Welcome to Bulgaria! The land I'm coming from and the land of the gorgeous Bulgarian Кисело мляко. It is very possible that you're warmly welcome-drinked with a local home-made rakia that is a must. Still, there is a thing you simply can't miss for the time of your stay with us. We'll see you off at the airport with packages to-go, by your own request. Believe me! Can't be the other way round.
Баница. A particularly liked pastry dish coming from the land of the favoured Bulgarian yoghurt in both sweet and a savoury version, is a national delight I took some dignity to introduce you with. The Traditional Bulgarian Eggs&Cheese Banitsa in its savoury version is a mix of a Filo Pastry, yoghurt, eggs and Bulgarian cow cheese, which may remind of feta, only with the remark that it is a matured dairy product. It is so popular in this part of the world, that you could have at each corner bakery on the go. Variations of Banitsa-pastry could be found with various fills at the neighbours, throughout the region - Serbian Pita and Gibanitsa, Bosnian Burek, Montenegrian Manta...even in Macedonia, they can spoil your palate and leave you breathless. Our genuine and interesting tradition related to the upcoming Christmas season is to put dogwood branches with a bud into the pastry as it is believed that they are symbols of health and longevity. On a quite ordinary day, Banitsa may be served for breakfast with plain yogurt, ayran, or boza. Some varieties include banitsa with spinach "спаначник" (spanachnik) or the sweet version, banitsa with milk "млечна баница" (mlechna banitsa). The pastry with a pumpkin, sugar and wallnuts fill is called "тиквеник" (tikvenik).
A very wholesome dish that can be eaten cold or hot all year round.
I have mentioned this already on a couple of occasions and will do it gladly again for the sake of destroying some myths roaming on this particular latitude. Not that we don’t want to warm up our plates for cooked dishes, we just don’t like warmed-up dishes (here included stories and news also). We prefer it HOT. For the purpose we have beautiful women, potent men and clay pots. As a matter of fact we prefer it so HOT that some of us perform traditional dances bare foot on preheated coals...well, not exactlysome of us. Those who dare to the coal dance are an upgraded version of improved humans, publicly known as Нестинари. Let's get nailed it once...for good:
If our feet could bear some live coal heat, there shouldn't be a firm reason why our Баница should be cold
Now, let's get to work. Traditionally, Баница is made with homemade or commercially made pastry sheets that are prepared from a baker's hard dough including flour, eggs, and water. Make sure that the sheets are spread by continuously pulling the dough using fingers until it becomes less than a millimeter thin. This will produce a fine crust later. Some master chefs are applying the pizza-dough technique and spread the dough by waving the sheets over their heads. Do NOT do this at home! In order to acquire soft and elastic sheet, sprinkle some sunflower oil between the partially spread leaves. For the traditional fill crush some white cheese, whisk together yoghurt with backing soda, and the eggs. The baking soda will make your pastry fluffy and soft.
So far, we have used the following Ingredients
350-400 g white cheese
1 yogurt
4 eggs
1/4 tea cup sunflower oil - interesting measure, isn't it?
1 tsp baking soda
1 pack of filo pastry
Looks like a substantial, yet a low budget dish.
Before we continue...Me, I'm so into words etymology, that I just can't skip this part.
The Bulgarian word Баница derives from the Old Bulgarian гъбнѫти meaning "to fold." The word developed from the Proto-Slavic form *гыбаница > *гъбаница > *гбаница > баница.
My Grandma's method of preparation is taking each sheet of dough, laying it out flat and sprinkling some of the filling on it. You need to roll up the sheet into a tight roll with the filling on the inside of the roll, the long roll is then taken to make a circle. Thinking of going into a spiral, here, you'd have to start from the center of the baking pan and roll up until the wider fill circle. You may prefer to sprinkle sunflower oil or melted butter on the top before baking.
Facilitating your First Banitsa Experience further, I suggest you have a look at the step-by-step method Here.@Ravijojla's Method. Get the sheets layered one by one in a large greased baking dish, sprinkle with oil and use the fill between each layer. I prefer the Detours and simple ways - my oil goes in the eggs and yoghurt mixture, so I'm able to move quickly forward. My family prefers a rich fill, so I usually see to apply a substantial amount of it spooned onto the leaves and then procede with the remaining sheets and filling in the same manner.
What I prefer for an outstanding and melting crust, is to cover the top with a quantity of eggs, yoghurt and oil mixture, I have put aside at the beginning. Couldn't ask for a better topping. Ready to bake the pastry, we need the oven at 200–250 °C for about 30-35 minutes or until the Banitsa is golden brown. Take it out, let it rest for a few minutes, then cut it up in pieces and enjoy!
@crazybgadventure in his #HungryHungyHumpDays show on the Ramble radio
@penderis 
