Banitsa facts for kids
Banitsa
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| Alternative names | Banica, banitza |
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| Type | Pastry |
| Place of origin | Bulgaria |
| Serving temperature | Hot or cold |
| Main ingredients | Dough: flour, eggs, water Filling: crushed white cheese (sirene), yogurt, eggs |
Banitsa (Bulgarian: баница, Macedonian: баница, also known as banica or banitza) is a super yummy traditional pastry from Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Southeastern Serbia. It's made by layering thin sheets of dough, called filo pastry, with a tasty filling. This filling usually has whisked eggs, natural yogurt, and pieces of white salty cheese. After layering, it's baked in an oven until it's golden and crispy!
People often eat Banitsa for breakfast. It goes great with plain yogurt, ayran (a salty yogurt drink), or boza (a sweet fermented drink). You can enjoy it hot or cold. There are also different kinds of Banitsa, like "spanachnik" with spinach, or sweet versions such as "mlechna banitsa" with milk or "tikvenik" with pumpkin.
Contents
What's in a Name?
The word "banitsa" comes from an old South Slavic word that means "to fold." This makes sense because Banitsa is all about folding layers of dough!
How to Make Banitsa
Making Banitsa involves preparing the dough and the filling, then layering them together.
The Dough
Traditionally, Banitsa uses very thin sheets of dough. These sheets are made from flour, water, and salt. People at home can stretch the dough by hand until it's super thin, almost like paper! Sometimes, they use a rolling pin or even wave the dough over their heads, similar to how pizza dough is made. Most people today use ready-made pastry sheets from the store.
There's another type of Banitsa called "tutmanik" or "poparnik." It uses dough that has yeast in it, making it a bit different. The most common filling for this one is also cheese.
The Filling
The classic Banitsa filling is made with crushed white cheese (like sirene or feta cheese), yogurt, and eggs. Sometimes, a little baking soda is added to the yogurt. This makes the filling rise and become extra fluffy when it bakes!
But Banitsa can have many other fillings too!
- Vegetable fillings: These are often called "zelnik" (meaning "green"). They can include spinach, leeks ("praznik"), onions ("luchnik"), nettles, cabbage, or even sauerkraut.
- Rice fillings: In some parts of Bulgaria, people make Banitsa with rice.
- Meat fillings: You can also find Banitsa with minced meat, onions, and mushrooms.
- Sweet fillings: These are delicious! Some are made with apples, like an apple pie or strudel ("shtrudel"). Others use pumpkin ("tikvenik") with sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon.
A modern sweet Banitsa is made by soaking the dough sheets in a mix of milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla before baking.
Putting It Together
To bake Banitsa, you usually grease a large baking dish. You then place individual dough sheets, adding small amounts of filling and sunflower oil or melted butter between each layer. Once about half the sheets are in, you add a bigger portion of the filling. Then, you cover it with the rest of the dough sheets and filling. Finally, it's baked at a hot temperature (around 200–250 °C). Sometimes, just before it's done, a glass of lemonade or sparkling water is poured over it to make it even better!
Another cool way to make Banitsa is to spread out each dough sheet, sprinkle some filling on it, and then roll it up tightly. This long roll is then coiled into a spiral shape in the baking pan. You repeat this with all the sheets, placing each new roll around the previous one, creating a big spiral. This spiral Banitsa is then brushed with oil or butter and baked.
Special Traditions
In Bulgaria, Banitsa is more than just food; it's a symbol of their culture and traditions.
People traditionally make and serve Banitsa on two special holidays: Christmas and New Year's Eve. On these days, they hide "kusmeti" (lucky charms or fortunes) inside the Banitsa. These charms can be small pieces of a dogwood branch. The number of buds on the branch can symbolize things like health or a long life.
The Banitsa is cut into pieces, one for each family member, plus two extra pieces (one for the house and one for the Virgin Mary, who protects the family). A wish is linked to each branch, and the number of buds helps you know which wish you got. The wishes can be for happiness, health, success, or travel. The Banitsa is then spun on the table, and everyone takes the piece that lands in front of them. Inside, they find their fortune for the new year! Common fortunes include "health," "love," "marriage," "baby," "journey," or "wealth."
Sometimes, instead of dogwood branches, people put a coin or small pieces of paper with written fortunes inside (like in fortune cookies). These are wrapped in tin foil to keep them safe during baking.
The word "banitsa" is also used in a funny way in Bulgaria. If something, like a passport or a notebook, is very creased or messy, people might say it has "become like a banitsa"! It can even be used to describe a car that's been badly crushed in an accident.
See also
In Spanish: Banitsa para niños
