Greek Bougatsa for a lazy breakfast

This feeling of waking up on a Saturday morning and knowing that you don't have to rush to get to work is so precious to me.
To create a setting that is like a stay cation , meaning experiencing a little vacation, without having to leave the house, is like a gift to me.
I wake up, put on some classical music, light the fire place and get going in the kitchen.
Sometimes I like to make Dutch pancakes, or scrambled eggs with bacon and red bell peppers, or I bake bread with chocolate and walnuts inside, but today I go for a real Greek Bougatsa.
Partly because I miss Thessaloniki a bit, but the main reason is always that it just tastes so good and the whole house smells like a bakery... The smell of butter, the homemade custard.... I love it and want to share it with you, it's that simple !

So, if you want, you can get the ingredients today and create this dish tomorrow or today for an afternoon of pleasure!

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup full fat milk
1/4 cup semolina
1/2 cup of butter, cut into pieces
juice of half a lemon
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8-10 phyllo pastry, thawed and covered with a damp towel
1/2 cup of melted butter
icing sugar
cinnamon

Beat the eggs and add the sugar, set aside.
Heat the milk in a pan over medium heat until hot, but not boiling.
Whisk the warm milk into the egg mixture, put the custard back on the heat and stir constantly while keeping the pan over medium heat. Do this for a few minutes.
Gradually sprinkle in the semolina and add a pinch of salt.
Stir constantly for 5 minutes until you have a nice, thick custard.
Whisk in the pieces of butter and set aside to cool.
Once it's cooled down and you have read your mails or part of the newspaper, you add the lemon juice, the zest and the vanilla.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and make yourself a second cup of coffee or tea.
Use a buttered rectangular oven dish or just lay a buttered baking sheet on your working surface and unroll one phyllo sheet. Keep the rest of the sheets under the damp kitchen towel.
Brush the sheet with butter and repeat this with the next 4 to 5 sheets.
Cover the buttered sheets with the custard cream and spread it out, but leave the sides free, cause you have to fold the sides around the cream.
When the cream is spread evenly you fold the sides of the phyllo towards the centre, so they cover part of the cream and you then brush these parts of the phyllo with butter as well.
Take your remaining sheets, brush each of them with butter and carefully place them on top of your bougatsa.
When you're all set, wrap the sides of the sheets around the bougatsa, so you have something like a parcel.
If the sheets are too large , you can also cut some pieces off with a knife.
It shouldn't become too messy, you want to relax, not to have more work !

Now you can bake your bougatsa for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on your oven.

Let it cool a bit, and then sprinkle it with icing sugar and cinnamon to your liking !

In Greece bougatsa is cut with a pizza cutter, cause the phyllo is very sensitive and you want a clean cut, but if you don't have one of those, you just take a sharp knife and you're good to go!

I wish you will enjoy this breakfast as much as I do, and if you feel guilty , you can always go for a run in the afternoon..


With love,
esther.