My friends mom is Egyptian but her husband used to work on ships with some very nice Greek friends and she learned how to make this. We live in the US so the powder she used was Farina. She passed away and I never got the recipe but I will never forget the taste of her dessert. I’ve been looking for videos and so happy I found one. Hopefully I can make it as good as her but she put a lot of love into hers so I know it won’t be the same. The only thing I remember is that she put a thinner layer of cream and it was more thick. Thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you so much for your comment. Farina is actually a Greek flour brand, so it seems she used it to make her own filo pastry with it. Our recipe is with a ready-made filo pastry so you should be fine :) However, the traditional Greek Bougatsa pastry is extremely difficult to make and needs loads of space (see here: ua-cam.com/video/2b9mc_vSl7o/v-deo.html). Regarding the cream, you can put as much or sa little as you like. Usually it's less than we made, but we do love it so we use loads of it :)
@@Greekosophy Thank you! I watched her make the dessert and she used readymade Filo pastry and I bought the ingredients for her. The filling was made with Farina and whole milk but I can’t remember what else she put in it. She put cinnamon and powdered sugar on top and she used melted butter to put the pastry on the big pan but the pan she used was almost as big as the pastry. Maybe that’s why the filling was less. Farina in the US is used to make hot cereal so maybe there are different kinds and it looks exactly like the Semolina. Your recipe looks great and I know it will be delicious. I’m Persian and we make Baklava in a similar way minus the cream of course. It’s a long process lol. Thank you again!!
@Greekosophy, thanks for the recipe. It might be the closest to the real deal for those that are not trained to make the real bougatsa pastry. We make your recipe at home too, but usually we call it "bougatsa" with the typical air quotes sign :P. Some more info about bougatsa: In southern Greece I have seen "bougatsa" made with simple filo or sfogliata pastry and cream filling, which actually makes it a general sweet cream pie. That's why if you ask for a cheese bougatsa in the south they correct you that it's called "cheese pie". Bougatsa originated in the town of Serres in northern Greece, then became popular in Thessaloniki, still in its original form, and from there it spread to Athens and the rest of the country. Bougatsa is the type of filo pastry used to make this type of pie. The same way you can have the village filo, the kuru dough, the krusta filo, the Beirut filo, the sfogliata, the pizza dough etc. The pastry does not dictate the filling, although some fillings are more common with some types of filo pastry and not with others. The most common fillings for bougatsa in Thessaloniki (and I believe also in Serres) are: sweet cream made with semolina and milk (like in the video), minced meat, and cheese. In bakeries specializing in bougatsa you can find also: vegan sweet cream made with semolina and water, spinach, leek, and many others. Often during lent you can get a "sketi (plain)" bougatsa, which is just the baked bougatsa filo dough, without any filling, with a bit of powder sugar and cinnamon on top. In other words, if you want to try real bougatsa, go to northern Greece or try to find one of the very few real bougatsa places in the south.
Thank you very much Dimosthenis! You definitely know a lot about Bougatsa and its history. What we've found in our latest trips to Greece is that Bougatsa has become a lot more popular in the south than it used to be. And new versions appear, using local cheeses. For example, in Heraklion (Crete) they make an amazing Bougatsa using salty Mizithra cheese and it's absolutely amazing!
Hi Pamela! Apologies that the music to our video was not to your taste. If it really annoys you, you can mute the sound and switch on the English subtitles. That way you can still view it without any sound on :)
V nice and looking tasty 👍🤤thanks for sharing stay bless and connected
My pleasure! Thank you very much for watching!
My friends mom is Egyptian but her husband used to work on ships with some very nice Greek friends and she learned how to make this. We live in the US so the powder she used was Farina. She passed away and I never got the recipe but I will never forget the taste of her dessert. I’ve been looking for videos and so happy I found one. Hopefully I can make it as good as her but she put a lot of love into hers so I know it won’t be the same. The only thing I remember is that she put a thinner layer of cream and it was more thick. Thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you so much for your comment. Farina is actually a Greek flour brand, so it seems she used it to make her own filo pastry with it. Our recipe is with a ready-made filo pastry so you should be fine :) However, the traditional Greek Bougatsa pastry is extremely difficult to make and needs loads of space (see here: ua-cam.com/video/2b9mc_vSl7o/v-deo.html). Regarding the cream, you can put as much or sa little as you like. Usually it's less than we made, but we do love it so we use loads of it :)
@@Greekosophy Thank you! I watched her make the dessert and she used readymade Filo pastry and I bought the ingredients for her. The filling was made with Farina and whole milk but I can’t remember what else she put in it. She put cinnamon and powdered sugar on top and she used melted butter to put the pastry on the big pan but the pan she used was almost as big as the pastry. Maybe that’s why the filling was less. Farina in the US is used to make hot cereal so maybe there are different kinds and it looks exactly like the Semolina. Your recipe looks great and I know it will be delicious. I’m Persian and we make Baklava in a similar way minus the cream of course. It’s a long process lol. Thank you again!!
Thanks for the recipe, it looks delicious 👌🏼
You're welcome :) We hope you try to make it at home as it is really delicious!
@Greekosophy, thanks for the recipe. It might be the closest to the real deal for those that are not trained to make the real bougatsa pastry. We make your recipe at home too, but usually we call it "bougatsa" with the typical air quotes sign :P.
Some more info about bougatsa:
In southern Greece I have seen "bougatsa" made with simple filo or sfogliata pastry and cream filling, which actually makes it a general sweet cream pie. That's why if you ask for a cheese bougatsa in the south they correct you that it's called "cheese pie".
Bougatsa originated in the town of Serres in northern Greece, then became popular in Thessaloniki, still in its original form, and from there it spread to Athens and the rest of the country. Bougatsa is the type of filo pastry used to make this type of pie. The same way you can have the village filo, the kuru dough, the krusta filo, the Beirut filo, the sfogliata, the pizza dough etc. The pastry does not dictate the filling, although some fillings are more common with some types of filo pastry and not with others.
The most common fillings for bougatsa in Thessaloniki (and I believe also in Serres) are: sweet cream made with semolina and milk (like in the video), minced meat, and cheese. In bakeries specializing in bougatsa you can find also: vegan sweet cream made with semolina and water, spinach, leek, and many others. Often during lent you can get a "sketi (plain)" bougatsa, which is just the baked bougatsa filo dough, without any filling, with a bit of powder sugar and cinnamon on top.
In other words, if you want to try real bougatsa, go to northern Greece or try to find one of the very few real bougatsa places in the south.
Thank you very much Dimosthenis! You definitely know a lot about Bougatsa and its history. What we've found in our latest trips to Greece is that Bougatsa has become a lot more popular in the south than it used to be. And new versions appear, using local cheeses. For example, in Heraklion (Crete) they make an amazing Bougatsa using salty Mizithra cheese and it's absolutely amazing!
Can't concentrate for the horrible music.
Hi Pamela! Apologies that the music to our video was not to your taste. If it really annoys you, you can mute the sound and switch on the English subtitles. That way you can still view it without any sound on :)