What can be made from thin Greek dough. Thin Greek phyllo puff pastry - a recipe for making at home. What is the difference between filo dough and puff pastry?

Filo is one of the most popular products used in traditional Greek, Turkish, Balkan and Middle Eastern cuisine. It is great for preparing both sweet dishes and spicy delicacies. Although the Greeks like to take credit for many culinary inventions, they admit that the recipe for phyllo dough was brought to them from Persia. However, there is no doubt that only in the homeland of Socrates is the full potential of flatbreads made from flour, water and olive oil, enriched with a pinch of salt.

A delicacy from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea

For many centuries, dishes made from this dough were the basis of the Greek diet. It especially helped poor families who ate by stuffing filo with leftovers from other dishes. Today, tasty and aromatic products under the general name “pitas” are one of the main culinary attractions of the Mediterranean countries, especially Greece and Turkey. You can buy them at any local eatery.

The basis of these dishes is still phyllo, although fewer and fewer housewives make it themselves. And many years ago, every woman knew that the dough needed to be rolled out into a large layer - so thin that it had to be covered immediately so that it did not dry out. During work, it was forbidden to have any rings or bracelets on your hands, which would threaten to destroy the delicate structure. Modern Greek and Turkish women, instead of wasting time on the labor-intensive preparation of sheet dough, are increasingly buying ready-made filo, either fresh or frozen. It is also available in some of our stores.

Attention, preservatives!

As mentioned, phyllo dough should be made from wheat flour, water, a little olive oil, a pinch of salt and perhaps a few drops of vinegar or raki, an anise-flavored Turkish vodka. The composition of the finished dough sold in stores, as a rule, includes many more components. These are, in particular, corn starch, emulsifiers (soy lecithin), preservatives (potassium sorbate), as well as acidity regulators (potassium citrate, sodium dioctane). The most controversial is potassium sorbate, which can sometimes cause allergic reactions.

We work with phyllo

Making phyllo yourself is a very difficult task. Therefore, it makes sense to use a finished product. However, it is worth choosing the dough more carefully, giving preference to compositions with the least number of components, especially various “amplifiers”.

If it is frozen, it needs to be thawed before cooking, but as gently as possible, for example, by leaving it in the refrigerator overnight. You need to get it out of there an hour before use. Otherwise, it will dry out quickly and be easier to tear.

After defrosting, place the dough on a clean surface and straighten it. Lightly grease each sheet with fat, preferably melted butter or olive oil. Remember that several layers of phyllo are used to prepare dishes.

How to use phyllo?

Filo is an essential component of baklava, a delicious dessert common in traditional Turkish, Armenian, Greek and Balkan cuisine. Pieces of dough are placed in layers of chopped nuts (walnuts or almonds) mixed with honey. The whole thing is fried and cut into diamonds, triangles or squares, and then topped with a glaze or syrup made from water, sugar and lemon juice. At the end, the product is sprinkled with chopped pistachios.

How else can you use phyllo? This dough has a neutral taste, so you can use it for both sweet and savory dishes. Filo is suitable for deep-frying and oven baking. It has proven itself well in various strudels, for example, apple strudel (filled with apples fried with sugar, cinnamon, nuts, raisins and lemon juice) or poppy seed.

Thin dough is also a wonderful base for a variety of pies (called pitas in Greece). Pitas are often stuffed with feta cheese and herbs. Single sheets are cut into squares, the filling is placed in the middle and glued on the sides using a beaten egg. At the end of cooking, you should pierce the dough so that the resulting steam has an outlet, otherwise the products will burst. The filling of such snacks depends on ingenuity. We can fill them with goat cheese and figs, spinach, minced meat or rice with shrimp. In Turkey, börek is considered a favorite delicacy of many - filo baskets are filled with a filling of boiled and chopped potatoes, feta (or yellow) cheese, garlic, onion and parsley.

The Magic Food website collects for you recipes for Greek phyllo dough pies with step-by-step photographs. Our collection is constantly updated.

Filo dough recipes.

Filo is a fresh, very thin, stretchable dough, sold in layers of 10 layers. Used in Mediterranean cuisine. The Greek word Phyllon means "leaf". The layers of dough can be paper thin or several millimeters thick.

Filo dough is widely used in Greek and Turkish cuisines in both sweet and savory dishes. In Turkish cuisine, baked goods made from this dough are called borek or boregi, in Albanian cuisine - byrek, and in Austrian-German-Hungarian cuisine the dough is called blatterteig (strudel is baked from it). Paper-thin phyllo pastry sheets contain less fat than all other types of pastry. When cooking, each layer is brushed with melted butter or olive oil to achieve a crispy result.
Filo dough can be purchased frozen or simply refrigerated. The size of the sheets varies by manufacturer, but for most recipes they can be cut or rolled to fit your pan.
Filo dough is stored only in the freezer, since it defrosts in the refrigerator in about 8-9 hours (before preparing the pies, the box of dough should be removed from the freezer and placed in the refrigerator overnight), and only in a closed box, since it is exposed to air. The dough immediately begins to dry out, becomes crusty and loses its elasticity. Because of its last feature, it is recommended to work with the dough quickly and smoothly. Before you take it out of the refrigerator and expose it to the air, you should prepare all the necessary accessories for making pies: melt the butter, take a brush for greasing from the shelf, preheat the oven to the desired temperature, sprinkle the table or board on which you will lay out the layers of dough, flour, grease the baking dish and, of course, prepare the filling in advance. If you need to take a break while layering, cover the dough with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out.

Since the layers of phyllo dough are very thin, pies with such dough bake very quickly, so the filling for such pies should already be ready. Raw meat or vegetables are never wrapped in this dough! The filling for such pies should not be wet, as the escaping steam can easily break through the thin layers of dough.
Cook pies at a temperature of 180 - 200 degrees for no more than 30 minutes. If you cook the filo pastry pie over low heat for a longer time, it will not cook through and will be soggy.

