Whether you’re making it to enjoy during the week or for a weekend family meal, Gibanica is a staple in Balkan households, especially Serbian households. Layers of soft phyllo dough sheets are layered with an egg and cheese mixture and baked until golden brown, puffed up, and delicious.

Gibanica is one of the most popular and recognizable phyllo dough dishes in the Balkans, and it’s prepared for all holidays, dinner parties, and unexpected guests. It’s considered a type of “pita“, a term used to describe sweet or savory pastries made with phyllo dough sheets. In Serbia, it is enjoyed at any meal, as an appetizer, snack, or as part of holiday meals such as Christmas, Easter, and Slava. However, this dish can be found all over the Ex-Yu countries and prepared in many different ways.

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you’ll know how much I love feta cheese. In fact, I will always choose a pastry with cheese over anything sweet or with meat. One of my favorite memories of Gibanica growing up was being served a slice and finding a big piece of feta lodged in the phyllo dough layers. I would scope it out with my fingers and eat it before even taking a bite of my Gibanica. It’s still my favorite thing about this dish and I intentionally like to leave bigger pieces of feta in my Gibanica.

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Gibanica / Phyllo Cheese Pie

Recipe by The Balkan HostessCourse: AppetizersCuisine: Balkan, Serbian

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Gibanica is a traditional phyllo dish eaten across the Balkans.

Ingredients

1 package phyllo dough (500 g kore) (see note)
6 large eggs
2 cups (400 g) crumbled feta cheese
1 cup (200 g) cottage cheese, drained (sitan sira)
1/2 cup (120 ml) oil + more for greasing pan
1 tablespoon (14 g) baking powder (1 kesica)
1 1/3 cup (330 ml) sparkling water
Salt, to taste

Directions

Preheat over to 400F (200 C). Grease a 9×13 baking pan with oil and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until well combined then add in the sparkling water, baking powder, oil, and oil. Mix well.
Taste your feta cheese to determine how salty it is. If it is really salty, add just a pinch of salt to the egg mixture. If not too salty, add about 1/2 teaspoon (5-6 g) of salt.
Add the crumbled feta cheese and drained cottage cheese to the egg mixture. Stir everything well and set aside.
Unroll the phyllo dough sheets. Place one sheet in the bottom of the baking pan and ladle in 1-2 ladles of the egg and cheese mixture, making sure to include pieces of cheese. Spread the mixture across the phyllo dough but don’t press down on the dough. Let the dough naturally settle.

If your phyllo dough sheets are too big, tear them to make them fit in the baking pan.

Continue layering the phyllo sheets and egg/cheese mixture until you’ve used up all of your ingredients. Make sure the last layer (top of the dish) is the egg/cheese mixture. If it’s not, you’ll need to beat a couple of additional eggs with a little bit of cheese to cover the top.
Using a spoon or fork, go around the baking dish and tuck in the corners and sides of the phyllo dough into the baking dish. Do this but pushing the sides and corners of the phyllo dough down into the dish using your spoon/fork.
Let the Gibanica sit on the counter for 15 minutes before placing it in the oven. This allows the phyllo sheets to absorb the liquid.
After 15 minutes, place the Gibanica in the oven and bake until golden brown and cooked through (about 45 minutes). When the top has turned golden brown, place a piece of aluminum foil on top to prevent the top of the Gibanica from getting too dark.
After 45 minutes, remove the Gibanica from the oven. It will be very puffed up, about double in size. After snapping a few pictures, cover it with aluminum foil and then with a dish towel.
Let the Gibanica cool slightly and deflate, then remove the aluminum foil and cover again with the dish towel. This prevents too much water from falling back onto the Gibanica as steam is released.
Serve at room temperature, cut into squares.

Notes

For this recipe, cottage cheese needs to be drained. To do this, simply measure out the cottage cheese and place it into a strainer. Let it sit over the sink or a bowl for about 1/2 hour before using so the excess liquid drains.
If you happen to come across some double cream feta cheese, use that instead of the cottage cheese!
Only cover the Gibanica with the foil and dish towel briefly (until it deflates and cools slightly). Then make sure to remove the foil and re-cover with the dish towel only. If the foil is left on too long, the water droplets from the steam will fall back onto the Gibanica and make it wet, which is not what you want.
Any phyllo dough will work, but try not to use sheets that are too thick. These will be labeled as “debele kore“. I prefer to use those labeled as “kore za pite i baklave” as they tend to thinner. If you don’t have imported phyllo dough in your supermarket, use any brand.

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