Banitsa

Instructions

1. 1 Preheat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius. Grease a round baking dish, about thirty centimetres in diameter, with some of the melted butter to prevent the pastry from sticking.
2. 2 In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt and baking soda. The mixture will foam up from the reaction. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth, then fold in the crumbled sirene cheese until evenly distributed.
3. 3 Lay one sheet of phyllo dough on a clean work surface and brush it generously with melted butter. Place a second sheet on top and brush again. Spoon a line of the cheese-egg filling along one long edge of the layered sheets.
4. 4 Roll the filled phyllo sheets into a long log, keeping it fairly loose so the pastry can puff during baking. Starting from the centre of the baking dish, coil the log into a spiral shape.
5. 5 Repeat the layering, filling, rolling, and coiling process with the remaining phyllo sheets and filling, continuing the spiral outward until the baking dish is filled from centre to edge.
6. 6 Brush the top of the assembled banitsa generously with the remaining melted butter. This final layer of butter ensures the top becomes deeply golden and flaky during baking rather than drying out.
7. 7 Bake for thirty-five to forty minutes until the pastry is puffed, golden brown, and crispy on top. Remove from the oven and drape a clean kitchen towel over the dish for ten minutes to soften the crust slightly before serving.