And the final touch to the portrait of filo dough. Since the dough loves to be frozen, you can prepare it in advance and store it in the freezer for up to six months. At the same time, you can freeze not only the dough, but also ready-made pies and pies. Even already baked pies can be frozen. Cooking frozen pies does not require pre-defrosting at all. You can place the frozen pie directly into a hot oven, but you will need to increase the baking time slightly. Already baked frozen pies are heated in the oven at 160 degrees for several minutes until the pies are hot.

Handle phyllo dough with care. It dries quickly and becomes brittle, so after taking a sheet, cover the remaining sheet with cling film or a damp towel.

Filo dough
5 cups sifted wheat flour;
5 tablespoons of olive oil;
2 1/2 cups water (approx);
salt;
2 tablespoons vinegar (4.5%)
Leave a little flour (no more than 1/2 cup), we will need it for adding when rolling out the layers. Mix the rest of the flour, olive oil, salt, water and vinegar into a soft dough. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap the dough in a bag and place it in the refrigerator, in the coldest compartment, for example, on a shelf under the freezer, for one hour. After an hour, sprinkle the surface on which you will roll out the dough layers with flour, remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 20 equal parts. Roll out each piece into a thin sheet, approximately 2-3 mm thick. When rolling out the next part, cover the already rolled part with a damp towel, and put the pieces of unrolled dough in a bag and keep it in the refrigerator.
If desired, the recipe can be slightly modified by adding two raw eggs to the dough and reducing the amount of water to 1 1/2 cups. This “butter” dough is best suited for pies with vegetable fillings.

Sweet apricot pies made from phyllo dough
Compound:

Filo dough
- vegetable oil
- thick jam (in my case apricot)

Preparation:

Cut the dough into strips 5-7 cm wide. Coat two of these strips with vegetable oil and place one on top of the other. Then put a little jam on one end and roll it into a triangular pie.

Baklava
Compound:
- 40 sheets of phyllo dough
- honey
- sugar
- nuts (to your taste)
- vegetable oil
- rose water (optional)
- lemon

Preparation:

Cut the dough to fit the mold. Then place the dough in the mold in the following order:

Grease one layer of phyllo dough with butter, sprinkle it with sugar and cover with a second layer of dough, again grease with butter and sprinkle with sugar... Repeat this until 10 layers of phyllo dough are laid
- then sprinkle these ten layers with ground nuts and sugar (their quantity depends on your taste)
- on the layer with nuts we again place ten layers of phyllo dough, greased with butter and sprinkled with sugar.
- put ground nuts and sugar on the dough again
- and repeat this until the last 10 layers of dough are on top.
- cut the resulting pie into diamonds to the middle (do not cut all the way through!) Decorate each diamond with nuts.
- put in the oven and bake at 200-220 degrees until browned

While the baklava itself is baking, prepare the syrup. To do this, cook the syrup 1:1 - water:sugar (I usually take a glass of sugar and a glass of water). You can cook it with honey, but it is not recommended to heat treat honey and therefore we will add honey at the very end of cooking the syrup.
- So, put 1 glass of sugar + 1 glass of water in a saucepan, boil for 3 minutes, then add honey (to taste) and boil for another 2 minutes. You can add rose water to the syrup.
- Cool the syrup and add the juice of half a lemon to it. The lemon syrup must be cooled (since cold syrup should be poured into hot baklava)

Meat pies made from phyllo dough
Ingredients:
300g boiled meat
1-2 carrots (you can do without them)
onion
fresh herbs
1 pack of phyllo dough (phyllo)
olive oil or butter for greasing the dough - about one cup
1 egg for greasing
1 tbsp sour cream for greasing

Filling:
Scroll the boiled meat through a meat grinder, fry finely chopped onions and carrots, add the meat and fry. Let cool a little and add fresh herbs, you can chop a few more green onions if you like. Spices (any favorite, salt, pepper, vegeta). I had leeks and cilantro, or maybe parsley. This is all to taste too.

Pie dough:
Remove the pre-thawed dough from the package, take one thin sheet, grease with butter (for dietary purposes I prefer olive, but it’s correct to use butter, previously melted). Place a second sheet on top, grease, and place a third sheet. Then cut it into transverse strips (in total you get 3-4 strips from the sheet, if the pies are larger then 3, smaller - 4). Place a heaping tablespoon of the mixture on the edge and wrap it in the shape of a triangle. Then wrap it in a triangle again. And so continue until the strip ends. And so on for the entire package of dough.
Since this dough dries out very quickly, to prevent this from happening, cover the dough you are not working with with a damp towel.
Place the filled triangular pies on parchment paper and on a baking sheet, preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
Brush the tops of the pies with a mixture of one egg yolk and one tablespoon of sour cream (or melted butter). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until they are golden brown.
Eat warm, but you can also eat cold.

STRUDEL WITH CHERRY AND NUTS
Products:
canned pitted cherries – 470 g
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
50 g melted butter
3/4 cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 sheets of phyllo dough
60 g melted butter

1. Place the cherries in a colander to drain the juice. (Save the juice - it can be used to make an excellent sauce for strudel or pancakes.)

2. Mix bread crumbs with melted butter. Separately, mix the nuts with sugar and cinnamon. Combine the nut mixture with the bread crumbs and mix thoroughly with your fingertips.

3. Place a sheet of phyllo on the work surface, cover the remaining sheets with a damp towel so that they do not dry out. Brush a sheet of dough with melted butter, cover with a second sheet, and brush it with butter. Do the same with the remaining sheets. The last, sixth sheet does not need to be greased with oil.

4. On the sixth sheet, about 4 cm from the long edge, place half the mixture of bread crumbs and nuts, place the cherry on this layer, cover it with the remaining mixture of crumbs and nuts. Fold the short edges inward and roll the roll lengthwise.
5. Transfer the strudel to a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Make several diagonal cuts on top with a sharp knife and grease with butter. Place in the oven, preheated to 210 degrees, and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until crispy brown. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream and cherry sauce.

