Dishes · A classic of Greek · Thessaloniki

Bougatsa

Thin layers of filo wrapped round a warm semolina custard, baked, cut into squares and dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon.

What makes it bougatsa

  • Filo stretched very thin and folded in many layers.
  • A semolina custard, not too sweet.
  • Icing sugar and cinnamon on top, served warm.

Where it comes from

It's a Thessaloniki breakfast, eaten hot from the bougatsa shop with coffee. The pastry is often said to have come with refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s, and its name is linked to the Turkish poğaça and, further back, to Latin words for hearth-baked bread.

The same pastry is filled with cheese or minced meat for those who'd rather start the day savoury.

How it varies

Me tyri
With salty white cheese instead of custard.
Me kima
With spiced minced meat.

Be the first here

Start your own bougatsa
No one here has made bougatsa yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.

Near it

GreekSpanakopitaSpinach and feta with spring onion and dill, baked in crisp layers of filo — as one big pie or small triangles.No one here has made it yetTurkishBaklavaMany sheets of paper-thin pastry layered with chopped pistachios or walnuts, baked in butter and soaked in syrup.No one here has made it yet