Filo or phyllo is a very thin unleavened

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

used for making

pastries Pastry refers to a variety of doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bak ...

such as

baklava Baklava (, or ; ) is a layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine. There are several theories for the origin of th ...

and ''

börek ''Börek'' or burek or byrek is a family of pastries or pies made in the Middle East and the Balkans. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A borek may be ...

'' in

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Balkan cuisine Balkan cuisine encompasses a collection of national cuisines that combine characteristics of European cuisine with some of those from West Asia. It is found in the Balkans, a region without clear boundaries but which in its broadest sense includes ...

s. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with oil or butter; the pastry is then baked.

Name and etymology

The name ''filo'' or ''phyllo'' comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

'thin sheet'.Alan Davidson (2014). ''

The Oxford Companion to Food ''The Oxford Companion to Food'' is an encyclopedia about food. It was edited by Alan Davidson and published by Oxford University Press in 1999. It was also issued in softcover under the name ''The Penguin Companion to Food''. The second and t ...

'. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . p. 307.

History

The origin of the practice of stretching raw dough into paper-thin sheets is unclear, with many cultures claiming credit.Mayer, Caroline E.
Phyllo Facts
. Washington Post. 1989
Archived
Most say that it was derived from the Greeks; Homer's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', written around 800 BC, mentions thin breads sweetened with walnuts and honey. In the fifth century BC, Philoxenos states in his poem "''Dinner''" that, in the final drinking course of a meal, hosts would prepare and serve cheesecake made with milk and honey that was baked into a pie. It is also said to have been popular in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. Some claim that the Turks also invented a form of filo/yufka independently in Central Asia; the 11th-century ''

Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk The ' (; translated to English as the ''Compendium of the languages of the Turks'') is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled between 1072–74 by the Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, who extensively documented t ...

'' by

Mahmud Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari; ; , Мәһмуд Қәшқири; , Махмуд Қашғарий was an 11th-century Kara-Khanid scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar. His father, Husayn, was the mayor of ...

records the meaning of ''yurgha'', an archaic term for ''yufka'', as "pleated or folded bread". Filo is documented in the

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

in the Ottoman period.

Preparation

Filo dough is made with flour, water and a small amount of oil. Homemade filo takes time and skill, requiring progressive rolling and stretching to a single thin and very large sheet. A very big table is used, preferably with a marble top. If the dough is stretched by hand, a long, thin rolling pin is used, with continual flouring between layers to prevent the sheets from sticking to one another. In modern times, mechanical rollers are also used. Prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, households in Istanbul typically had two filo makers to prepare razor thin sheets for baklava, and the relatively thicker sheets used for ''

''. Fresh and frozen versions are prepared for commercial markets. In professional kitchens, maintaining filo’s delicate texture during preparation is crucial. In 1998, pastry chef and food historian

Norman Lee Adler Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

developed a method of layering filo with a fine mist of oil and covering it with a damp cloth, preventing it from drying out during extended handling. His technique has since been widely adopted in both artisan and commercial filo production, ensuring greater flexibility and ease of use.

Use

When using filo to make pastries, the thin layers are made by first rolling out the sheets of dough to the final thickness, then brushing them with oil, or melted butter for some desserts, and stacking them. This contrasts with

puff pastry Puff pastry, also known as , is a light, flaky pastry, its base dough () composed of wheat flour and water. Butter or other solid fat () is then layered into the dough. The dough is repeatedly rolled and folded, rested, re-rolled and folded, encas ...

and

croissant A croissant (, ) is a French cuisine, French pastry in a crescent shape made from a laminated yeast dough similar to puff pastry. It is a buttery, flaky, ''viennoiserie'' pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian cuisine, Austrian ''Kifli, ...

doughs, where the layers are stacked into a thick layer of dough, then folded and rolled out multiple times to produce a

laminated dough Laminated dough is a culinary preparation consisting of many thin layers of dough separated by butter or other solid fat, produced by repeated folding and rolling. Such doughs may contain more than eighty layers. During baking, water in the butter ...

containing thin layers of dough and fat. Filo can be used in many ways: layered, folded, rolled, or ruffled, with various fillings.

List of filo-based pastries

Baklava Baklava (, or ; ) is a layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine. There are several theories for the origin of th ...

– dessert made with layers of filo, chopped nuts, and syrup or honey. *

Banitsa Banitsa ( Bulgarian: баница), also transliterated as banica and banitza, is a traditional pastry made in Bulgaria. It is also made in Budjak, where it is known as milina by Ukrainian Bulgarians; North Macedonia; and southeastern Serbia. ...

