This delicious, flaky and crispy savory pie is made with homemade phyllo layers wrapped around a spinach and feta cheese filling, then baked to perfection for that golden, brown look. We call this Phyllo Spinach and Feta Pie, Byrek me Spinaq in my native country of Albania.
Albanian Byrek
Albanian Byrek is a savory phyllo pie, a culinary staple of Albanian cuisine. Imagine a flaky, golden crust wrapped around a variety of delectable fillings, each bite bursting with flavor and texture.
Each family might have their favorite versions of byrek, some are regional and some seasonal. The most typical byreks in Albania have a ground beef filling, a feta cheese or gjizë (Albanian cottage cheese) filling, a summer onions/tomato filling, a spinach with cheese filling etc.
Then there are regional variations like byrek with beans or byrek with potatoes etc. There are some lesser known sweet variations as well as ones filled with squash or even an apple filled byrek which is similar to a strudel.
Albanian Byrek is not just an ethnic dish; it’s an experience, a culinary journey that will transport you to the heart of Albanian culture and tradition.
Homemade Phyllo
You can make this recipe with frozen phyllo sheets. In that case, I’d use a rectangular baking dish and layer phyllo layers on top of each other, with drizzled olive oil in between.
However, I really want to share with you the old fashioned way of making phyllo dough and stretching phyllo layers one by one at home. It’s a tradition that is slowly disappearing in favor of more convenience and my hope is to at least preserve it.
When I was growing up in Albania, the packaged, frozen phyllo layers didn’t appear in our markets until I was maybe in senior year of high school. So I grew up watching family and neighbors making phyllo from scratch.
Ingredients for Homemade Phyllo Dough
Phyllo dough is very simple to make. If you have ever made dough for bread, flatbreads etc this is a lot simpler than that. You need only a handful of ingredients and some time in your hands.
- All purpose flour with high protein content – (this is not a sponsored post by a brand by I wanted to share which specific flour I use, see my affiliate link to AP Flour that I prefer).
- Salt
- Olive oil
- Lukewarm water
Most Albanian women who make byrek and homemade phyllo can mix the dough for byrek without measurements, they just know how the consistency should look like and can mix to get it in shape no matter how much they’re making.
Pro-Tip: keep some water and flour on hand and dough is too sticky, add 1-2 tbsps of flour. If dough is too crumbly, add 1-2 tbsps of water. Adjust as needed to get a soft, pliable dough.
Stretching Phyllo Layers
Stretching phyllo layers is an art. Most Albanian women who still make homemade phyllo learn so at a young age from their moms and grandmothers. Some will use a rolling pin called ‘okllai’ or ‘pec’ in different regions of Albania. Some will stretch the phyllo dough by hand.
Either way, it’s a beautiful skill but that it’s also tasking because it is time consuming.
- Start by making phyllo dough and let it rest covered with a kitchen towel.
- Separate the dough in about 12-13 round smaller dough pieces called kulaç.
- Knead each one separately.
- Use cornstarch and a rolling pin to stretch to maximum, which means the layer is as thin as possible without breaking it. The dough layer becomes so thin, it’s almost see through.
Filling Ingredients for Spinach Phyllo Pie
While this recipe for Albanian byrek might be very similar for some of you to Greek Spanakopita, I would like to say that the ingredients and the way I grew up making this recipe is the Albanian way my family makes Byrek me Spinaq.
- Spinach – I prefer pre-washed baby spinach. Also, you’ll need a LOT of spinach, almost 400-500 grams. I know it seems a lot in volume, but it does go down a lot.
- Feta Cheese – block feta tastes better in my opinion.
- Green onions – Use a lot of green onions, they compliment spinach and dill so well in the filling. I used about 8 but usually I don’t count, I pick a big bunch and use it all.
- Dill – I use 1 bunch of dill, remove stems and chop fine.
- Yogurt – I add 2-3 tbsps of Greek yogurt that is thicker than regular homemade yogurt.
- Eggs – 2 eggs seem enough for 1 byrek but you can adjust to your taste.
- Salt – the quantity of salt might vary a bit based on how salty feta cheese is. I’ve noticed different brand shave a huge variant on salt so watch out for that.
Sonila’s Tips and Notes
If you’ve never made a phyllo pie / byrek before, I would suggest you try to make one with frozen phyllo layers. Fill it up with spinach like in this recipe or with meat like my Byrek me Mish recipe and then bake it to perfection. You’ll learn so much about phyllo pies just by practicing that.
You can also use the frozen phyllo layers to make Byreçka rolls filled with feta cheese.
Once you feel comfortable making byrek (phyllo pies), then you can try to stretch phyllo. You’d need a thin rolling pin and cornstarch! Practice makes perfect. I’m warning you that there’s a learning curve but don’t give up:).
When you feel you’re a pro with phyllo layers, then you can make not only phyllo pies (byreks) but graduate to making baklavas!! Your family will be forever grateful!!
