Gibanica (Serbian Cheese Pie)

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cottage cheese and goat cheese until mixed well and creamy. It’s actually easiest to use a fork. Add egg and whisk through cheese thoroughly. If you’re scaling up the recipe and using more eggs, only add in one egg at a time and whisk each one thoroughly.

Pour in olive oil and whisk thoroughly. You’ll notice the mixture take on a slightly runnier consistency. Pour in milk and whisk thoroughly. Mixture will develop an even runnier consistency. Add club soda and whisk until you get a bit of a slurry.

Line baking dish (we used 9-inch diameter casserole pan) with olive oil. Take phyllo dough out of the fridge and remove from packaging. Be careful because now it will start to dry very quickly.

Layer bottom of baking dish with at least 2 layers of phyllo dough sheets to create a bottom crust. Allow for some of dough to flow over the edges (it will be folded up into the center later).

For the filling (called “guzvar”), tear off half sheets of remaining phyllo dough (leave one whole sheet for the top) and dip into the slurry. Start by placing wet sheets of dough in the outside of the baking dish and moving inward. Continue adding guzvar to inside of baking dish until entire surface area covered.

Fold edges of bottom crust back over into the center of the dish, covering the guzvar. Top with another fresh sheet of phyllo dough.

Add water to the emptied bowl of slurry so as to “flavor” the water. With your hand, sprinkle water over top of dough crust and around the edges. Also drizzle some olive oil as well (this will help the crust brown).

Let the pastry sit and soak for 5–10 minutes before putting in the oven. Cook the pastry until golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Recipe adapted and transcribed from Chef Baba.