Bougatsa Recipe

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Bougatsa Recipe

by Joyce Helfand, Owner, OPA Tours Greece

Bougatsa

Recipe

There are as many recipes for bougatsa as there are Greek woman who painstakingly prepare it. This is one of the less labor intensive and adaptable to easily available ingredients, but delicious nevertheless.

1 quart of milk
½ cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup farina, regular
4 large eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ pound ready made filo dough
1 cup confectioners sugar
cinnamon

Heat milk and sugar in deep pot. Add butter and farina slowly. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove pot from heat and cool. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing in quickly.

Melt butter in small pot and brush some on a rectangular or square baking pan. Lay 6 sheets of filo, brushing each with melted butter. Pour custard mixture over filo. Cover with remaining sheets of filo, brushing each with the melted butter as before. Cut partially through the top layers only, making squares or lozenge shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sift confectioner’s sugar and sprinkle heavily with cinnamon over the top of the pastry as soon as it comes out of the oven. Eat it warm for the most divine experience.