Cheese pie (also known as cheese burek and pita sirnica), belongs to the family of Balkan pies made with flaky phyllo dough and a rich stuffing. The real challenge is eating just one piece! Shall we?
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Background
Flaky, savory phyllo dough pies were introduced to the Balkans by the Ottomans a few centuries ago. Since then they've taken on local flavors and become a thing of their own.
Today's cheese pie recipe is a phyllo dough pie stuffed with a scrumptious egg, cheese, and sour cream filling. You can eat this type of savory pastry all over the Balkans, but predominately in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia.
In Bosnia, it goes by the name pita sirnica (or just sirnica), translated as a pie made with cheese. In other Balkan countries you'll usually find it as cheese burek. (Croatian štrukli, and Serbian gibanica are its close relatives!)
Pies taste best when they’re made with homemade phyllo. However, with a few simple tricks you can make a delicious pie with a box of phyllo from the store. (Don't worry, we teach you how!)
Benefits
- Quick, delicious, and made with ingredients you already have on hand, this cheese pie recipe will surely become your favorite go-to when out of ideas.
- Cheese burek is a great, easy way to add phyllo dough to your cooking CV.
- What's not to love about an affordable, delicious, cheesy dish that'll make its way into your weekly menu?
Ingredients
- Cheese: The types of cheese that work best are ricotta, feta, farmers, queso fresco, goat cheese, cottage, and even gorgonzola. Most soft cheeses are a win (not brie though!). Avoid: hard and semi-hard cheeses like gouda, cheddar, and Edam as they'll melt and burn instead of melt and bake.
The first time you make this cheese pie recipe, use the recommended ingredients. The following time, however, keep cheese volumes about the same while you experiment with different types.
Why? Because this pie was made for adjusting itself to your palate.
- Oil: Sub with sunflower, canola or coconut oil, or cooking spray. Or use butter. Avoid: olive oil.
- Phyllo dough: Get phyllo dough in sheet form. Avoid: puff pastry and phyllo cups. These products are not the same!
Instructions
Our fast and simple instructions are here to give you an idea of how to make cheese burek. For more detailed information look at the recipe card below!
1. Make the filling. Heat oven.
2. & 3. Assemble phyllo, coating and filling into several layers.
4. Bake your cheese pie. (Not pictured.)
5. Coat pie with topping. Rest. Eat.
Handling
Serving: This pie is best served about 20-30 minutes after baking. (An hour is even better if you can be patient. From experience, this is hard.)
Assembly: Assemble cheese burek just before baking.
Storing: Store in a cool place (outside) for up to a day. Transfer to the fridge for up to 2-3 days. (Cover in plastic wrap.) Use your favorite reheating method, or eat cold. Do not freeze.
Recipe FAQs
Phyllo pies consist of tissue paper-thin dough called phyllo (filo, or fillo too), stuffed with different savory or sweet fillings. These pies are some of the foundational elements in Balkan and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Burek, or borek, originated in Central Asia and the Middle East and spread throughout Europe during the Ottoman Empire. (Burek, btw, is just a different way of saying "phyllo pie.")
Therefore, burek is a phyllo dough pie (look above!) that consists of flaky dough filled with different stuffings. (In Bosnia and Herzegovina burek is the meat pie only, all other pies are named based on their filling.)
Today you can find burek in the Balkans, Eastern, and Central Europe, as well as the countries with immigrant populations from these areas.
Cheesecake is a dessert made with cheese and a crust. Balkan cheese pie (pita sirnica, or burek with cheese), is a savory dish made with filo dough and stuffing made of cheese.
Expert Tips
A couple of tips on using phyllo dough.
- Always have an extra box of phyllo on hand. Even the best phyllo dough brands sometimes have a bad batch of phyllo that crumbles and dries quickly.
- Instead of using butter to soften the sheets, you can use a combination of oil and soda water, oil and butter, or just oil.
- For easier handling, get phyllo sheets similar in size to one of the sides of your baking pan...
- ... However, this cheese pie recipe is forgiving! You can cut or wrinkle phyllo to fit, and spread extra pieces inside as you are layering it. No need to be precise here. You can't go wrong!
