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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Thessaloniki
Pie made with very thin pastry, open and layered, filled with semolina custard and topped with sugar and cinnamon. It is also made savory, with cheese, ground meat or spinach. In Thessaloniki it is eaten in the morning with coffee and sold in pieces cut to order.
Traditional sweet from Thessaloniki, Macedônia Central
Also known as: Μπουγάτσα, Μπουγάτσα Θεσσαλονίκης, bougatsa Thessalonikis
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Bougatsa — Thessaloniki, Greece
Bougatsa is a pie made with very thin phyllo pastry that the baker stretches until nearly transparent and folds into several layers around the filling. After baking, it is cut into small pieces with a wide knife. The sweet version contains semolina custard made with milk, eggs and sugar and is sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon on top. Savory versions are filled with cheese, ground meat or spinach.
The origin is told two ways. Thessaloniki’s official tourism guide says the pie arrived with the Ottomans. The Greek Gastronomy Guide traces the dough to Byzantine tradition and connects the name to the Turkish poğaça. Both sources agree that the refugees from Asia Minor who arrived after the 1923 population exchange established bougatsa in northern Greece, bringing the recipe especially to Serres and Thessaloniki.
In Thessaloniki, bougatsa is part of the morning routine. shops that make it open early and sell the pie by weight or portion, to eat on site or to take away wrapped in paper. The pastry should be crispy on the outside and soft next to the filling.
Thessaloniki , Macedônia Central
Thessaloniki is the city of bougatsa: the refugees from Asia Minor who arrived after 1923 established the pie there, and it is eaten in the morning at the city’s specialist shops.
Thin dough made from wheat flour, water and salt, rolled out with butter or oil. Sweet filling of semolina custard with milk, eggs and sugar, topped with sugar and cinnamon. Savory fillings of cheese (usually feta), ground meat or spinach.
Served hot, cut into small pieces, on a plate or wrapped in paper. The sweet one is topped with sugar and cinnamon to taste. It is commonly accompanied by coffee.
Everyday food, eaten especially in the morning and mid-morning. There is no fixed date.
Your questions
A pie of very thin, layered pastry filled with semolina custard (the sweet version, served with sugar and cinnamon on top) or with cheese, ground meat or spinach. It is a Thessaloniki specialty, eaten in the morning.
Both. The best-known version is the custard one, with sugar and cinnamon, but Thessaloniki shops also make bougatsa with cheese, ground meat and spinach.
The pastry has Byzantine and Ottoman roots, according to sources. The refugees from Asia Minor who arrived in northern Greece after 1923 brought the recipe to Serres and Thessaloniki, where it became established.
Flavors of Greece
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Sweet fortified red wine from the Patras region, made mainly from the Mavrodafni grape and aged in barrels until it develops notes of raisins, coffee and dried fruit. It has a protected designation of origin and is the dessert wine most associated with the city.
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