Bregovska Pita

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Bregovska Pita is a Croatian layer pie. There’s a 200 year old tradition in the Croatian town of Koprivnički Bregi to bake this pie on certain holidays like Christmas and Easter. The recipe has been handed down from generation to generation  (Source: rivercomenius)

I based my recipe on a recipe by Kuhaona where it’s stated that the recipe came via the Podravaka Museum of Food. So if that’s not authentic enough a recipe to try, I don’t know what is. I’m not Croatian so I hope I can do this recipe justice.  I’m making it as part of my ‘Baking My Way Around The World‘ project where I try to bake something from every country in the world.

You can make Bregovska Pita with a dough that’s made from scratch, but I opted to use ready made filo dough instead and it worked out great.

How To Make Bregovska Pita

You’ll need, raisins (pre soaked in water or rum and drained), walnuts, apples, eggs, sugar, butter, sour cream, cinnamon and filo/phyllo dough. (The full list of ingredients including measurements can be found in the recipe card below)

First thing you can do is ground your walnuts.

Add the ground walnuts to a bowl.

Add half of the sugar to the ground walnuts.

Mix sugar and walnuts until fully incorporated.

Now it’s time to prepare your sour cream. Add sour cream to a bowl.

Add your eggs to the sour cream.

Mix eggs and sour cream thoroughly until fully incorporated.

Peel, core and thinly slice your apples. I used a mandolin to get the slices nice and thin.

Add sugar to the apples.

And add cinnamon.

Mix it all up till the apples are fully coated with the cinnamon and sugar. Some of your apple slices might break, but that’s okay. No need to worry about that.

Grease a baking tin of 8.6 inch x 12 inch / 22 cm x 30 cm.

Lay your first sheet of filo dough in the baking tin.

Brush the filo dough with melted butter.

Ad another sheet of filo dough to the baking tin so the entire bottom of the baking tin is covered with filo and brush with melted butter.

LAYER 1: Layer 1/3 of the apples on the filo dough.

Cover the apples with filo dough and brush with melted butter.

LAYER 2: Sprinkle half of the walnut mixture on the filo dough. Make sure it’s spread evenly.

Sprinkle the sour cream mixture on top, approximately 3 tablespoons of the sour cream mixture is sufficient.

Cover the walnuts with filo dough again and brush with melted butter.

LAYER 3: Sprinkle half of the raisins evenly on the filo dough.

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the sour cream mixture on top of the raisins.

Cover the raisins with filo dough again and brush with butter.

LAYER 4: Add another 1/3 of the apples onto the filo dough, spread evenly.

Cover the apples with filo dough and brush with melted butter.

LAYER 5: Add the remaining walnut mixture to the filo dough, spread evenly and sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the sour cream mixture on top.

Cover the walnuts with filo dough and brush with melted butter.

LAYER 6: Sprinkle the raisins evenly on the filo dough and top with a couple tablespoons of the sour cream mixture again.

Cover with more filo dough and brush with melted butter.

LAYER 7: Cover the filo dough with the remaining apples, spread evenly.

Cover the apples with filo dough and brush with butter.

Add the remaining sour cream mixture and spread evenly over the filo dough.

Sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of sugar. Use a long skewer and pierce the pie with the skewer in several places before putting it in the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, till golden. When I first saw it out of the oven I thought it looked a bit like a lasagna. But it sure didn’t smell like that. It smelled delicious like apple pie!

You can see the layers of the pie a bit. I have to say, the pie may not look much, but it was absolutely delicious! I will definitely make this Bregovska Pita again.

You can dust the Bregovska Pita with some confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar) if you want. I decided to leave the pie as is this time.

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Bregovska Pita

Bregovska Pita is a Croatian layered pie handed down through generations. It's made with layers of filo dough, apple, raisins, and walnuts.

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Rating: 5
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Type	Cakes & Pies

Cuisine

Croatian

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

60 minutes

Servings

squares

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup rum soaked raisins drained - 200 g
• 2 1/4 cup walnuts 250 g
• 1 1/4 cup sugar 250 g
• 1 cup sour cream 250 g
• 2 eggs medium
• 2.20 lb apples cored, peeled and thinly sliced
• 16 sheets filo dough 13 oz / 350 g
• 1/2 cup melted butter 100 g

Type Cakes & Pies Cuisine Croatian Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 60 minutes Servings squares Ingredients 1 1/2 cup rum soaked raisins drained - 200 g 2 1/4 cup walnuts 250 g 1 1/4 cup sugar 250 g 1 cup sour cream 250 g 2 eggs medium 2.20 lb apples cored, peeled and thinly sliced 16 sheets filo dough 13 oz / 350 g 1/2 cup melted butter 100 g

Votes: 1 Rating: 5 You: Rate this recipe!

Instructions

Prepare the filling

1. Prep all the filling first.If you have dry raisins, make sure you soak them overnight in some rum. If you don't want to use any alcohol, you can soak them in water instead.
2. Ground the walnuts and mix it with half of the sugar.
3. Mix the sour cream with the eggs till fully incorporated.
4. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. The easiest way to get thin slices is to use a mandolin.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.

Layering the cake

1. Grease a baking tin of 8.6 inch x 12 inch / 22 cm x 30 cm and layer with filo dough. Brush the filo dough with melted butter.
2. LAYER 1: Layer 1/3 of the apples on the filo dough. Cover the apples with filo dough and brush with melted butter.
3. LAYER 2: Sprinkle half of the walnut mixture on the filo dough. Make sure it's spread evenly. Sprinkle the sour cream mixture on top, approximately 3-4 tablespoons of the sour cream mixture is sufficient. Cover the walnuts with filo dough again and brush with melted butter.
4. LAYER 3: Sprinkle half of the raisins evenly on the filo dough. Sprinkle 3-4 tablespoons of the sour cream mixture on top of the raisins. Cover the raisins with filo dough again and grease with butter.
5. LAYER 4: Add another 1/3 of the apples onto the filo dough, spread evenly. Cover the apples with filo dough and grease with melted butter.
6. LAYER 5: Add the remaining walnut mixture to the filo dough, spread evenly and sprinkle a couple tablespoons of the sour cream mixture on top. Cover the walnuts with filo dough and brush with melted butter.
7. LAYER 6: Sprinkle the raisins evenly on the filo dough and top with a couple tablespoons of the sour cream mixture again. Cover with more filo dough and brush with melted butter.
8. LAYER 7: Cover the filo dough with the remaining apples, spread evenly. Cover the apples with filo dough and brush with butter.
9. Spread the remaining sour cream mixture on top of the filo dough and spread evenly. Sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of sugar. Use a long skewer and pierce the pie with the skewer in several places before putting it the oven.
10. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until golden.

Recipe Notes

Please note that the cup measurements in this recipe are approximate. I have added cups for those that prefer using cups. The recipe is most accurate using weights measurements.

• I used 16 sheets of filo dough for the pie. I needed two sheets for each layer. Depending on how big your sheets of filo are you will need more/less.
• You can add an additional layer by adding poppy seeds. Grind about 1 cup of poppy seeds and add that as a layer to the pie.