Similar Recipes
- Are you a meat and potato person? Come and get it!
- Just the potatoes? Okey dokey.
- Homemade IS best. Try this!
- Want unusual? Zuchinni pie is all yours.
- Our ❤️ language is the spinach and cheese pie.
Thoughts?
If you make our phyllo cheese pie recipe (sirnica, cheese burek) and like it, please consider giving it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5-star) rating. This helps others find this recipe more easily!
Also, feel free to leave a comment (I read each one!), and don't forget to tag a photo #balkanlunchbox, or us @balkanlunchbox, on IG.
Prijatno and bon appetit!
Phyllo Cheese Pie
Ingredients
Filling:
- 8 ounces feta cheese
- 12 ounces farmers cheese or ricotta
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 4-5 eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
Phyllo and phyllo coating:
- 1 box phyllo dough 16-18 sheets, about 1 pound
- 5-6 tablespoons butter
- 2-3 tablespoons oil vegetable, canola, sunflower or coconut
Topping:
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Filling: In a large bowl, combine filling ingredients. Whisk until ingredients are completely integrated. Heat oven to 390°F (200°C).
- Assembly: Grease a baking pan. Layer one phyllo sheet on the bottom of the pan. Brush a thin layer of (butter and oil) coating over the sheet. Add another sheet of phyllo on top of the first one and repeat the coating.
- Grab a generous amount of filling (about 4 tablespoons), and spread evenly over the top sheet. Layer two sheets on top of the filling, coating each before adding the next layer (just like in step two). (If phyllo is larger than the pan, you can fold, crumple or cut it until it fits.) Top with the filling again and spread it evenly. Repeat phyllo, coating and filling layers until you run out ingredients. Make sure the last, top, pie layer has at least 2-3 sheets of phyllo. Brush it with coating last time and put the pan in the oven.
- Bake 15 min. Rotate the pan and continue baking another 15-20 minutes. Monitor the pie so it doesn’t blush too much (or burn). If it blushes too much lower the temperature to 360°F (180°C) or cover with foil.
- Topping: In a small pan combine milk and butter. Warm up the milk just until the butter melts. Take the cheese pie out of the oven. Using a teaspoon distribute the topping evenly over the pie. Turn the oven off and return the pie inside for a few minutes.
- Serve 20-30 minutes (an hour is even better!) after baking. Store in a cool place (outside) for up to a day. Transfer to the fridge for up to 2-3 days. (Cover in plastic wrap.) Use your favorite reheating method, or eat cold. Do not freeze.
Marko says
I have exact the same problem in Switzerland, easier to buy a cow than unpasteurized soft cow cheese!? Same problem in Germany... I wonder why?? Anyway, great recipe! Other than that, Would be nice if you would use European Metrics as well... 🙂
Aida says
Fear of bacterial infection maybe? But I've never in my life heard of anyone who died from cheese. Thanks for stopping by Marko, and sorry about the metrics. I'm slowly translating the recipes into Bosnian and will be using metrics in translations. But you got me thinking - I should include a measuring chart somewhere on the blog.
Daood says
Small amounts of Gorgonzola or blue added are a fun non traditional variation. I like a pinch of cayenne and sometimes even some shredded green cabbage and potato for a Krum/sirnica hybrid. My wife likes it when I add feta to Burek, again not very traditional.
Aida says
Hi Daood,
Welcome to the blog!
Sirnica with cayenne and Gorgonzola? Adventurous, I like it! Feta is always a good, safe option. But not a bad idea to mix it up with cheeses, sour cream, etc.
(As far as names, in Bosnia burek is the meat (or meat and potato pie only), everything else gets the name based on the ingredients used. So feta pie is still sirnica.)
In any case, I look forward to trying your Gorgonzola technique. 🙂
Gordana says
AWESOME!! I've been hoping somebody from the Balkans was going to start a food blog translating all those delicious recipes our mame and bake held on a piece of paper somewhere deep in a drawer, or just deep in their minds "od oka" recepte. 🙂
Keep up the awesome work, Aida!
