Gibanica (Cheese Pie) Recipe
Gibanica is a traditional wheat flour pastry filled with soft cheese. The filling may be a soft spreadable cheese such as cottage cheese or soft crumbly cheese like feta. The easiest preparations use ready-made phyllo dough, but it also made with freshly rolled dough and baked.
The Balkans is made up of several countries and because of its popularity across the Balkans, gibanica has range of preparation methods, ingredients, appearances and the meal it is served for also varies.
In Serbia it is made with salty cheese, eggs and sometimes spinach. Prekmurska gibanica is the elaborate multilayered Slovenian version. It is made with thin cake or pastry dough. Each layer has a different filling usually, apple, walnut, poppy seed and cheese.
Other filling variations in addition to cheese are meat and potatoes. Gibanica’s various appearances includes cut into individual square or triangle pieces, logs, swirled slices and hand pies. Due to its wide range of both sweet and savory versions, it is served in different regions as breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert.
Origin & Significance
Gibanica originates from the Balkan region which includes the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, parts of Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and disputably small portions of Turkey, Ukraine and Italy. Gibanica is believed to come from the Serbo- Croatian word gibati, meaning to fold, perhaps a reference to its method of preparation.
Gibanica Recipe
Gibanica is a traditional wheat flour pastry filled with soft cheese. The filling may be a soft spreadable cheese such as cottage cheese or soft crumbly cheese like feta.
Ingredients
- Phyllo dough - 2 lbs
- Eggs - 7
- Cottage cheese - 1 ½ lbs
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Baking powder - 1 tsp
- Farmers’ cheese or feta (crumbled) - ½ lb
- Soda water - 3 tbsp
- Corn oil (divided) - 2/3 cup
Instructions
- Thaw phyllo dough according to package instructions.
- Grease the bottom of an extra-large and deep baking pan, preferably 11-by-16-inches.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then stir in the cottage cheese, salt, baking powder and farmers’ cheese.
- Stir in the soda water.
- Cover the bottom of the pan with a single layer of phyllo dough, making sure some of the pieces hang over the sides.
- Evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon oil over the dough.
- Take a piece of phyllo dough and wrinkle it into the dish with as many bumps as possible so it doesn’t lie flat. Depending on the size of the pan, use 2 to 3 pieces of dough for each layer.
- Evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon oil on the dough, including the sides and corners. Do not allow the oil to pool.
- Sprinkle 1/2 to 3/4 cup egg-and-cheese mixture on the dough, including the sides, enough to make sure the edges and crevices are covered. Do not allow the mixture to pool.
- Repeat laying down 2 to 3 pieces of wrinkled dough and sprinkling them with oil and the egg-and-cheese mixture until there is 1 layer of dough left.
- Cover the top of the dish with that last remaining layer, folding in any excess on the sides.
- Cover the top with a final layer of the egg-and-cheese mixture and oil. Do not dump any mixture leftovers on top.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until the top turns golden brown and the sides separate from the pan.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 564Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 153mgSodium: 1135mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 21g
Nutrition is provided and calculated by Nutritionix. It is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimation.
