Gibanica — Serbian Layered Cheese Pie

The cheese pie of Serbia — crumpled sheets of phyllo dough interleaved with a rich filling of fresh
white cheese, kajmak, and eggs, baked until the top is deeply golden and the layers are a lacy
honeycomb of cheese and pastry. Breakfast, midnight snack, holiday table centrepiece — gibanica
is all of these.

FASTING LEVEL: Non-Fasting (cheese, eggs, kajmak, butter)

SERVINGS: 10
TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
- 500 g phyllo dough (1 package), thawed
- 500 g fresh Serbian or Bulgarian white cheese (sirene) — or substitute feta + farmer's cheese
- 250 g kajmak — or substitute with 150 g mascarpone + 100 g sour cream
- 250 g full-fat cottage cheese (crumbled) or ricotta
- 6 large eggs, beaten
- 300 ml plain yogurt (kiselo mleko) or full-fat plain kefir
- 150 g butter, melted
- 50 ml sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon salt

METHOD:
1. Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Butter a 30 cm round or square baking dish (or a large rectangular one).
2. In a large bowl, combine white cheese, kajmak, cottage cheese, 4 of the eggs, yogurt, and salt. Mix well. The filling should be thick but pourable.
3. In a small bowl, beat the remaining 2 eggs with 100 ml of the melted butter and the oil. This is the "soaking mixture."
4. Layer 1 (bottom): place 2 sheets of phyllo in the baking dish, letting them overhang the edges. Brush with melted butter.
5. Work through the remaining phyllo in the following way: take one sheet at a time, crumple it loosely in your hand, dip quickly into the cheese filling, and lay the cheese-coated crumple into the baking dish.
6. Continue layering crumpled-and-dipped phyllo. Halfway through, pour some of the soaking egg mixture over the layers.
7. Continue until you have used all but the last 2 sheets of phyllo.
8. Top: fold the overhanging phyllo from the bottom over the filling. Layer the last 2 sheets of phyllo smoothly on top.
9. Pour all remaining soaking mixture evenly over the top, letting it seep through the layers.
10. Pour remaining melted butter over the top.
11. Bake 45-55 minutes until deeply golden and puffed.
12. Rest 20 minutes before cutting. The filling will set.

NOTES:
- The crumpling technique is the secret. It creates gibanica's signature lacy, irregular interior — not flat smooth layers.
- Fresh Serbian white cheese (sirene) is ideal. Available at Balkan or some Middle Eastern grocers. Feta + farmer's cheese is the best substitute.
- Kajmak is a fresh clotted-cream-like cheese. Mascarpone + sour cream approximates it reasonably. Without any substitute, increase cottage cheese by 100 g.
- Gibanica is excellent cold the next day. Slice into squares, pack in lunchboxes. Romanian and Serbian diaspora food.

NUTRITION (per serving, approximate):
Calories: 460 | Protein: 22 g | Carbohydrates: 30 g | Fat: 28 g | Fibre: 1 g