Börek Chronicles #6: Su Böreği
Layers of memory from my grandmother's kitchen
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Su böreği, for me, means my grandmother.
When I was a child, I was occasionally allowed to help with one part of the process — the boiling of the dough sheets. I considered this to be my job and I took all of it, myself included, to be most important to the process. I would stand next to her, lowering each thin sheet of dough into the pot of boiling water and lifting it out carefully. The rest of the process was strictly off limits. Those were the serious parts, the parts that required real skill.
Even so, being allowed that small role made me feel immensely proud. I watched everything closely — the rhythm of the work, the quiet confidence with which she moved from one step to the next. Even though I observed many things, the details about the dough and rolling them out escaped me. Years later, actually very recently, I asked Sinem Ozler, the most talented chef of Seraf Restaurant for her recipe which she generously shared with me. Of course the difference in the quality of flour made me adapt a few things but I am grateful to her for her open-hearted generosity.
Since those childhood days, su böreği has remained my absolute favourite börek.
Today, unfortunately, most of the ones sold in shops and patisseries bear little or no resemblance to what I remember from my grandmother’s kitchen. The dough sheets tend to be thick, almost doughy, and the filling is often used sparingly, as if something to be rationed. The balance is lost.
For me, su böreği also carries the memory of an older time in Istanbul lives — a time when dishes like this were still made at home, patiently and with care. Large trays would appear on the table when the family gathered, and the work behind them was never rushed. These were dishes that belonged to grandmothers’ hands, to kitchens where knowledge was passed quietly from one generation to the next. Su böreği was börek of choice for bayram days, celebratory gatherings; it was not an everyday börek, it required patience and several hands of help. Yes, it is a laborious dish. Not something one prepares every day. The process takes time, patience, and a certain dedication.
A proper su böreği is the opposite of frugal. This is not the börek for restraint. The layers should be delicate, the filling generous, the whole tray rich and fragrant with all the fat used— an essential mixture of clarified butter and butter. It must be used with confidence, without hesitation. That is part of what gives su böreği its character.
But when it comes out of the oven — golden, layered, fragrant — you understand immediately why generations before us made the effort.
Every single time, it is worth it.
A few things that matter
1. The dough should be firm
Su böreği dough is not soft. It should be firm and well kneaded so the sheets can be rolled very thin without tearing and still hold their structure after boiling.
2. Roll the sheets very thin
The dough should be rolled almost to translucency. This is what gives su böreği its delicate layers. If the sheets are thick, the börek will feel heavy and doughy.
3. The boiling is very brief
The sheets only stay in boiling water for a few seconds. The aim is not to cook them fully but simply to loosen the dough.
4. Cold water is essential
Each sheet goes straight from boiling water into cold water. This stops the cooking immediately and makes the sheets easier to handle.
5. Be generous with the butter
A proper su böreği relies on a generous mixture of clarified butter and butter between the layers. This is what gives the börek its fragrance and delicate texture.
6. Let it rest before cutting
Once out of the oven, allow the börek to rest for about 20-30 minutes. The layers settle and the slices hold together beautifully.
Su Böreği
Recipe & Method
Ingredients
For the dough
Tray: : 21,5 cm / 8,5 inches 31,5 cm / 12,5 inches
Eggs : 60 grams ( %40) 140 grams
Water : 30 grams ( %20) 70 grams
Salt : 3 grams ( %2) 7 grams
Flour (AP) : 150 grams ( %100) 350 grams
For the filling
White cheese (preferably a good Turkish beyaz peynir)
A handful of chopped parsley
For layering - needs a total of 250 grams melted fat for the small tray, and 600 grams for the larger tray
Clarified butter %70
Butter %30
Method
In a bowl, mix the eggs, water, and salt.
Add the flour. Since different flours absorb water differently, begin with about 100 g and gradually add more as needed. The dough should come together into a firm and elastic texture — firmer like pasta doughs.
Knead well until the dough becomes smooth, tight, and slightly springy to the touch.
Let the dough rest for 15–20 minutes, then divide it into 13 dough balls: 7 for the bottom layers and 6 for the top.
Roll each dough ball well between your palms until smooth and elastic. They should feel almost rubbery.
Place the dough balls in a bowl with plenty of cornstarch and let them rest there for 30–45 minutes.
Melt ghee and add butter to it and let it melt off the heat.
Prepare your filling.
Also set up your work station: simmering water on the stove, ice water for soaking the cooked sheets, an up-side-down turned colander, several clean tea-towels to dry the sheets of filo, and your tray brushed generously with your melted fat.
The dough balls need to be rolled out very thinly with a rolling pin.
The bottom and top sheets are used dry, without boiling, so these should be rolled out individually.
The remaining dough balls can either be rolled one by one, or rolled together in groups of 6 and 5, with plenty of starch between them, and then separated afterwards.
Use whichever method feels convenient for you. One by one is easier but takes longer; rolled together is time-efficient but requires real skill.
Start with your first layer and place it on the greased tray. Drizzle or brush generously with the melted fat.
Salt your simmering water and also add a few spoonfuls of melted fat into it. It helps with preventing the filo sticking to itself.
Drop your second sheet into simmering water and cook briefly, like 30 seconds and immediately transfer to the ice-cold bath. You don’t need to keep it long there, just enough to stop cooking and be able to handle the filo.
Drain it out of the cold bath and stroke out as much water as possible with long movements and place it onto the turned down colander to further drain.
Then lay your sheet of filo on a tea-towel and pat dry.
Now crinkle the prepared filo on top of the first sheet and drizzle with more melted fat. Be generous.
Continue for 5 more layers. In total the bottom will be 1 dry sheet and 6 boiled sheets.
Put your filling on top of your prepared bottom.
Preheat your oven 210ºC.
Start again with cooking a sheet of filo and repeat for 5 more layers as above with melted fat in between layers.
On the very top place your last sheet of filo without cooking -a dry filo-like you did with your very first one. So the top becomes 5 boiled sheets and 1 dry sheet, a total of 6 sheets of filo.
Now brush the top again generously with the melted ghee-butter mixture and place it on the bottom third of your preheated oven.
Bake till the top is golden coloured and turn it upside town to another appropriately sized tray (preferable slightly larger than the first tray, so you don’t burn yourself with the sizzling hot fat).
Put it back to the oven and lower the heat down to 180ºC and bake till the top (previously bottom) is golden.
Take it out, place it on the counter and cover it with the first tray. Not tight, just to let it rest for at least 20 minutes, preferably 30.
Slice and serve warm.
If you have any left-over, slice it, let it come to room temp and keep it in the fridge in a tupperware. Later you can heat the slices on a skillet over medium-low heat and turning over to crisp the outside.