Чаиjе – Southeastern Serbia Cheese Pastry
A cheese filled pastry from South-Eastern Serbia!
Servings Prep Time
15servings 30min
Cook Time Passive Time
30min 2hours
Servings Prep Time
15servings 30min
Cook Time Passive Time
30min 2hours
Ingredients
Instructions
Day 1
  1. In a medium size mixing bowl dissolve yeast with a little water. Stir in sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of flour. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
  2. Measure and sift the rest of flour together with salt in a separate bowl.
  3. Into a bowl with dissolved yeast mixture add: sifted flour/salt, water, sour cream and olive oil. Using a wooden spoon, mix until completely combined and there are no dry spots left. Leave wooden spoon in the bowl, tacked under the wet dough. Add a little olive oil on your palm and coat the top of dough by massaging it gently. Cover the bowl with plastic film, set aside for 30 minutes.
  4. Remove plastic film and mix the dough with the wooden spoon. Do it so in a scooping motion, from the bottom up, stretching the dough with the spoon to just before the breaking point. That is normally about 10-15 cm (~1 ft) above the bowl. Experiment and find out by yourself how far you can stretch the dough before it tears up. Do this for 5 minutes. Cover the bowl again, the spoon left in, set aside for another 30 minutes.
  5. Repeat the same mixing process again, remove the spoon, tightly cover the bowl with plastic film and leave in the fridge overnight.
Day 2
  1. Crumble cheese in a medium size mixing bowl. Add 1-2 eggs and mix well until combined. Set aside.
  2. Oil (well) the bottom of a 34 x 20 cm (13″x 8″) deep baking pan.
  3. Oil your palms and by shaping your hand as a scoop, tear off a handful of dough. Dip it briefly on the bottom of the baking pan and turning it few times making sure it is fully coated with oil. Stretch it gently with your hands to a little over a palm-like size. The dough will be very elastic and easy to stretch.
  4. Add a teaspoon of cheese egg mixture in the middle of the stretched dough. Fold the dough sides in, overlapping, creating a ball shape. Place the ball in the baking pan, the seam side down. I usually end up with 5 rows of 3 balls. It takes some practice to gauge and form the balls that are fairly similar in size.
  5. Repeat the same process until all the dough has been used. You should have some cheese/egg filling left over, that will be used to coat the balls’ top after the dough rises.
  6. Let the dough rest for 30-45 minutes. By this time the balls should rise enough to close the spaces in between them.
  7. Preheat the oven to 235ºC (450ºF), conventional baking oven, rack in the middle.
  8. Spoon the egg/cheese mixture evenly over each ball.
  9. Bake for 9 minutes at 235ºC (450ºF) , reduce temperature to 210 ºC (415ºF). Bake for another 20 minutes.
  10. Sprinkle with cold water and cover with clean kitchen towel. Let cool for 1 hour.