Gibanica Recipe - Serbian Cheese Pie

Filling:

1. Roughly mash the feta cheese with a fork in a large bowl.350 g cow milk feta
2. Mix: Add the lightly beaten eggs, sour cream, cottage cheese, and whole milk, and add salt to taste. The amount of salt you need depends on how salty the feta cheese is; you should definitely try the mixture and add salt accordingly.5 eggs + 200 g cup sour cream/ ¾ cup + 200 g cottage cheese/ ¾ cup + ½ liter whole milk/ 2 cups + fine sea salt to taste

Assemble the gibanica:

1. Grease the baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
2. Dough: Open the packet of dough and take out two sheets of dough while keeping the rest covered at all times. Cover the dough you are not working with with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out. Work quickly.750 g phyllo or yufka dough/ 1.5 lb
3. First layer: Place the first two dough sheets in the greased baking dish. The dough sheets should hang over the edges of the baking dish; when you are finished filling the pie, you will seal it using these overlapping pieces of dough.
4. Dip into cheese: Place the bowl with the cheese slurry next to the baking dish. Take one dough sheet out of the packet, crumple it a bit (it doesn't matter if it breaks a little), and dip and run it through the cheese mixture. Press it lightly into your hand to give it a rough round shape, and place this crumpled dough into the baking dish.
5. Make sure to keep two last sheets of dough to close the pie, but otherwise, use as many pieces of dough as needed to fill the baking dish.
6. Finish: Pour the remaining cheese mixture over the crumpled dough in the dish. Fold the overlapping sheets of dough over the pie. Take the last two sheets of dough and place them over the pie as well.
7. Brush: Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of hot water. Brush the top of the pie with this mixture and leave it to soak on the counter while you preheat the oven to 170°C/ 340°C (about 10-15 minutes).
8. Bake the gibanica for about 45 minutes or until golden brown and set. Serve hot or cold as suggested above.