cheese, the ¼ cup of seltzer, and ¾ cup canola oil. Don’t overstir:
you want chunks of all the different cheeses to show up in the
finished dish.
Place a sheet of phyllo in the bottom of the prepared pan,
crumpling it slightly like a tissue so it fits. Brush with oil. Put
another layer on top and brush again with oil.
Take another sheet of phyllo, dip it in the egg-cheese mixture,
and crumple it slightly while it’s submerged. You don’t want it
totally saturated in egg and cheese, so do this fast and then lift the
phyllo into the cake pan. Repeat with the next sheet of phyllo.
Repeat again and again until either you’ve used up all the egg-
cheese mixture or you’ve reached the top of the pan. When that
happens, add a layer of undipped phyllo on top, brush with oil,
and then break some phyllo up on top of that for decorative
purposes. Brush with a little more oil and then place the pan on a
cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil or in a larger baking pan (it
may leak slightly).
Bake for approximately 1 hour, until the gibanica is golden
brown* all over and mostly firm with just a slight spring when
you press down in the center.
Remove to a cooling rack, and when it’s just cool enough to
handle, push the bottom up through the sides of the pan. Place the
gibanica on a cake stand and cut big slices to serve.
* Try to find Bulgarian feta.