Walk into most Israeli bread bakeries and you may find yourself instantly tempted by the wooden bins filled to the brim with borekasim, probably better known to you as borekas, those flaky, savory pastries stuffed with assorted fillings. But trust me on this one—looks can be deceiving.

In many cases, these Israeli bakeries (not to be confused with patisseries) are simply reheating frozen products that they received ready-to-go in large boxes from big-name factories. But that’s not what bothers me. My main concern is that these frozen and then reheated borekas are almost always made using a margarine-based dough. One that leaves an unpleasant film of fat clinging to the top of your palate with each bite. These borekas are nothing like the beautifully hand-crafted Turkish pastries that I feed to guests on my food tours in the marketplaces of Haifa.

There are a few exceptions, including Uri Scheft’s Breads Bakery (called Lehamim, in Hebrew), that make exemplary borekas. But, for the most part, I find recreating borekas at home to be a far more rewarding eating adventure. What is helpful, when visiting borekas bakeries, is looking over their offerings for clues on shapes and fillings. And while I typically make savory versions, a puff pastry borekas stuffed with vanilla pastry cream and topped with powdered sugar is one of my all-time favorites.

Here, I’ve recreated for you the classic borekas fillings: potato, salty cheese, pizza, mushroom and spinach and cheese, each with their own distinctive shape. And don’t worry about making the puff pastry yourself. I’m using one of the only shortcuts I take in baking by sticking to store-bought, all-butter puff pastry dough.

A few tips you should know before getting started!

Remove the dough from its packaging before using: This may sound like a no brainer, but puff pastry in Israel comes rolled up in a spiral, with a sheet of plastic that makes it easy to unroll. You could technically open up the spiral, cut squares, then peel them off the plastic. But I find that if I do this, the dough quickly sticks to the sheet and makes removing your perfectly cut squares impossible. Instead, remove this plastic if it exists and place the dough down onto a lightly floured surface.

Use a pizza cutter and a ruler for even and easy cuts: Sure, you could use a knife, but a pizza cutter gives a smoother line when you’re working with puff pastry. A ruler helps people like me—who can’t draw a straight line to save their life—to cut even squares with straight lines. (Use the straight edge of the ruler for this purpose.)

Make sure your fillings are cold: Putting a hot or even warm filling on a temperature-sensitive dough is a big no-no in baking that is sometimes glazed over in baking shows or recipes. Warm melty dough is nearly impossible to shape. Do yourself a huge favor and make sure your fillings are at least room temperature or, even better, cold, before shaping.

There is a temperature sweet spot when it comes to rolling out or shaping puff pastry, and it’s straight-from-the-refrigerator-cold: This dough will crack if you try to use it while still partially frozen, but it also won’t hold a firm shape if it gets too warm. To set yourself up with perfectly chilled soft dough, I suggest defrosting frozen puff pastry dough overnight in your refrigerator.

Chill (or freeze) shaped pastries before baking: Because puff pastry dough has a high quantity of butter, you’ll want to let the dough rest in the fridge, to firm back up as much as possible before baking. In these recipes, I’ve instructed you to pop the tray into the fridge while your oven preheats, but it would be even better if you can manage to chill your borekas until the dough is completely firm. This allows the dough to bake before the butter melts, and results in a crisper, flakier dough.

Borekas can be prepared ahead of time and frozen: If you like making things in advance, you can shape any of these borekas and then freeze them, evenly spaced out on a tray. Store frozen borekas in an airtight container and bake them directly from the freezer for 30 minutes in a hot oven.

Brush off excess flour as you work: By all means use flour to prevent your dough from sticking to your work surface, but make sure you brush away excess flour as you go about the shaping process. Otherwise that flour can get trapped between the layers of dough and butter, causing the borekas to bake up wonky.

Fun fact: The word borekas—derived from the Turkish world “burek”—is the singular form of the word in Hebrew: The plural is borekasim.

And finally, everyone loves borekas, so don’t sweat it if your shaping is a little off!

Herbed Potato Borekas
Makes 8 large borekas

Potato is one of the classic borekas stuffings, right up there with salty cheese. Consequently, these two popular types of borekas tend to come in the same shape—a large triangle. I’m certain that this flavor was invented to use up leftover mashed potatoes, so if you have a couple cups of that already in your fridge from your last meal, you can go ahead and skip making the filling from scratch. I like to add fresh herbs to mine to make it a little more complex in flavor than the original.

600 grams, all-butter puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator (packages vary in size, look for as close as you can get to 600 grams)

MASHED POTATO FILLING
1 1/2 pounds potatoes
2 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup whole milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh mixed herbs, such as basil, dill, chives and/or parsley

Egg wash (1 large egg plus 1 tablespoon water)
Sesame seeds for sprinkling

1. Make the mashed potato filling: Peel and quarter potatoes. Place in a large pot with cold salted water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a rapid simmer. Cook until very tender and falling apart, about 30 minutes.
2. Drain off any excess water, and mash potatoes thoroughly with a potato masher. Add butter and wait for a minute until butter melts. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper, and mash until smooth.
3. Wash and finely chop herbs, then fold into the mashed potatoes. Set aside to cool.
4. Cut puff pastry into 8, 5 by 5-inch squares. Pipe or place 3 to 4 tablespoons of cooled mash potato filling in a triangle shape in the lower right-hand half of the square. Pull the side without the filling down and over the filling creating a large triangle shape. Secure the edges by crimping them with the tines of a fork.
5. Lay out borekas on a parchment paper-lined tray, leaving a little space between each pastry. Once you have formed all the borekas, place the tray in the fridge to chill while you preheat your oven to 410°.
6. Brush the borekas with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked on the underside. Serve warm or hot.