CHIFON PIE WITH NECTARINES
Products:
400 – 500 g nectarines or peaches
1 tbsp. l. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon or orange
1 tsp. brandy
2 tbsp. l. butter
3 sheets of phyllo dough

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Melt the butter.

3. Cut the nectarines into slices, place in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, add zest, juice and brandy. Stir and place in an ovenproof dish with a capacity of about 4 cups.

4. Cut the phyllo layer into squares, grease each with butter. Crumple into a square and place on top of the nectarines in the pan. Do the same with the next squares - and so on until all the slices are covered with crumpled dough. You can crumple up a whole layer at once, which is faster, but it’s easier to crumple up squares (or scraps left over from another type of product).

5. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Reduce heat to 180 degrees and bake for another 5-10 minutes, until the fruit is soft*. Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Filo dough pockets with salmon and shrimp
Ingredients:
8 wallets.
- 500 g salmon tail, boneless, skinless, cut into small pieces;
- 250 g of boiled peeled shrimp;
- lemon juice for sprinkling;
- 250 g package of thin phyllo dough;
- 60 g butter, melted;
- butter for greasing;
- salt and black pepper;
- lemon slices and dill sprigs for decoration;
White wine sauce
- 100 ml dry white wine;
- 300 ml double cream;
- 1 tsp. chopped fresh dill.

Cooking method:
1. Place salmon and shrimp pieces together. Sprinkle with lemon juice and add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Cut the phyllo dough into sixteen 18cm squares. Using a pastry brush, brush 2 squares with melted butter, covering the remaining squares with a damp tea towel. Make a wallet out of phyllo. To do this, place one-eighth of the salmon and shrimp mixture in the middle of one buttered filo square. Fold two parallel sides of phyllo dough over the mixture to form a rectangle. Take 2 open ends and fold one over the filling and the other inside the fold. Place this packet on the second filled square of dough and lift the edges, connecting them together. Repeat the operation to make 8 wallets.
3. Grease a baking tray. Place the phyllo patties on it and lightly brush with the remaining melted butter. Bake in the oven at 190 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the wallets are crispy and golden.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: pour the wine into a saucepan and simmer vigorously until the volume is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. l. Add cream and boil until a loose consistency is obtained. Remove from heat, add dill, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour the sauce into a small bowl and garnish with a sprig of dill. Garnish the wallets with lemon slices and dill sprigs and serve with warm sauce.

Filo pastry baskets with crab meat
Necessary:
phyllo dough
1 can crab meat
1 egg
100 grams of butter
1 handful of chopped parsley
1 handful of white bread croutons
salt
pepper

Melt the butter. Cut the phyllo dough into squares so that they fit the size of the existing molds. Place three squares of dough (in one layer each) crosswise into the molds, brushing each square with melted butter. Bake at 180 degrees until golden brown (I didn’t measure the time, about 20 minutes, I think).
While the baskets are baking, mix the remaining butter, crab meat, crackers, parsley, lightly beaten egg, salt and pepper. Place the mixture into the baked baskets, bake for another 5 minutes and 2-3 minutes under the grill. Serve hot.

Kulebyaka with salmon and filo dough rice
For 8 servings:
2 eggs
450 g baby spinach
pinch of nutmeg
400 g salmon fillet without skin
juice and zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 sliced lemon for garnish
200 g risotto rice
2 tbsp chopped dill
4 tbsp creme fraiche
9-10 sheets of phyllo dough
1 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce:
150 g natural yoghurt
2 tbsp chopped dill
1 tsp liquid honey

1. Boil the eggs for 7 minutes, drain, break the shells and cover with cold water. Then peel and chop coarsely.

2. Wash the spinach, place it in a colander and pour boiling water over it to wilt the leaves. Drain, squeezing out as much water as possible, then chop, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper and leave to cool.

3. Place salmon in an ovenproof dish in a single layer. Sprinkle with lemon juice, season and cover with cling film. Pierce the film several times with a knife and microwave for 6 minutes until the salmon is cooked. Alternatively, heat 2cm of water in a wide saucepan, add salmon, lemon juice and season. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and let cool.

4. Pour the rice into a saucepan and add water. Shake and add salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes until tender. Drain and let cool. When the rice has cooled sufficiently, transfer it to a bowl and add lemon zest, dill, crème fraîche; season. Mix.

5. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C. Place two sheets of phyllo dough on a greased baking sheet, stacking one on top of the other so that they are 32 cm long. Grease lightly with olive oil. Place two more sheets of phyllo dough on top, across the first two sheets. Brush with a little olive oil and place two more sheets of dough on top.

6. Place the filling in the middle of the dough in a 10 cm area, not reaching 3 cm from the edge. Start by placing half the rice in the middle, then a layer of half the spinach, then place the salmon on top, leaving it in large chunks but spreading it out so that it completely covers the spinach. Place the chopped eggs on top of the salmon, then top with the remaining spinach and remaining rice. Place three more sheets of phyllo dough on top, brushing them with olive oil.

7. Fold the short edges of the dough up to cover the filling, then fold in the long sides. Scatter the lemon slices on top and bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.

8. For the sauce, mix 2 tbsp dill with 1 tsp honey, add yogurt and season. Slice the pie and serve with sauce.

Light apple pie with phyllo dough
Ingredients
sour apples - 2-3 pieces
nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts) - 40 grams
lemon juice
phyllo dough - 4 sheets
sugar (brown) - 40 gr
water - 120 ml
How to cook
Grate the apples, sprinkle with cinnamon and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Crush the nuts.

