Byrek or Pite for lazy people

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 500 g dough sheets (yufka sheets), for baklava
• 250 g minced beef
• 2 onions
• Salt
• pepper
• Paprika powder
• 100 ml sunflower oil
• 200 ml milk

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 5 minutes

Albanian, hearty strudel with ready-made pastry sheets

Filling: Brown the meat and chopped onions and season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Mix the milk and oil together, preferably in a spray bottle. Spray two sheets of dough with the milk-oil mixture, place them on top of each other, and spread some minced meat along the long side (about 2-3 tablespoons per sheet). Roll up the dough sheet, shape it into a snail, and place it in the center of an oiled baking sheet or Tepsi. Wrap the other pieces around this snail until the sheet is full or the dough is used up. Now thoroughly moisten the top with the milk-oil mixture and bake in a preheated oven at 250°C until the strudel has turned a beautiful golden brown. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Be sure to check the underside as well. If it’s still too light, move the baking sheet down one rack and cover the top with aluminum foil. Now, straight from the oven, sprinkle the strudel with a little cold water (about 3-4 tablespoons) and cover with a kitchen towel. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes, then serve. This recipe makes one baking sheet or tepsi and serves two to four people, depending on your appetite. It’s important to use yufka leaves for baklava, not the kind used for börek. These are simply too thick for Albanian pitta/byrek. You can also make it with any other pitta filling, e.g., spinach and feta cheese, spring onions with feta or sour cream, leeks plain or with sour cream, white cabbage, etc.