Phyllo Spinach and Feta Pie – Byrek me Spinaq
Equipment
- 1 14 inch round baking dish at 14 inch round, better if it's 15 or 16 inch in diameter
Ingredients
Phyllo dough
- 4.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour use 4 cups for the dough and the last half cup as needed when you are kneading the dough for the surface are and to reach the correct consistency.
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 0.5 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsps olive oil
Phyllo Pie Filling
- 16 ozs spinach I like to use pre-washed baby spinach
- 1 bunch dill see also video for size of the bunch approximation
- 6-8 green onions
- 0.5 tbsp sea salt
- 8 ozs feta cheese block feta in water is preferred
- 2-3 tbsps Greek yogurt
- 2 eggs
Additional Ingredients
- 2 cups cornstarch used for stretching the phyllo
- 1 cup olive oil used to brush the assembled phyllo before baking
Instructions
Making phyllo dough
- Add 4 cups of all purpose flour on a mixing bowl. Create a well in the middle.
- Dissolve salt in lukewarm water. Add 2 tbsps of olive oil, mix well.
- Pour the liquid mix over the well of the flour slowly. Use your hands or a wooden spoon to mix and create dough. Adjust as needed with 1-2 tbsps of water or tbsps of flour to get the soft consistency of dough. Knead well for 5-6 minutes.
- Place dough into a clean bowl and cover with kitchen towel. Let dough rest.
Making filling
- Clean spinach from stems, wash the night before and let air dry if spinach is unwashed. If you can buy the triple washed spinach because it will save you time. Cut the stems out, add spinach to a big bowl. Add salt.
- Clean dill from branches and stems, chop fine and add over the spinach.
- Chop the green onions top off, remove one outer layer and then wash them thoroughly because they tend to keep impurities in between the leaves. Dice them roughly and add over the spinach dill bowl. Use your hands and press on the spinach, dill and onions while you are mixing them. The volume will go considerably down.
- Crumble feta cheese with a fork, add in the bowl. Whisk the eggs lightly, add over all the other ingredients. Finally add some yogurt too, 2-3 tbsps is enough. Mix everything well.
Stretch the phyllo dough
- Once dough has resting for about 30 minutes or so, it will be more elastic and pliable. Cut into equal pieces, about 12-13 of them is enough.
- Knead each separately and make them into small dough balls. Place them on a platter and cover with kitchen towel.
- Use cornstarch and a thin rolling pin to stretch each phyllo ball into a thin, see-through layer. This part takes some practice but it's not impossible to achieve.
- Fold a corner, add filling into a straight line then roll the layer until you get a log shape. Rotate that into a spiral shape.
Assembly
- Oil the bottom and sides of a baking dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Once you have the first spiral phyllo dough roll, add it to the middle of the baking dish. Stretch another layer, add filling, roll it then wrap it around the first spiral shape. Continue repeating until you get to the edges .
- Brush olive oil generously over the spiral dough. Once you're done, place baking dish in the oven. Monitor the phyllo pie while it's baking. Once it reaches the golden brown color, cover with aluminum foil. Bake in total for about 50 minutes. I usually add the aluminum foil around 30 minutes into it, but that might be different for everyone based on the oven you're using.
- Once baked, let rest for about 15 minutes before cutting into it.
- If you like crunchy phyllo pie, there's no need to do anything else at this point. If you want a softer phyllo pie, drizzle lightly some water drops over the pie as soon as you get it out of the oven. Keep it covered those 15 minutes of rest.
Video
Notes
- Please note that servings of this pie size can vary from 4-8 because of the way you serve this dish. It you serve with soup, or yogurt or salad, then you might stretch this to 8 servings. If you have kids like mine who don’t stop eating, then this is more like 4 servings.
- Calories are estimated based on all the ingredients input, but keep in mind that you don’t consume all the cornstarch and olive oil used.
- I personally serve my byrek with spinaq with tarator or plain yogurt. My kids just don’t add any side dishes to it. While my husband will have a small salad or soup as starters.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
Ingredients for Albanian byrek and Greek spanakopita are very similar. However, most spanakopita recipes I’ve seen involve cooking the filling slightly then squeezing the juices out, while the filling for Albanian byrek with spinaq is mixed by hand until volume goes down. The difference in taste might be obvious to people from each country but not necessarily to people from outside of the Mediterranean region.
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save any pictures from this post to your boards in Pinterest so you can easily retrieve it for later. Let me know in comments if you have any questions. I’d love it if you tag me in social media with your version of this recipe:))). Thank you so much!!
Additional Albanian Recipes
If you love byrek, I assume you’re familiar with Albanian cuisine so in that case, please feel free to check out some of my other recipes.
- Leeks casserole (Tavë me presh)
- Braised Cabbage (gjellë me lakër)
- Corn Pie Casserole with Spinach (Shapkat or Pispili)
- Chicken Soup (Supë Pule)
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