Lakror
Also: Lakror me presh, Albanian greens pie
An Albanian savoury pie of thin pastry or cornmeal-and-flour layers filled with wild greens, leeks or cheese and traditionally baked under embers or on a hot stone (saç).
Identity criteria
- 1A layered or sheeted pie, distinctively Albanian (especially the south)
- 2Filled with seasonal wild greens, leeks, or cheese (and sometimes a thin batter)
- 3Often built on a cornmeal-and-flour or thin hand-stretched pastry rather than only fine filo
- 4Traditionally baked under a saç (metal lid covered with embers) or on a hearth stone
- 5Round, cut into wedges to share
Components
Thin pastry sheets or cornmeal-and-flour batter/doughessential
Wild greens, leeks, spinach or nettlesessentialSeasonal foraged greens are classic
Cheese (often gjizë / curd)optional
Spring onion / scallionoptional
Olive oil or butteressential
Eggoptional
Technique
- Hearth / saç baking
- Baking under an ember-covered metal dome or on a hot stone gives the crisp, smoky crust that distinguishes a true lakror
- Layering pastry with filling
- Alternating thin pastry and greens (or batter) builds the pie's structure and traps the filling's moisture
Form & serving
- Served
- Round pie cut into wedges
- Temperature
- warm
- Portion
- shared, slices
- Pairs with
- yoghurt or kos · pickles · fresh salad
Character
Flavour
Texture
crisp layered crust over a soft greens-and-cheese filling
Eaten
A rustic everyday and gathering dish of Albanian home cooking, especially in the south, often baked for family meals and celebrations.
When
spring · all-year
Variations & related
Regional variations
- Lakror me presh · Korçë & southern Albania
Leek-filled lakror, a regional favourite
- Lakror me bar (wild greens) · Southern Albania
Foraged-greens filling in spring
- Lakror me miell misri · Rural Albania
Cornmeal-batter version closer to a baked polenta pie
Related dishes
- sibling Byrek
Albanian filled thin-pastry pie; lakror is a close cousin
- sibling Banitsa / Pita
Broader Balkan layered-pastry pie family
- ancestor Börek
Ottoman thin-pastry pie tradition behind the family
Substitutions
Wild greens → Cultivated spinach / chardadmissible
Common in cities; loses some of the foraged bitterness but acceptable
Saç / hearth baking → Conventional ovenadmissible
Works but loses the smoky ember-baked crust character
Savoury greens/cheese filling → Sweet fruit fillinginadmissible
Changes it into a different pie; lakror is fundamentally savoury
Common mistakes
- Using thick bready dough instead of thin sheeted pastry or batter
- Over-wet greens filling that makes the crust soggy
- Treating it as identical to filo byrek and missing the rustic cornmeal/hearth tradition
- Making it sweet — lakror is a savoury pie
Provenance
A traditional pie of Albania, especially the south and southeast (Korçë), part of the wider Balkan family of thin-pastry pies (byrek/pita) but distinguished by its rustic hearth baking.
References
- 1.Albanian culinary tradition
Confidence: medium