Yufka substitutes

The closest commercially available product and the one most recipes assume you will use. Phyllo is the same idea taken further: an unleavened wheat sheet stretched even thinner and sold frozen or chilled.

Best for

layered borek, su boregi at a push, baked trays, sweet pastries

Phyllo is thinner, drier and far more brittle, so it shatters if you handle it dry and it needs butter or oil brushed between every single sheet, which means using noticeably more fat than a yufka borek. The finished borek is crisp and flaky rather than tender and chewy, which is a real difference in character rather than a small one. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and keep the stack under a damp tea towel while you work.

The best emergency swap and much better than its reputation suggests, because a thin flour tortilla is structurally close to yufka: an unleavened wheat sheet cooked briefly on a hot griddle.

Best for

sigara boregi and rolled borek, quick pan-fried borek, small filled pastries, kol boregi

Tortillas are pliable and will not tear, which makes rolling far less stressful than phyllo. What changes is the bite: they are thicker and doughier, so the finished roll is chewy and bready rather than shatteringly crisp, and good ones carry a faint tortilla flavour. Choose the thinnest large ones you can find, warm them for ten seconds so they roll without cracking, and brush with melted butter before baking or frying.

Lavash is a close relative of yufka from the same region, thin, soft and pliable, and Turkish and Middle Eastern shops that lack yufka almost always have it.

Best for

rolled borek, kol boregi, tray borek, wraps

Soft fresh lavash is a genuinely good stand-in and behaves like a slightly thicker yufka. Because it is a finished bread rather than a raw sheet, the result is softer and more bread-like, so brush generously with butter and, for a tray borek, pour over the traditional milk, egg and yogurt mixture and let it soak for ten minutes before baking. Dried crisp lavash needs a quick spritz of water to become flexible.

Wheat-based spring roll wrappers are thin, flexible and designed exactly for rolling and frying, which makes them a neat match for sigara boregi.

Best for

sigara boregi, small fried rolls, cocktail pastries

Spring roll wrappers fry up blistered and very crisp, which is close to the intended effect, while thicker egg roll wrappers puff and bubble more and taste doughier. Both are usually square and much smaller than a yufka sheet, so you get little rolls rather than long ones. Do not use rice paper, which becomes soft and gummy in the oven and behaves nothing like wheat pastry.

Genuinely worth doing, because yufka is one of the simplest doughs in existence: flour, water and salt with no fat, yeast or eggs.

Best for

borek of all kinds, when nothing else is available, the most authentic result

Knead 8-10 minutes until smooth, rest covered for at least 30 minutes so the gluten relaxes, then divide and roll each piece as thin as you possibly can with a long thin rolling pin, dusting with flour. Cook each sheet on a dry hot pan for 30-60 seconds a side, until it is dry and lightly spotted but still flexible, and stack them under a cloth. The rolling is the hard part and the resting is what makes it possible.

Included because people reach for it, and because it makes something delicious. It is not, however, a substitute for yufka in any structural sense.

Best for

borek-style pies, quick savoury bakes, cheese and spinach tarts

Puff pastry is laminated with a great deal of butter and rises dramatically, so instead of many thin tender layers hugging the filling you get a tall, rich, buttery pie. It is much heavier, and the filling to pastry ratio ends up completely different. Use it when you want a good result quickly and are not trying to make borek, and roll it thinner than the packet suggests.