Place 2 sheets of filo in a small form, some apples on top, sprinkle with nuts, cover with a layer of dough, again apples and nuts.
So, using all 4 sheets of phyllo and alternating layers, lay out all the filling.
Fold the overhanging edges of the dough up, you can grease it a little with kefir, sour cream, egg or milk so that the dough browns in the oven.
Place in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.
At this time, boil the syrup with sugar and water.
Soak the finished pie in syrup.

FILO DOUGH PLATINDAS
1 pack of Philo dough
300g cheese
500g fresh spinach
Sort the spinach, wash and blanch for 2-3 minutes. Drain and chop. Grate the cheese and mix with spinach. Salt and pepper. Place sheets of dough on the table. Mix vegetable oil with water (a little) to form a white emulsion. Lubricate the top of the laid out sheets of dough with emulsion. Place the filling along the edge. Wrap 3-4 sheets into a roll shape and place on a greased baking sheet. Prepare all the dough in this way. Brush melted butter on top, adding a little water. Bake over medium heat in the oven.
The filling can be anything.

Triangles with vegetables from phyllo dough
110 g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek, finely chopped
450 g carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh or dried dill
110 g feta cheese (or feta cheese), crumbled
50g almonds, toasted and finely chopped
8 sheets of phyllo dough

Instructions:
Carrots and nuts add a nice crunch to these snacks.

1. Heat 50g of butter and olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, then fry the leeks with a pinch of salt for a few minutes.

2. Add carrots, cumin and garlic, cover and cook slowly until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. If the vegetables start to stick, add a tablespoon of water. Set aside and let cool slightly, then add dill, feta and almonds.

3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Melt the remaining butter, place 1 sheet of phyllo dough on a board, brush it with melted butter, place another sheet of dough on it. Cut into equal strips lengthwise (cm below) approximately 5 cm thick.

4. Place 1 teaspoon of mixture in the right corner of each strip and fold diagonally to form triangles. Grease with butter and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough until all filling is used. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Pears stuffed with cheese and baked in phyllo dough
For pears:
- 4 peeled pears with a tail
- 1 bottle of red or white wine
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 black peppercorns
- 5 English peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves

Bring the spiced wine to a boil, add the peeled pears and sprinkle with lemon, adding water if necessary to cover the pears. Cook for 10 to 20 minutes until the pears are soft but not falling apart.
Cut off the top and tail of the chilled pear, carefully cut out the core, fill the pear with cheese, for example a mixture of Camembert and a little Roquefort, and cover with a lid.

Grease three sheets of phyllo with butter or vegetable oil, cut into 4 squares, put the dough in muffin tins, put a pear in the resulting basket, bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees, the phyllo should be toasted.

Bastilla with chicken
5 chicken legs; 1 onion; 1 tbsp. almonds; 8 sheets of phyllo dough (30x60 cm); 5 tbsp. l. ghee; 1 tbsp. l. cinnamon; powdered sugar; 1 tsp. paprika; a pinch of saffron; cardamom seeds (from 5 capsules); a bunch of cilantro; 1 tsp. lemon juice; salt, black and cayenne pepper

Cut the legs at the joint, fry with a spoon of butter over high heat on all sides until golden brown. Add finely chopped onion, cook over medium heat until soft, increase heat, add spices ground in a mortar (dry a little in a dry frying pan first), after a minute add water (just to cover), bring to a boil, cook covered over medium heat for 30 minutes. . Meanwhile, boil the almonds in boiling water for a couple of minutes, cool in cold water, peel the skins, fry in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, grind to the size of peas (once it cools down). Remove chicken meat from the bones, cut into pieces, salt, pepper, add cinnamon, lemon juice, reduced stewing sauce, stir. Place 8 sheets of dough on top of each other on a greased baking sheet (brush each with oil), then cut the sheets in half crosswise (you will get 2 squares 30x30 cm). On one square of dough sheets (place a flat plate) in the center, place half of the meat filling (so that there is 5 cm left to the edge of the dough), then lay out a mixture of finely chopped cilantro and nuts, then the second half of the meat filling. Cut the dough with scissors from the edge to the center every 3-4 tbsp. Close the filling, folding the dough up (overlapping each other), grease with oil. Cover with the second square, then with a flat plate, turn over, remove the plate, cut the dough, wrap and grease (as the first time), turn over again and place the pie on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 180C, then remove, cover with a towel, and let stand for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar, slice and serve.

Roses with peppers and cheeses
phyllo dough – 6 sheets
butter – 100 g

For filling:
cream 38%
from "Chef Lavan" – 125 ml (1/2 cup)
eggs – 3 pcs.
soft curd cheese 5% – 250 g
cheese crumbs – 200 g
cheese "Piraeus bulgarit" – 250 g
baked red pepper – 9 pcs. (remove the skin, cut the pepper into strips)
grated parmesan – 100 g
Cooking method

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Melt the butter and brush the filo sheet with it. Cover with a second sheet, brush with oil, cover with a third sheet and cut into 9 squares. Place the squares - each separately - in cocotte makers, or in disposable foil molds, or in the recesses of a muffin tray.
3. Remove the skin from the baked peppers and cut them into strips. Crumble the cheese. Mix cream with eggs and cheeses (except Parmesan).
4. Put the filling in each “rosette” and add 2 strips of pepper; sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling is set and the pastry is lightly browned.

Fruit brushwood

Ingredients:
4 sheets of phyllo dough
(defrosted)
5 apricots (or prunes)
4 teaspoons low margarine
fat content
50 g sugar
2 tbsp. spoons of powdered sugar
Recipe
Halve the apricots, remove the pits and
fill with slices.
Cut the dough into twelve squares with sides
18 cm. Cover with a kitchen towel to prevent the dough from rising.
dried out.
Grease one square with melted margarine. Polo-
live another square on it, crush them with your fingers so that
folds have formed. Do the same with the rest.
new blanks.
Place some fruit slices in the folds of the dough, sprinkle
burn with sugar.
Place the brushwood on a baking sheet. Bake at temperature
190 °C for 8-10 minutes until it is browned. Rearrange
Use a spatula to remove the brushwood from the baking sheet onto the wire rack. Sprinkle sugar-
no powder.

