The pastry for pite is called filo or phyllo, and making it by hand is an art. A ball of dough is stretched and pulled across a large table until it is so thin you can almost see your hand through it. It is then layered with filling — usually crumbled white cheese and eggs — folded up and baked until it shatters into golden, crispy flakes.
Pite comes in many varieties across the Balkans and the wider region. In Kosovo, the cheese version (pite me djathë) is the most popular, but you can also find pite filled with spinach, pumpkin, leeks or even meat. Bakeries in Kosovo often start baking pite very early in the morning so the first trays are ready just as people are waking up.
White cheese in Kosovo is often made from sheep's or goat's milk and has a slightly salty, tangy taste. It crumbles easily and melts into the filo layers as the pie bakes. Local cheese is produced by farmers in mountain villages, often using milk from animals that graze on the same wildflower meadows you can see in the Sharr Mountains.
Pite is often eaten standing up at a bakery counter, wrapped in paper and eaten warm straight from the oven. It is one of those foods that is simple to describe but very satisfying to eat — crispy on the outside, soft and cheesy in the middle, with a comforting smell of warm pastry that fills the whole street.