making individual parcels by lining a muffin tin with 8 squares of buttered fillo in each hole, filling them with the custard, then bunching up the fillo on top to form a parcel. I haven't tried this myself, but it is on "the list" 🙂

In terms of the fillo pastry I use refrigerated pastry as opposed to frozen pastry which has to be thawed in the fridge before use. I find the latter tends to tear more easily and is more fragile to handle. I buy Antoniou fillo which gives me the amount of sheets I need for this recipe (18), and sometimes there are more sheets than I need but at least I never run short.

3.5.3251