Bourekas

Typical Israeli bourekas, traditionally topped with sesame, poppy or nigella seeds.
Alternative names	Burekas, Bureka, Boureka, Borekas, Burekasim
Type	Tea pastry[1]
Course	Fast food, Shabbat breakfast
Associatedcuisine	Jewish cuisine
Main ingredients	Puff pastry orphyllo; filling
Variations	feta cheese,tzfat cheese,kashkaval cheese,mashed potato, spinach, mallow mushrooms, pizza, less commonly ground beef, lamb, chicken with pine nuts and almonds, or vegetables, or a sweet filling such asmuhallebi

Bourekas orburekas (Hebrew:בורקס),(Ladino:Burekas) are a popularbakedpastry inSephardic Jewish cuisine andIsraeli cuisine. A variation of theburek, a popular pastry throughout southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East, Israeli bourekas are made in a wide variety of shapes and a vast selection of fillings, and are typically made with eitherpuff pastry,filo dough, orbrik pastry, depending on the origin of the baker.^[2]

As knowledge of Ladino is lost among the younger generation of Sephardic Jews,Judeo-Spanish has become a "language of food". Food names have been described as "the last Judeo-Spanish remains" of the cultural memory of Ottoman-Sephardic heritage.^[3] The wordboureka (orborekita) is a Judeo-Spanish loanword from the Turkishbörek. Spanish does not have the front rounded Turkishö sound, so the word becomesboreka.^[4]

As one Turkish food writer put it, "Ladino is theborekitas of the granmama".^[3]

In Judeo-Spanishboreka originally referred to empanada-style pastries, while the traditional Ottoman börek were calledbulema.^[3]

Bourekas have been called "the Israeli equivalent of Jewish-American bagel and cream cheese" and are served for almost any occasion, from ameeting of Israeli soldiers to a Shabbatkiddush.^[5]Gil Marks has said:^[6]

In Modern Israel, borekas…follows only falafel in popularity as a street snack food and rank among the favorite home treats for the Sabbath or a simple weekday nosh.

Bourekas can be found everywhere in Israel. They are a very popular street food, and are served atshuks (outdoor markets) and eateries in theMachane Yehuda market inJerusalem, Levinsky Market as well as theCarmel Market inTel Aviv, and Israeli restaurants and cafes. They are also baked in dedicatedboureka bakeries specializing in baking bourekas.^[7][8]

Bourekas are often made out ofpuff pastry filled with various fillings. Among the popular fillings arefeta cheese,kashkaval cheese, minced meat,mashed potato,spinach and cheese,eggplant, andmushrooms.^[9]

Sephardic Jews also make a special version of borekitas that are deep-fried, soaked in honey, and filled with nuts, served as a traditionalPurim delicacy.^[10] It is known asTravadicos among Jews in Turkey andBourekitas de muez among Jews in Greece.^[11]

TheSephardicJews of Spain were makingempanadas before theexpulsion from Spain.

In some towns ofEmilia-Romagna^[12] such as the former city-statesFerrara andModena, the Jewish community used to consume a half-moon-shaped sweet pastry calledburriche orburricche.^[13] This dish, perhaps inspired by Ottoman cuisine, was part of the cuisine eaten by the Jewish communities that lived in Italy, and is possibly linguistically related to bourekas.

The Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain sought refuge in theOttoman Empire.

Most of these places were under the control of theOttoman Empire. The Sephardic Jews created a new dish which adapted börek to theirkosher dietary laws, and combined it with their traditional empanadas to create bourekas.^[14]

During thefirst aliyah Sephardic Jews madealiyah and moved to the British Mandate of Palestine. They brought with them their traditional cuisine, and this included bourekas. They began to open up bakeries serving these pastries.

TheState of Israel declared independence in 1948. With the massive influx of Sephardi Jews, they brought with them their cuisine, and it included bourekas. Sephardic and Mizrahi cuisine became the dominant cuisine in Israel, due to the majority of Israelis belonging to these two groups, and due to the local climate.