Spinach cake
3 sheets of phyllo dough 30*30 cm,
300 g fresh spinach
1 small shallot
1 small clove of garlic
150 g smoked salmon
250 g ricotta
2 tbsp. grated parmesan
1 tbsp. (incomplete) flour
1 large egg
a little melted butter
handful of pine nuts

Chop the onion and garlic very finely and sauté in olive oil without changing color. Add spinach, simmer everything together for a couple of minutes, add salt and pepper. Place in a sieve to allow some liquid to drain.

Cut the salmon into thin strips.

Mix ricotta with yolk and Parmesan, add flour. Season with salt and pepper, either cayenne pepper or crushed dry hot pepper. Gently fold in the whipped whites into a stiff foam.

Place the sheets of dough on top of each other, brushing with melted butter. oil Place the filling in this order - spinach, salmon, ricotta. Sprinkle pine nuts on top. Bake for 20 minutes at 180C. Fast and easy.

Tunisian cigars with almonds
Ingredients

250 g almond paste;
1 lightly beaten egg;
1 tbsp. a spoonful of rose or orange water;
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon;
1/2 teaspoon almond essence;
8-12 sheets of phyllo dough;
melted butter for greasing the dough;
powdered sugar and ground cinnamon;
mint tea or black coffee for serving.

1. Knead the almond paste until soft. Place it in a bowl and add the egg, flower water, cinnamon and almond essence. Stir. Place in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

2. Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Place a sheet of phyllo dough on baking paper and brush it with melted butter. Cover the remaining dough with a damp towel.

3. Form from 2-3 tbsp. spoon filling into a cylinder and place it on the edge of the dough. Cover the filling with dough and then roll the cookies into a cigar shape. Place on a baking sheet. Make another 7-11 “cigars” using the same method.

4. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cigars are golden brown. Cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon and serve with tea or coffee.

Variations

You don’t have to sprinkle the “cigars” with sugar, but soak them in syrup. Dissolve 250 g of sugar in 250 ml of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened. Add some lemon juice and a few drops of rose water. Pour this mixture over the “cigars”. The syrup should be absorbed into them, after which serve the delicacy to the table.

Balkan cheese casserole with spinach
Filo dough - 250 g (8 sheets)

For filling:
olive oil – 3 tbsp. l.
finely chopped onion – 1 pc.
washed fresh spinach leaves – 1 kg.
curd mass – 500 g (1 package)
coarsely grated “Collage Kashkaval” cheese – 150 g
salt, black pepper

For the sauce:
butter – 100 g (1 package)
natural flavored yoghurt – 200 ml (1 jar)
milk – 1/2 cup
eggs – 3 pcs.
salt, black pepper
Cooking method

1.Pour a little olive oil into a frying pan. Fry the onion until it becomes soft and transparent
2. Melt 100 g of butter in a small saucepan. Pour into a bowl. Add milk and a jar of yogurt. Season this sauce with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add three eggs to the cooled sauce.
3.Add a kilogram of washed spinach leaves to the pan with the onions. Season with salt and black pepper. When the spinach is tender, turn off the heat but leave the pan on the stove. Crumble the Canaan curd mixture over it. Grate Collage Kashkaval cheese over the frying pan. Take a sample, add salt and pepper (to taste).
4. Place the first and second layers of dough in the mold so that the edges hang over the sides. It is important that the dough is completely defrosted. Take another sheet of dough, fold it, dividing it into three parts, and place it in the mold. Then pour one or two tablespoons of sauce and shake the pan slightly. Do the same with the second form. Fold the sheet again and lay another layer. Divide the filling between two casseroles. Cover the filling with a pre-folded sheet of dough. Fold the edges of the dough over. Place both forms on a baking sheet. Divide the remaining sauce between two casseroles. Shake lightly so that all edges of the dough are coated with sauce.
5.Place the baking sheet in the oven, preheated to 170-180 degrees, for 35-45 minutes. The top should rise and become golden and shiny.
6.Run a knife between the casserole and the sides to make it easier to pull out. Cut the casseroles into thick slices.

Spaghetti "Silva"
Ingredients:
phyllo dough (this is a very thin dough that you can buy in the store),
50 g each pork, beef and veal tenderloin,
230 g tomato sauce,
40 g cream,
30 g onions,
salt, pepper, garlic, tobasco
paste.

To begin, cut 3 types of tenderloin into small cubes and fry with finely chopped onion for 3 - 4 minutes. During the frying process, you need to add cream and tomato sauce. You can either buy tomato sauce or prepare it yourself, for which you will need blanched tomatoes cut into small cubes, spices, and onions. The above ingredients are mixed, and the resulting mixture is brought to a boil, after which it is cooked for another 10 minutes. Next, boil the pasta until aldento, that is, the pasta should be slightly undercooked. While the pasta is cooking, take any dish, grease it with oil, put phyllo dough and put it in the oven for one minute at a temperature of 250 degrees. When everything is ready, you need to mix the meat with the pasta and put it in the dough, which during frying will take the shape of a dish, garnish with basil

Spanakopita – traditional Greek spinach and feta pie
phyllo dough
400 g fresh spinach (can be replaced with a pack of freshly frozen) 200 g feta 1 onion 2 cloves garlic 2 tbsp. l. pine nuts olive oil a little flour sesame seeds.

