Laz Böreği

Ingredients

• 500 g sugar, for the syrup
• 400 ml water, for the syrup
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 litre whole milk
• 120 g sugar, for the custard
• 60 g cornflour
• 40 g fine semolina
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 200 g butter
• 12 sheets thin filo pastry, about 400 g

Before you cook

• Whisk the cornflour and semolina into 200 ml of the milk until completely smooth.
• Grate the lemon zest.
• Grease a deep thirty-centimetre round tin.

Steps

1. Bring the 500 g of sugar, the 400 ml of water and the lemon juice to the boil in a saucepan.
2. Simmer the syrup for eight minutes, then take it off the heat and leave it to cool completely.
3. Melt the butter in a small pan and set it aside somewhere warm.
4. Heat the remaining 800 ml of milk with the 120 g of sugar in a heavy pan over a medium heat.
5. Pour the cornflour slurry in as the milk comes to a simmer, whisking constantly.
6. Cook the custard for five minutes, still whisking, until it is thick enough to hold the trail of the whisk.
7. Take it off the heat and beat in the vanilla, lemon zest and black pepper.
8. Cover the custard with cling film touching its surface and leave it to cool until just warm.
9. Heat the oven to 180°C.
10. Lay six sheets of filo into the tin one at a time, brushing each with melted butter and letting the edges hang over the rim.
11. Spread the cooled custard evenly over the filo base.
12. Fold the overhanging edges back over the custard.
13. Lay the remaining six sheets on top, buttering each one, and tuck their edges down inside the tin.
14. Score the top into diamonds with a sharp knife, cutting only through the upper layers.
15. Pour the last of the melted butter over the surface.
16. Bake for fifty minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and the edges have pulled away from the tin.
17. Ladle the cold syrup slowly over the hot börek, working from the centre outwards.
18. Leave it to stand for three hours, then cut through the scored lines and serve.