Boyoz: İzmir’s Layered Pastry

Boyoz belongs to İzmir. It came with the Sephardic Jews who settled there after leaving Spain in 1492, and five centuries later it is still what the city eats for breakfast — usually with a hard-boiled egg alongside.

The technique is the interesting part. The dough is not laminated with butter; it is rested in oil, then stretched thin by hand. That is what gives boyoz its flaky, shattering layers.

Makes about 12

Ingredients

For the dough

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon corn oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup corn oil, for resting the dough

For the zucchini filling

2 medium zucchini
1 medium eggplant
1 medium onion
1 medium tomato
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt

For the potato filling

2 medium potatoes
2 eggs
1/2 cup crumbled tulum cheese, or feta
1/3 cup grated kaşar, or mild cheddar

Method

Make the zucchini filling

Peel the eggplant and soak it in salted water for 20 minutes to draw out bitterness.

Squeeze the eggplant dry and grate it along with the zucchini, tomato and onion.

Heat the oil in a pan and cook the grated vegetables until they have released their water and it has cooked away completely. This matters more than it sounds — wet filling steams the pastry from the inside and you lose the layers.

Season with salt and let it cool.

Make the potato filling

Boil the potatoes until tender, peel them, and mash well with a fork.

Beat in the eggs, then fold in both cheeses.

Season if needed — the cheeses are already salty.

Make the dough

Put the flour in a bowl and make a well. Add the water, lemon juice, vinegar, the teaspoon of oil and the salt.

Knead for 10 to 12 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. This is a long knead and it cannot be shortened — the gluten you develop here is what lets you stretch the dough thin later without tearing it.

Pour the cup of oil into a bowl.

Pull the dough into walnut-sized pieces, roll them into balls, and drop them into the oil.

Rest for at least 10 minutes, though an hour is better. The oil works into the surface of each ball and becomes the separator between layers.

Shape

Lift a ball from the oil and flatten it on the work surface with your hands. Stretch it outward from the center, working the edges thin — thin enough to see through in places. Use your palms and fingertips, not a rolling pin. A rolling pin compresses the layers you are trying to create.

Place a spoonful of filling in the center.

Bring the four sides up and over to the middle, sealing them together, and turn the parcel seam side down.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 400°F and oil a sheet pan.

Arrange the boyoz on the pan, spaced apart.

Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until deep golden and blistered.

Eat warm, with a hard-boiled egg and tea, the way İzmir does.