Wash the spinach, cut off the stems, coarsely chop the leaves and place in a frying pan under a lid over low heat for 3-4 minutes. We don’t add water – the water left on the leaves after washing is enough. When the spinach has wilted, remove it from the pan to cool slightly. Mash the feta, mix with spinach, onion fried in olive oil, crushed garlic and pine nuts. You can add finely chopped herbs to the filling - parsley, green onions, and season with nutmeg.
Cut the defrosted square of dough into two rectangles, connect them lengthwise and roll them out on a table sprinkled with flour into a narrow and long, very long ribbon. Spread the filling evenly along the entire length of the ribbon. Firmly pinch one edge of the ribbon to the opposite side, but not to the very edge - so that the dough “grabs” the filling and there is an edge on one side. Lubricate the “pipe” along the seam with olive oil and tightly place the free edge of the dough on top.
We transfer the “gut” to a baking sheet generously greased with olive oil, roll it in the same oil and roll it in a circle, like a snail, so that the oiled rings fit tightly to each other. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 40 minutes until browned.
Best served warm. Moreover, it can be cut in sections, across the rings, or divided into segments.

Fresh and very thin filo dough is very popular in Mediterranean countries. In Greek, the word phyllon means “leaf” (the name “phyllo” is also found). Indeed, the layers of this dough are so thin that they resemble a sheet of paper; they are almost transparent. In Russia, the dough, which is much thinner than ordinary puff pastry, is simply called stretch dough. It can often be seen on supermarket shelves - it is sold frozen, in layers of 10 layers. By the way, this dough loves to be frozen, so it can be made in advance and stored in the freezer for 6 months. Both sweet and savory pastries are made from phyllo - strudels, baklava, all kinds of pies.

Of course, in order to make elastic, plastic phyllo dough at home that will be pleasant to work with, you will have to try. They say that in Greece every housewife has her own secret for making phyllo dough. And yet there is a basic recipe and basic rules for “handling” this difficult dough. So, you will need: 2 cups of flour, 2 tbsp. tablespoons vegetable oil (unflavored), 3 yolks, 1 glass of water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon apple or. Make a mound of sifted flour on the table and add salt. Add yolks and vinegar to warm water, pour little by little into the well, kneading the dough with your fingers. Gradually add vegetable oil, adding flour. Do not pour out all the flour at once! Some amount of flour may be unnecessary, or, on the contrary, you will have to add a little.

When kneading the dough, you need to make sure that it is tender, soft and does not stick to your hands. Some chefs recommend “beating” the resulting dough ball on the table. Then the dough needs to be wrapped in cling film and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour (although some housewives allow the dough to “distance” in the warmth). After removing the dough from the refrigerator, you need to let it “warm up”. Then roll it out into a sausage shape and cut it into pieces, you will get about two dozen of them. Before rolling out the dough, it is recommended to cover the table surface with a cloth tablecloth and sprinkle it with flour. It is easier to work with dough on fabric. First you need to roll out a piece of dough with a rolling pin, trying to make all movements in one direction - from the center to the edges. After dusting the dough with flour, turn it over to the other side and roll out again until the dough becomes thin and can begin to be stretched. To do this, transfer the sheet to the back of your hands and stretch it by the edges, spreading your arms to the sides, or you can hold one edge of the sheet on the table, and stretch the other - the one that will hang down. The sheets can be round, square, uneven, but they can always be cut with scissors to fit the size of the mold or baking sheet. Finished sheets of phyllo dough, lined with parchment, should be covered with a damp towel to prevent them from drying out. When making pies and laying out layers of phyllo sheets, be sure to lightly brush each layer with melted butter using a pastry brush. Filo pies are baked at a temperature of about 200 degrees for no more than 30 minutes.

Adviсe!

If there is any dough left, you can roll it up, wrap it in film and put it in the freezer.

It takes quite a long time to defrost phyllo because not completely defrosted dough is very brittle.

Filo dough should not be frozen twice. You can store unused defrosted dough in the refrigerator for two days.

“A hut is not red in its corners, but in its pies,” says the Russian proverb... And today we are baking Greek pies!
Let's start with the test. Almost all pies, both with sweet and savory filling, are baked by the Greeks with phyllo dough (Filo or Phyllo).
Filo dough is frozen thin sheets of unleavened dough. When preparing pies, the layers of dough are defrosted, then each layer is lightly greased with melted butter, the next layer is applied, it is again greased with butter, etc. At least ten layers of dough are used for the bottom of the pie, and the same amount for the top. Connoisseurs of Greek cuisine advise brushing the dough sheets with melted butter or margarine, despite the fact that some recipes recommend brushing the dough sheets with olive oil. If you use vegetable oil, then each plate of dough is covered with a hard crust and remains raw inside. To lubricate the plates, use either a bird feather or a soft brush so that the oil is distributed evenly between the layers and there is no excess. Since the dough has a bland taste, it is recommended to use salted butter to lubricate the layers when preparing pies with savory filling.

Typically, ready-made filo sheets are sold in Greek grocery stores or supermarkets in closed plastic boxes of 24-30 sheets of dough per package. In such a box, each layer is covered with a thin piece of polyethylene, which prevents the dough from sticking together. Filo dough is stored only in the freezer, since it defrosts in the refrigerator in about 8-9 hours (before preparing the pies, the box of dough should be removed from the freezer and placed in the refrigerator overnight), and only in a closed box, since it is exposed to air. The dough immediately begins to dry out, becomes crusty and loses its elasticity. Because of its last feature, it is recommended to work with the dough quickly and smoothly. Before you take it out of the refrigerator and expose it to the air, you should prepare all the necessary accessories for making pies: melt the butter, take a brush for greasing from the shelf, preheat the oven to the desired temperature, sprinkle the table or board on which you will lay out the layers of dough, flour, grease the baking dish and, of course, prepare the filling in advance. If you need to take a break while layering, cover the dough with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out.

