Greek Bougatsa Sweet

This is a recipe for Bougatsa (pronounced with a soft g) which is yet another delicious sweet. People often buy these from small shops on the street and eat them as they are walking. The quality in these shops varies, as you can imagine, but the recipe below will produce a tasty pastry and delicious filling.

Ingredients

Pastry

500g all-purpose flour

200g butter

50g butter for finish

260ml soda water

1 tsp salt

½ sugar

Icing sugar (to sprinkle on top at the end)

Filling

1 litre milk

40g corn flour

80g fine semolina

200g sugar

4 eggs

100g butter

30g butter (to spread on top)

2 vanillas

Preparation

Pastry

Put the flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl and add the soda water to make a pliable dough.

Knead the dough well for approx. 10 minutes.

Divide into 4 balls, wrap them in cling film and set aside to rest for 1 hr.

After the 1 hour, take one of the balls of dough and on a floured surface roll it out into a circle approx. 40cm diameter.

Half melt the 200g butter and brush ¼ of it generously over the pastry.

Fold the pastry into a square in the stages shown in the photos below, tapping it with your hands to make sure there are no air bubbles.

Set aside.

Roll out another ball of dough into a circle approx. 40 cm diameter.

Brush it with another ¼ of the half-melted butter.

Place the first square of pastry in the centre of the circle and fold into a square as in the photos below.

 

 

Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 1 hr.

Repeat this process with the other 2 balls of dough.

After the 1 hr has passed, roll out one of the squares on a floured surface, large enough to cover the bottom of an oven dish as well as the sides and to go over the edge.

Butter the dish and place the pastry on the bottom, flattening it with your hands, up the side and over the edge.

Filling

Put the milk and the 100g butter in a pan and stir until the butter has melted.

Before the milk boils, Put the corn flour, semolina, sugar, eggs and vanillas in a bowl and mix well.

When the milk comes to the boil, add the mixture from the bowl and stir very well until it thickens.

Remove from the heat and pour into the oven dish on top of the pastry.

Fold the edge of the pastry inwards on top of the edge of the filling.

Roll out the other square of pastry and place it on top.

Melt the 30g butter and brush over the top.

Score the surface into helpings.

Place in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes or until it has gone golden brown.

Sprinkle icing sugar on top.

You can find here more recipes likes this...

Authentic Greek Recipes