Bourekas quickly became a very popular food across Israel, and their popularity spread to Israelis of all ethnicities. Yemenite and other Jews adapted bourekas to their own cuisines. Turkish Jews, Greek Jews and Bulgarian Jews, among others, opened eateries serving their own style and variations of bourekas.^{[citation needed]}

Israeli bourekas come in a variety of shapes, which are indicative of their fillings. The laws ofkashrut require avoiding eating dairy pastries together with ones containing meat, so conventional, distinctive shapes are used to indicate different types of fillings. Cheese bourekas come in right angled and isosceles triangles, and have two different sizes. Potato bourekas come in a certain box shape. Pizza bourekas resemble a co-centric tower. Spinach bourekas resemble a pastry knot. There are also the so-called "Turkish bourekas" which form rounded equilateral triangles, and are filled with various fillings, whose type can usually be determined by the addition on their outside.

In June 2013, theChief Rabbinate of Israel started requiring that bourekas (and alsorugelach andcroissants) are to have specific shapes in order to be sold by kosher-certified bakers in Israel. According to the law, all bourekas made with puff pastry and containing dairy products had to be shaped into triangles, whileparve (nondairy) bourekas made with puff pastry had to be made in round or square shapes. The Chief Rabbinate also implemented different regulations regarding the shape of bourekas made with phyllo dough, these bourekas must be made in triangular-shapes ifparve (non-dairy), and "snake-shaped" if made with dairy.^[15]

Traditionally, making bourekas was a very time-consuming process, taking many hours until the bourekas were finished. Bourekas are traditionally made with freshly made enriched dough, either similar topuff pastry orphyllo depending on the origin of the baker, althoughbrik pastry,malawach dough, puff pastry, croissant dough, orbabka dough are also sometimes used. To make homemade filo for bourekas, a simple flour and water dough is rolled out like thin flatbreads. They are brushed with oil then layered until the dough is very elastic and can be hand pulled until it is translucent. It is a laborious process and storebought frozen puff pastry or phyllo dough is more commonly used by home chefs today.^[16]

The dough is then rolled out, and it is cut into various shapes. Any variety of fillings are placed into the center of each piece of dough, the edges of which are sealed withegg wash or water. Each boureka is then brushed with an egg wash and topped with seeds or seasoning, and is baked.^[17]

Bourekas are also very commonly sold frozen in grocery and convenience stores in Israel^[18] by brands includingTa'amti andTnuva in flavors such as cheese, spinach and cheese, potato, and pizza.^[19]

Bourekas are traditionally topped with any multitude of seeds. Sesame seeds are most common; however, depending on the filling, poppy seeds, black sesame seeds,everything bagel seasoning,nigella seeds, orza'atar may be used as a topping.

Savory bourekas are traditionally paired withhard-boiled eggs orhaminados, a hot sauce such asskhug or harif, grated tomato, and sometimestahini sauce, as well as olives, Israeli pickles, other pickled vegetables, and sometimes a salad as well. The use ofskhug and grated tomato as an accompaniment to bourekas originated within theYemenite Jewish community of Israel, who serve many of their traditional breads such asmalawach in a similar manner.^[20]

"Bourekas films" (Hebrew: סרטי בורקסsirtei burekas) are a type of Israeli movie from the 1970s dealing with certain cultural aspects of Israelis, especially lower-classMizrahi Israelis and their conflicts with theAshkenazi establishment. The term is acalque onSpaghetti Western.

• bulemas – a related type of Sephardic Jewish pastries
• rugelach
• empanada
• knish – a similar Ashkenazi Jewish pastry
• samosa
• spanikopita
• tyropita

• Sephardi Jewish cuisine
• Israeli pastries
• Savoury pies
• Jewish cuisine

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from January 2018
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Hebrew-language text
• Articles containing Ladino-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020