Buying dough in Russia is difficult, if not impossible, but it is possible to prepare it yourself. If you don’t want to bother with making phyllo, you can use ready-made puff pastry, which is what I usually do with success. However, puff pastry is more delicate and lighter than phyllo dough, so using puff pastry you can only get an analogue of the original Greek pies. For experienced cooks, here is the recipe:

5 cups sifted wheat flour;
5 tablespoons of olive oil;
2 1/2 cups water (approx);
salt;
2 tablespoons vinegar (4.5%)
Leave a little flour (no more than 1/2 cup), we will need it for adding when rolling out the layers. Mix the rest of the flour, olive oil, salt, water and vinegar into a soft dough. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap the dough in a bag and place it in the refrigerator, in the coldest compartment, for example, on a shelf under the freezer, for one hour. After an hour, sprinkle the surface on which you will roll out the dough layers with flour, remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 20 equal parts. Roll out each piece into a thin sheet, approximately 2-3 mm thick. When rolling out the next part, cover the already rolled part with a damp towel, and put the pieces of unrolled dough in a bag and keep it in the refrigerator.
If desired, the recipe can be slightly modified by adding two raw eggs to the dough and reducing the amount of water to 1 1/2 cups. This “butter” dough is best suited for pies with vegetable fillings.
And now, finally, recipes for Greek pies that use phyllo dough. The Greeks usually bake either large rectangular closed pies, for which they respectively use rectangular deep baking dishes resembling large metal trays, or small triangular pies. You can bake all the pies, the recipes for which are given below, both large and small. It’s whatever your heart desires!

TIROPITA

For filling:
400 g feta cheese;
4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine;
200 grams of “Homemade” cheese;
5 eggs;
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley;
a little dill;
a little ground black pepper;
nutmeg - on the tip of a knife

If the cheese is very salty, cut it into large slices and soak in water for 4 hours, then mash it into fine crumbs with a fork, add Domashny cheese, eggs and grind the filling into a paste. Then add parsley, dill, pepper and nutmeg and mix everything thoroughly.
Now prepare the phyllo dough and place 10 sheets in a baking dish, brushing each one with melted butter or margarine, the edges of the dough should extend beyond the side of the form. If you use frozen puff pastry, then for this amount of filling you will need 500 grams (one package) of dough. Divide the dough into two parts (one should be slightly larger than the other). Roll out most of it and place it in the mold, leaving the edges of the dough so that they slightly extend beyond the side of the mold.
Spread the prepared cheese filling in an even layer. Cover the filling with the remaining dough (if using phyllo, add 10 more layers of dough on top, brushing each with butter) and seal the edges to make a closed pie. Grease the surface of the pie with oil and bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Tiropita is served warm.

SPANAKOPITA

butter or margarine for greasing the dough layers;

For filling:
500 grams of green spinach (you can use frozen);
olive oil (no more than 1/2 cup);
2 large onions;
2 cloves of garlic;
400 g feta cheese;
2 eggs;
half a teaspoon of nutmeg;
salt, pepper to taste;
a little any greens (coriander, basil, dill, parsley)

Sort the spinach leaves and rinse well. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan, add spinach leaves and cook until soft. Then remove the spinach, cool and chop finely. If you are using frozen spinach, defrost it first and then boil it in hot water. Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry in a frying pan in olive oil.

TIP: When frying onions and garlic together, add the garlic to the onions at the very end, when the onions are almost ready. If you saute the onion and garlic for as long as it takes to cook the onion, the garlic will burn and give the dish a bitter taste. If you shorten the cooking time for the onions, focusing on the garlic, the onions will not cook through and, accordingly, will also spoil the taste of the dish.

Add the spinach to the onion and garlic and simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes until all the excess moisture has evaporated from the spinach, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and cool its contents. Then add finely chopped herbs, nutmeg and eggs to the spinach (no need to add salt!), and mix everything carefully. Mash the cheese into crumbs and add to the rest of the ingredients. Lightly pepper the spinach mixture; if it is not salty enough, add salt and stir again. The filling is ready.
Now grease the baking dish with oil. Lay out the dough (see previous recipe). To make spanakopita you will need 1 kg of filo dough (20 sheets, 10 sheets each for the bottom and top layers of dough) or 1 kg of puff pastry (two packages of ready-made dough). Place the prepared filling on the dough, cover it with the remaining dough and form a closed pie. Grease the spanakopita with butter and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.
Spanakopita is served hot.

Tip: Once, my friend and I decided to treat our friends to spanakopita, but, unfortunately, the store didn’t even have frozen spinach. I had to buy a package of broccoli. As a result, we got a very original pie, but the taste of broccoli slightly drowned out all the other ingredients.

CREATOPITA

Kreatopita is a Cretan meat pie. Since there are many filling options for creatopita, we offer you two of the most interesting ones.

Option 1:
phyllo dough or ready-made puff pastry (500 g);
butter or margarine for greasing the dough layers;

For filling:
3 tablespoons butter or margarine;
a bunch of green onions (or shallots);
500 grams of lamb or beef;
1/2 cup dry white wine;
1 heaping tablespoon of finely chopped parsley;
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint leaves (if you are using dry mint, you need to take 1 teaspoon, as dry mint has a stronger aroma);
1 tablespoon of finely chopped dill;
1/2 cup of tomato sauce (tomato paste is diluted with water to form a sauce);
salt and pepper to taste;
1/2 cup grated sharp cheese;
1 egg;
1 tablespoon bread crumbs (if needed)

Pass the meat through a meat grinder. Melt the butter in a thick-bottomed saucepan and fry the finely chopped green onions. Add the minced meat, fry the meat until it turns brown, stirring with a fork so that the minced meat does not stick together in lumps. Add wine and boil for a few minutes. Then add parsley, mint, dill and tomato sauce, add salt and pepper and simmer for another 20 minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated. After this, remove from heat, cool, add cheese and egg, and mix everything well. If the filling still turns out liquid, add bread crumbs, which will absorb excess moisture.
Now we prepare the pie for baking. We place the layers of dough in a greased form in the same way as written in previous recipes, put the filling on the dough, cover it on top with the remaining layers of dough and form a closed pie. Grease it with butter and bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the pie is covered with a golden crust.