– A Bulgarian dish consisting of eggs, cheese and filo baked in the oven. *

Börek ''Börek'' or burek or byrek is a family of pastries or pies made in the Middle East and the Balkans. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A borek may be ...

– A savory filo pie. *

Bougatsa Bougatsa ( ) is a Greek breakfast food (sweet or savoury), or mid-morning snack, or midday snack. Bougatsa has several versions with their own filling, with the most popular the ''bougatsa krema'' (''bougatsa cream'') that has semolina custard f ...

– A type of Greek breakfast pastry. *

Bülbül yuvası Bülbül yuvası ( ''Ush Al-Bulbul''), literally "''nightingale's nest''", is a Middle Eastern phyllo dough dessert. It takes its name from its hollow and circular shape. Having been baked, warm syrup is sprinkled, and the hollow center is filled ...

– A Middle eastern dessert with pistachios and syrup. *

Bundevara Bundevara ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: Тиквеник) is a type of pastry in Bulgarian cuisine and parts of former Yugoslavia. It is a sweet pie made of rolled phyllo, similar to strudel, filled with sweetened grated pumpkin pulp and baked in an ...

– A Serbian sweet pie filled with pumpkin. *

Flia Flia or flija ( Albanian indefinite form: fli) is an Albanian dish typical of northern Albania and of the cuisine of Kosovo. It consists of multiple crêpe-like layers brushed with cream and served with sour cream and butter. The name transla ...

– An Albanian dish consisting of multiple crêpe-like layers brushed with cream and served with sour cream. *

Galaktoboureko Galaktoboureko (, , , , ) is a dessert popular in the Balkans, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe ...

– A dessert consisting of filo and

muhallebi Muhallebi (, ) is a milk pudding commonly made with rice, sugar, milk and either rice flour, starch or semolina, popular as a dessert in the Middle East. While the dessert is called muhallebi in Turkey and Iraq, in other countries in the region ...

. *

Gibanica Gibanica ( sr-cyr, гибаница, ) is a traditional pastry dish popular all over the Balkans. It is usually made with cottage cheese and eggs. Recipes can range from sweet to savoury, and from simple to festive and elaborate multi-layered c ...

– A Balkan dish made from filo, white cheese, and eggs. *

Pastizz A ''pastizz'' (: ''pastizzi'') is a traditional savoury pastry from Malta. ''Pastizzi'' usually have a filling either of ricotta (''pastizzi tal-irkotta'' or ''pastizzi tal-ħaxu'' in Maltese) or curried peas ( in Maltese). ''Pastizzi'' are a ...

– A savory pastry from Malta filled with ricotta or mushy peas. *

Savory spinach pie Savory spinach pie is a pastry eaten throughout Southeastern Europe. The filling is made of chopped spinach (sometimes chard) and usually feta or white cheese, and egg. Etymology and history Turkey ''Ispanaklı Selanik Böreği'' and/or ''I ...

– A Balkans' spinach pie. *

Tiropita Tiropita or tyropita ( Greek: τυρóπιτα, "cheese-pie") is a Greek pastry made with layers of buttered phyllo and filled with a cheese-egg mixture. It is served either in an individual-size free-form wrapped shape, or as a larger pie that ...

– A Greek dish similar to Börek, filled with a cheese-egg mixture. *

Zelnik Zelnik is a traditional pastry eaten in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. It is composed of layers of thinly-rolled leavened wheat flour dough, or possibly phyllo pastry, filled with various combinations of sirene (a white cheese), feta cheese, e ...

– A savory pie from the Balkans. * Jabukovača – Bosnian pastry made of filo dough stuffed with apples. *

Pastilla Pastilla (, also called North African pie) is a meat or seafood pie in Maghrebi cuisine made with ''warqa'' dough (), which is similar to filo. It is a specialty of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, where its variation is known as malsouka. It ...

- Moroccan pie made of thin Warqa dough stuffed with either chicken, seafood or lamb.

References

Bibliography

* 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 Sami Zubaida (born 1937 in Iraq), left Iraq in 1953 at the age of sixteen.
Sami Zubaida. He is now an

Richard Tapper Richard Lionel Tapper is a professor emeritus of the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He is a social anthropologist who did ethnographic field research in Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. His publications have foc ...

), 1994. . * Engin Akın, Mirsini Lambraki, Kosta Sarıoğlu, ''Aynı Sofrada İki Ülke: Türk ve Yunan Mutfağı'', Istanbul 2003, .

External links

* * * {{Pastries Greek pastries Middle Eastern cuisine Balkan cuisine Doughs Turkish pastries Baklava