How to Arrange Filo Dough

Filo dough provides a thin, flaky consistency to pastries.

Filo or phyllo dough is a thin pastry dough often used to make Greek foods that are stuffed with various fillings. Some classic examples include, cheese-and-egg-filled tiropitas, spinach-and-feta-stuffed spanikopita and nut-and-honey-filled baklava. Baking with filo dough requires preparation and delicate handling, as the thin consistency of the dough lends itself to sticking, cracking and tearing while rolling. Filo dough offers a light, flaky texture once baked.

Things You'll Need

• Filo dough (1 package)
• Refrigerator
• Glass baking pan
• Pastry brush
• Unsalted butter
• Filling
• Oven
• Knife

Instructions

1. Defrost the filo dough in your refrigerator for 24 hours before use. Prepare your cooking tools and filling ingredients prior to removing the dough from the refrigerator. Preheat your oven for at least 10 minutes to the temperature that your recipe calls for, typically 350-degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Melt 1 ½ cups of unsalted butter, per 1 ½ pound of filo dough. This will be brushed onto the dough prior to adding the filling. The butter will keep the dough moist to prevent cracking and tearing.

3. Brush the bottom and sides of a glass baking pan with the melted butter. Glass pans retain more moisture, which will help prevent the filo dough from cracking during the baking process.

4. Take one sheet of filo dough out of the defrosted package at a time. Arrange the first sheet of filo dough in the glass baking pan. Dip a soft-bristled pastry brush into the melted butter, and brush the butter onto the filo dough. Brush backwards from the middle of the dough to the top and from the middle to the bottom until the sheet of dough is covered in butter. Stack the sheets of dough until you have about 10 stacked. As you add the sheets, brush every other one with butter, as above.

5. Brush the top sheet with butter. Add your filling. Continue stacking and buttering every other sheet for another 10 sheets. Butter the top sheet. Allow the ingredients to set for 10 minutes. Cut the pastry vertically and horizontally to create squares. Cut the squares diagonally to form triangles.

6. Place the pan of filo dough pastry onto the middle rack in the oven, and bake for one hour until a golden brown color is achieved. Allow the filo dough pastry to cool to room temperature for up to eight hours before refrigerating.

References

• Baking 911: Phyllo
• YASOU: The Secrets of Filo Dough
• Epicurious: Baklava