Option 2:
phyllo dough or ready-made puff pastry (1 kg);
butter or margarine for greasing the dough layers;

For filling:
1 1/2 kg lamb or beef;
1 kg of onion;
2 bouillon cubes (beef);
4 tablespoons butter;
10 eggs;
1 tea cup of milk;
2 tea cups of semolina;
salt, pepper to taste;
cinnamon

Pass the meat through a meat grinder, finely chop one onion. Melt half the specified amount of butter in a saucepan with a thick bottom and fry the onion in it until soft. Add minced meat, salt, pepper, cinnamon, 1.5 cups of hot water and simmer the meat until all the liquid has evaporated.
Peel the remaining onions, cut each into four pieces and cook the onions in the broth prepared from the bouillon cube until soft. You can prepare broth from lamb or beef bones in advance, then the pie will turn out tastier. Remove the prepared onion from the broth and puree through a sieve.
Separate two teaspoons of the broth in which the onions were cooked. Cook the semolina porridge using two cups of broth and a cup of milk, and then cool it. Add onion puree, eggs, remaining butter, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste.
Place the layers of dough in a greased form, so that the edges protrude beyond the side, coat each layer with oil. Place the meat filling on top of the dough, and the semolina filling on top of the meat filling. Cover with the remaining layers of dough, again oiling each one. Protect the edges of the pie so that you get a closed pie, grease the top of the pie with butter and bake in the oven at 180 degrees until the pie is covered with a golden crust.

GALACTOBOURIKO

1 kg filo dough;
1/4 cup unsalted butter for brushing the layers;

For filling:
3 eggs;
1/2 cup sugar;
1/5 cup semolina;
1 3/5 cups cream;
3-4 drops of vanilla essence (can be replaced with vanilla);
30 g butter;

for syrup:
1/5 glass of water;
lemon peel;
150 grams of sugar;
1 tablespoon lemon juice

If in previous recipes phyllo dough could easily be replaced with regular puff pastry, then in this recipe, as well as in the next one, you will not be able to simplify the procedure for preparing a sweet dessert pie in this way, since in both cases the already baked pies will have to be soak in syrup, which will make the already soft and airy puff pastry too soft and wet.
Let's prepare the filling. Bring the milk to a boil and cook the semolina porridge for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat, add butter to the porridge and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Beat the eggs with sugar until they turn into a homogeneous, fluffy mass. Then add the beaten eggs to the cooled porridge, add vanilla essence, and beat everything well again. Place the pan on the fire and keep it on the fire for 2-3 minutes, without ceasing to whisk the contents of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and leave. The filling is ready. While preparing the pie, stir the semolina cream several times to form a crust on its surface.
Grease the baking dish with oil. Lay out 10 layers of phyllo dough, buttering each one. Then spread the semolina cream on the dough and cover it with another 10 oiled dough sheets. We form a closed pie, grease its surface with butter and bake in a well-heated oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, remove the pie from the oven and set to cool for 10 minutes, meanwhile prepare the syrup. Dissolve sugar in water, add lemon peel and lemon juice. Boil the syrup over low heat for 5-7 minutes until it thickens. Let the syrup sit for 5 minutes, then remove the lemon peel from it and carefully pour it onto the pie, spreading the syrup over the entire surface. When all the syrup is absorbed, the galactoouriko is ready. Cut it into small pieces and serve.

BACLAVAS

500 g filo dough;
400 grams of ground almonds;
2 teaspoons cinnamon;
a pinch of ground cloves;
1 cup butter;
2 cups sugar;
1 glass of liquid, uncandied honey;
fresh lemon juice;
2 teaspoons vanillin or vanilla essence

To prepare baklavas, they usually use at least 40 sheets of phyllo dough, although if you are preparing this dish for the first time, you can get by with twenty.
Mix almonds, cinnamon and cloves. Grease a baking dish with butter and place 4 sheets of phyllo dough in it, brushing each with butter. Grease the fourth (top) layer with butter and sprinkle with a thin layer of the nut mixture. Then lay out 2 sheets of dough, sprinkle with the nut mixture again, etc. The top layer of baklavas should consist, like the bottom, of four sheets of phyllo dough. Cut the baklava into squares or diamonds, brush the surface of the pie with butter and bake at 160 degrees for 45 minutes.
Make the syrup: Combine sugar, honey, vanilla, lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups water in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes over low heat.
Pour the prepared syrup over the top layer of the baked baklava, distributing it evenly over the entire surface of the pie, and leave the baklava to cool. The pie is served cold.

Filo dough recipes.

Handle phyllo dough with care. It dries quickly and becomes brittle, so after taking a sheet, cover the remaining sheet with cling film or a damp towel.

Sweet apricot pies made from phyllo dough
Compound:

Filo dough
- vegetable oil
- thick jam (in my case apricot)

Preparation:

Cut the dough into strips 5-7 cm wide. Coat two of these strips with vegetable oil and place one on top of the other. Then put a little jam on one end and roll it into a triangular pie.

Baklava
Compound:
- 40 sheets of phyllo dough
- honey
- sugar
- nuts (to your taste)
- vegetable oil
- rose water (optional)
- lemon

Preparation:

Cut the dough to fit the mold. Then place the dough in the mold in the following order:

STRUDEL WITH CHERRY AND NUTS
Products:
canned pitted cherries - 470 g
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
50 g melted butter
3/4 cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 sheets of phyllo dough
60 g melted butter

1. Place the cherries in a colander to drain the juice. (Save the juice - it can be used to make an excellent sauce for strudel or pancakes.)

2. Mix bread crumbs with melted butter. Separately, mix the nuts with sugar and cinnamon. Combine the nut mixture with the bread crumbs and mix thoroughly with your fingertips.

CHIFON PIE WITH NECTARINES
Products:
400 - 500 g nectarines or peaches
1 tbsp. l. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon or orange
1 tsp. brandy
2 tbsp. l. butter
3 sheets of phyllo dough