Aida says
Gordana,
Thanks for stopping by! It was exactly the frustration at the "odokativno" method that made me start the blog. Let me know if you have particular recipe in mind, and I'll see that it makes it into the rotation. 🙂
Chris Waghorn says
So many countries, whose language I don't speak, have so many of the types of recipes that I think I'd love. It's great to find another, this will go on the list of things I have to make.
Aida says
Chris,
I hope you do, and I hope you like it. This one is a good intro into Balkan food, and you can play around with different cheeses for a taste of your own. Bon appetite!
Sebila says
Thanks for this, because I ask my mom how to make it and she always gives me "odoka" recipe like others have said. Although, she never makes the cheese pie with feta, she uses cottage cheese which I think probably gives it a milder flavor and is closer to the "mladi sir" traditionally used for this recipe. Then she uses cream cheese instead of ricotta, but does use some sour cream. I made it that way and it was awesome. It really is the simplest recipe around.
Aida says
You have a beautiful name.
Glad the recipe worked out! You can experiment with cheeses. I like the feta combo as it gives it a more salty flavor. There is no wrong way to do this.
Donna says
Hi!! I just came across your recipe and am excited to try it! 🙂 I was wondering if the same steps (oven temp and length of bake time) would apply if I did the apple cinnamon filling to make this a desert. What do you think??
Aida says
Donna,
I can't say for sure, but it makes sense that it would. Here's a sweet pie we did (a little differently than this one) as it may give you ideas. https://balkanlunchbox.com/plum-pie-recipe-sljivopita/
Liz says
Hi! Is it best this is assembled right before cooking or can it be in the refrigerator overnight?
Aida says
Liz,
Right before cooking.
A.
Tina says
Dobar dan,
jako mi je krivo da nisam zapisala recept dok je bio u gr i ml. Ovako ga nemogu koristit. Dok to sve proračunam imam osijecaj da sam na matematičnom. Moza bi bilo moguće za nas koji nismo u SAD da se navedu sastojci u gr i ml. Bilo bi mi jako drago. Pozz Tina
Aida says
Tina,
Poslali smo vam recept putem maila. Za ostale budite strpljivi. Reorganizujemo stranicu te ce svi recepti imati i dodatnu opciju za metricki sistem.
U medjuvremenu, mozete nas pogledati na YT. Ispod svakog recepta na B/H/S/C su sada i kompletne instrukcije. https://youtu.be/sCyUa35CaYk
Lp
Sarah amena says
Peace Aida - If I try and make this pita - what is difficulty level for a novice? And would I just use a cookie sheet? I want to surprise the hubby and the kids - I have an 18 month old and a 3.5 year old and they both prefer Majka’s cooking - so I need to get better - my Moroccan grandma raised me and by the time I started living with her - she was too tired to teach me all the cooking tricks - I am actually learning more from you than my in laws because It’s just easier his way! My girls are half Bosnian and I want them to enjoy the Bosnian cuisine - AND during Ramadan this year - the Bosnian Iftars were amazing - biggest turn out- people waited in line for 30 minutes- I want to cook like that Aida - where people enjoy and look forward to my cooking - especially after fasting all day!!
Aida says
Hi Sarah,
This one is easy peasy! Yes, you can definitely do it well on the first try!
Don't use the cookie sheet as you need a pan that's deeper (at least a couple of inches), so you can layer it. It can be a rectangular or a round pan, it really doesn't matter.
I think you have the cooking gene in you, now it's just a matter of doing it more! I have full faith in you, and can't wait to hear more about your cooking adventures.
Best,
Aida
Kaela says
I’m so happy to have found your blog! Can you roll this like the burek with meat and potatoes?
Aida says
Sure. Here's that recipe so you can have a visual, (just switch the stuffing) https://balkanlunchbox.com/ground-beef-and-potato-pie-phyllo-recipe-slagani-sareni-burek/
Susan Byrd says
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes. I worked overseas with Balkans and absolutely loved their food. Your American measurements make it easy for me to follow. Thank you, "hvala" for your time & sharing to us all
Aida says
Susan,
thank you for your lovely comment! We're so glad if some of these recipes make it to your dinner table!
Kind regards!