Pepa Ivanova’s Cheese pie, banica, gibanica, burek… and many other names found in the Balkans

2-3 eggs
200-300 grams feta cheese
500 ml yogurt
a bit of oil or melted butter,
a bit of salt if the feta is not too salty
filo pastry
baking pan in any shape you have available
15-30 mins

LOVE!

MIx all in a bowl, and leave the cheese in slightly bigger pieces – I prefer it, because I like to know what I eat (smile).

You can put a bit of the mix on each sheet, rolled and turn it as a big mandala and form in a round baking pan. OR! use a another shape of baking pan and distribute the mix inbetween one or two layers, and be sure you have enough at the edges to do – don’t have them dry after baking.

This one you can cut after baking on squares or triangles for example. Don’t forget to put a bit of oil on the bottom of the pan and sometimes inbetween. If you have left of the mixture, you can put a bit on the top sheets, more for decoration. Before you bake it, use a
fork to make holes here and there from the top to the bottom of the pie.

Bake! 220°C / both sides for around 15 minutes until you get a nice colour on the top. Check if it’s well baked on the bottom with a fork.

Enjoy!

In the Balkans we have this at anytime and with anything.

Another mix. I personally like – apart of the cheese one – you can cook some chopped leek in a pan with a bit of salt and oil/butter and add between the layers too, black olives and nuts go nicely too.

Sweet!

With filo pastry you can make apple, pumpkin, ginger or nuts and cinnamon sweet pie very quick as well