Phyllo pastry

Phyllo, filo, or fillo dough (from Greek: φύλλο phyllo 'leaf'^[1]) is paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour dough used for making pastries in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisine.

History[link]

Pastry made with phyllo

An early, thick form of phyllo appears to be of Central Asian Turkic origin.^[2][3] As early as the 11th century, the Diwan Lughat al-Turk, a dictionary of Turkic dialects by Mahmud Kashgari recorded pleated/folded bread as one meaning of the word yuvgha, which is related to yufka 'thin', the modern Turkish name for the dough,^[3] not to be confused with a Turkish flatbread also called yufka.

The practice of stretching raw dough into paper-thin sheets is a later development, possibly evolving in the kitchens of the Topkapı Palace.^[2]

Preparation[link]

Prepared phyllo (also named kori) served with cheese in Bitola, Republic of Macedonia.

Phyllo dough is made with flour, water, and a small amount of oil and rakı or white vinegar, though some dessert recipes also call for egg yolks. Homemade phyllo takes time and skill, requiring progressive rolling and stretching to a single thin and very large sheet. A very big table and a long roller are used, with continual flouring between layers to prevent tearing.

Machines for producing filo pastry were perfected in the 1970s, which have come to dominate the market.^[4] Phyllo for domestic use is widely available from supermarkets, fresh or frozen.

Uses[link]

Phyllo can be used in many ways: layered, folded, rolled, or ruffled, with various fillings. Some common varieties are with:

• Cheese: called Tiropita in Greece and Cyprus, Peynirli börek in Turkey, Burekas in Israel, sirnica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gibanica and Burek in Serbia, standard Banitsa in Bulgaria
• Chicken: called Kotopita in Greek cuisine Tavuklu börek in Turkish cuisine,
• Vegetables: Chortopita in Greek cuisine (Prasopita when filled with leeks) sebzeli börek (spinach, leek, eggplant, courgette, etc.) in Turkish cuisine,
• Meat: called Kreatopita in Greek cuisine, 'Kıymalı börek or Talas böreği (with diced meat and vegetables) in Turkish cuisine, Burek in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and elsewhere
• Nuts and syrup: Baklava, sütlü nuriye, şöbiyet, saray sarma in Turkish cuisine
• Potatoes: called Patatesli börek in Turkish cuisine, Patatopita in Greek cuisine, Krompiruša in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, Patatnik in Bulgarian cuisine
• Powdered sugar on top
• Spinach and feta cheese: called Spanakopita in Greek cuisine, 'Ispanaklı börek in Turkish cuisine, Spanachnik in Bulgarian cuisine, zeljanica in Bosnian cuisine.

Su böreği in Turkish cuisine consisting of boiled dough layers with cheese in between can be described as a salty version of baklava. Some recipes also use an egg yolk glaze on top when baked, to enhance color and crispness. In Western countries, phyllo is popular with South Asian immigrants in making samosas. Phyllo is used in many of the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire; to make flaky pies and pastries, including baklava, börek, gözleme, spanakopita, tyropita and bstilla. Phyllo is also used for güllaç, a Turkish dessert mostly eaten in the holy month of Ramadan, where layers of walnuts and rose water are placed one by one in warm milk. A similar Egyptian dessert is called Umm Ali.

Other names[link]

Phyllo is known by a variety of names in ethnic and regional cuisines. Among them are:

• In Turkish cuisine, pastries prepared with phyllo are called börek.
• In Egyptian cuisine, they are called gollash.
• In Albanian cuisine, phyllo is called petë (plural) and the pies made out of it pite (mostly in Kosovo) or byrek, depending on the region and dialect spoken. Other types of pastries made out of phyllo, such as baklava, have various other names.
• In Bosnia, burek is used only for the pastries with meat and other kinds are called pita.
• In Serbian, phyllo is called kore (pl.) while the pastries have various names, depending on mode of preparation.
• In Bulgaria, the dough is called kori za banitsa (pl.) and the generic name for the pastries is banitsa, although there are special names for some specific kinds.
• In Macedonia, phyllo is called kori (pl.).

Other thin pastries[link]

Very thin pastry sheets can also be made by touching lumps of dough to a hot surface, as in the North African malsouka or by cooking very thin batters, as in the South Indian pootharekulu.

Cooked puff pastry is similar to phyllo-based pastry, with multiple thin layers, but the layers are made by folding the dough, not by stacking thin sheets.

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Perry, Charles. "The Taste for Layered Bread among the Nomadic Turks and the Central Asian Origins of Baklava", in A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (ed. Sami Zubaida, Richard Tapper), 1994. ISBN 1-86064-603-4.
• Lambraki Mirsini, Akın Engin, Aynı Sofrada İki Ülke, Türk ve Yunan Mutfağı, Istanbul 2003, ISBN 975-458-484-2.

External links[link]

• The Wiktionary entry for phyllo
• Media related to Phyllo at Wikimedia Commons