 

Salty Cheese Borekas
Makes 8 large borekas

Use this fresh, salty cheese filling in place of the potato filling, and follow the same instructions for shaping the pastries.

600 grams, all-butter puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator (packages vary in size, look for as close as you can get to 600 grams)

SALTY CHEESE FILLING
1/4 cup pitted green olives, optional
1 cup full fat cottage cheese
1 cup firm feta cheese
1 egg yolk
Salt, pepper and granulated garlic, to taste

Egg wash (1 large egg plus 1 tablespoon water)
Sesame seeds for sprinkling

1. Chop green olives, if using, and set aside.
2. Using a fork, mash together the cheeses, egg yolk and spices.
3. Follow instructions 4 through 6 of the potato borekas recipe.

 

Pizza Borekas
Makes 20 borekas

The ultimate kid party snack, pizza borekas come rolled up in fun, cheesy spirals. One of the easier shapes to master, they are filled and rolled up just as you would a cinnamon roll.

600 grams frozen all-butter puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator (packages vary in size, look for as close as you can get to 600 grams)
1/3 cup pitted green olives

NO-COOK SAUCE
1, 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
Splash of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Egg wash (1 large egg plus 1 tablespoon water)

1. Roughly chop green olives and set aside.
2. Make the no-cook sauce by combining all the ingredients, then set aside.
3. Cover a 24 by 10-inch puff pastry rectangle evenly with 1 cup of the no-cook sauce, topped by all of the shredded cheese. Spriklie with the chopped olives.
4. Roll up into a tight jelly roll. With a serrated knife and using a sawing motion and light pressure, cut into 1 1/2-inch wide rolls. Place the rolls spiral side up on a parchment paper-lined tray, leaving a little space between each pastry.
5. Once you have formed all the borekas, place the tray in the refrigerator to chill while you preheat your oven to 410°.
6. Brush the outside of the borekas with egg wash and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked on the underside. Serve warm or hot.

 

Mushroom Borekas
Makes 16 small borekas

In a bakery, you can always tell which borekas are mushroom-stuffed because they are sold in little triangle shapes and topped with a sprinkling of poppy seeds. Here, I’ve taken the small liberty of seasoning the mushroom mixture with a little turmeric, because I like the golden color that then bleeds into the pastry. Remember to resist salting the mushrooms until all the water has leeched out, to make browning easier.

600 grams frozen all-butter puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator (packages vary in size, look for as close as you can get to 600 grams)

MUSHROOM FILLING
1 pound button mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
Two sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Egg wash (1 large egg plus 1 tablespoon water)
Poppy seeds, for sprinkling

1. Sauté mushrooms in olive oil over medium-high heat until all the excess water runs out, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with garlic, pepper, turmeric, thyme and salt, and continue to cook for 1 minute. Set aside to cool.
2. Cut puff pastry into 8, 5 by 5-inch squares, then halve them to make 16 rectangles.
3. Working one rectangle at a time, with the short end facing you, place 1 tablespoon of the cooled mushroom filling in the bottom third and fold up like a flag. Secure the ends, and place seam-side down on a parchment paper-lined baking tray, leaving a little space between each pastry.
4. Once you have formed all the borekas, place the tray in the fridge to chill while you preheat your oven to 410 °.
5. Brush borekas with egg wash, sprinkle with poppy seeds and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked on the underside. Serve warm.

 

Spinach and Cheese Borekas
Makes 16 small borekas

These borekas are rolled up into swirls and have a higher ratio of dough to filling than most others. 

600 grams frozen all-butter puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator (packages vary in size, look for as close as you can get to 600 grams)

SPINACH AND CHEESE FILLING
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of any excess liquid
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup firm feta cheese
1 egg yolk
1 stalk green onion, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper and granulated garlic, to taste

Egg wash (1 large egg plus 1 tablespoon water)

1. Mix drained frozen spinach with the cheeses, egg yolk, green onion, pepper and garlic.
2. Cut puff pastry into 8, 5 by 5-inch squares, and then in half to make 16 small rectangles. With the long side of the rectangle facing you, pipe or spoon a finger-sized line into the bottom half of the rectangle. Roll it up into a jelly roll and seal the edges. Roll this up into a snail shape, and place on a parchment-lined baking tray, leaving a little space between each pastry.
3. Once you have formed all the borekas, place the tray in the refrigerator to chill while you preheat your oven to 410°.
4. Brush borekas with egg wash and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked on the underside. Serve warm.