🥧 Galaktoboureko
Galaktoboureko is a Greek dessert of crisp, buttered phyllo layers wrapped around a thick semolina custard. As soon as it leaves the oven it is soaked with cold sugar syrup, so the top stays crunchy while the custard inside is creamy and set. It is cut into squares and served at room temperature, often with coffee.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 sheets phyllo pastry
- 750 ml milk
- 120 g fine semolina
- 3 eggs
- 100 g sugar (custard)
- 100 g butter, melted
- Syrup: 300 g sugar, 250 ml water, 1 strip lemon peel
Method
- Boil the syrup ingredients for 5 minutes and let cool completely.
- Heat the milk, whisk in the semolina and sugar and cook until thick; cool slightly and beat in the eggs.
- Brush a baking dish with butter, lay 4 phyllo sheets, brushing each with butter, and spread the custard over them.
- Cover with the remaining buttered sheets, score the top into squares and bake at 180 °C for 45 minutes until golden.
- Pour the cold syrup over the hot pie and let it absorb for at least 1 hour before cutting.
How to make it lighter
- Cut into 12 squares rather than 8; a smaller piece still has all the crunch and custard.
- Brush the phyllo lightly — 1 tbsp butter is about 100 kcal — rather than drenching every sheet.
- Use half the syrup; the custard is already sweet and the top stays crisper.
History
The name combines the Greek gala, milk, with bourek, a word for filled pastries shared across the former Ottoman lands. Similar milk-and-semolina pies are made in Turkey and the Balkans. Today galaktoboureko is a fixture of Greek bakeries and pastry shops, especially around Easter and family celebrations.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →