How do I use fillo dough

Question

I bought fillo dough instead of puff pastry. What can I make with it? Am I suppose to separate the layers?

Answer 1

See the yummy recipe below. It's easy to make and delicious.

SPANAKOPITA

Ingredients

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1/2 cup minced scallions, minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup minced fresh dill

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 ounces farmer (or cottage) cheese

2 tablespoons grated Kefalotyri (or Parmesan) cheese, grated

2 eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

40 sheets Athens Fillo Dough, thawed

1/2 cup butter, melted

In food processor, combine spinach with scallions, parsley, dill, cheeses, eggs, salt and pepper. Process until smooth. Prepare small fillo triangles according to directions for Triangles. Fill each triangle with 1 teaspoon of spinach mixture. Brush outside of triangles with butter. Place seam side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 350ºF oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and puffed. Serve hot.

Yield: 40 small triangles

GENERAL FILLO DOUGH HANDLING DIRECTIONS

1. Allow fillo dough to thaw in refrigerator overnight. Bring to room temperature before using.

2. Carefully unroll fillo sheets onto a smooth, dry surface.

3. Cover fillo completely with plastic wrap, then a damp towel.

4. Keep fillo covered until needed. Do not leave uncovered for more than one minute to avoid drying out.

5. Microwave butter until melted. This will give you a lighter and flakier pastry.

6. Brush each layer of fillo with melted butter, margarine or oil.

7. To prevent edges from cracking, brush edges first and then work into center.

8. Be sure to brush the last layer of fillo with melted butter.

9. Fillings should be chilled and not excessively moist.

10. Fillo may be rolled and refrozen to store when not in use.

Answer 2

You can use it as wrappers for spring rolls, curried rice rolls, vegatable rolls and egg rolls.

It can als be used for sweet dishes also.

Answer 3

BAKLAVA    (middle eastern nut-filled multi-layered pastry)

Servings: Makes about 36 small diamond-shaped pastries.

Syrup:

3 cups sugar, or 2 cups sugar and 1 cup honey

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons light corn syrup (optional)

2 (3-inch) sticks cinnamon (optional)

4 to 6 whole cloves, or 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

Filling:

1 pound blanched almonds, pistachios, walnuts, or any combination, finely chopped or coarsely ground (about 4 cups)

1/4 cup sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or cardamom (optional)

1 pound (about 24 sheets) phyllo dough

About 1 cup (2 sticks) melted butter or vegetable oil

Preparation

To make the syrup: Stir the sugar, water, lemon juice, and if using, the corn syrup, cinnamon sticks, and/or cloves over low heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Stop stirring, increase the heat to medium, and cook until the mixture is slightly syrupy, about 5 minutes (it will register 225 degrees on a candy thermometer). Discard the cinnamon sticks and whole cloves. Let cool.

To make the filling: Combine all the filling ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-by-9-inch or 13-by-9-inch baking pan or 15-by-10-inch jelly roll pan.

Place a sheet of phyllo in the prepared pan and lightly brush with butter. Repeat with 7 more sheets. Spread with half of the filling. Top with 8 more sheets, brushing each with butter. Use any torn sheets in the middle layer. Spread with the remaining nut mixture and end with a top layer of 8 sheets, continuing to brush each with butter. Trim any overhanging edges.

Using a sharp knife, cut 6 equal lengthwise strips (about 1 3/4 inches wide) through the top layer of pastry. Make 1 1/2-inch-wide diagonal cuts across the strips to form diamond shapes.

Just before baking, lightly sprinkle the top of the pastry with cold water. This inhibits the pastry from curling. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees and bake until golden brown, about 15 additional minutes.

Cut through the scored lines. Drizzle the cooled syrup slowly over the hot baklava and let cool for at least 4 hours. Cover and store at room temperature for up to 1 week. If the baklava dries out while being stored, drizzle with a little additional hot syrup.

VARIATIONS

Instead of brushing each layer of phyllo with butter, cut the unbaked baklava into diamonds all the way through, drizzle with 1 cup vegetable oil, and let stand for 10 minutes before baking.

Persian Baklava: Using the almonds and cardamom in the filling: Omit the lemon juice and cinnamon from the syrup and add 1/4 cup rose water or 1 tablespoon orange blossom water after it has cooled.

Paklava(Azerbaijani Baklava): For the filling, use 2 cups blanched almonds, 2 cups unsalted pistachios, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Crush 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads and let steep in 3 tablespoons of the melted butter for 15 minutes and use to brush the top sheet of phyllo.

APPLE PHYLLO STRUDEL

Servings: Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

6 sheets phyllo dough, thawed

Vegetable-oil cooking spray

1/2 cup amaretti cookie or graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed)

12 oz nonfat vanilla yogurt (optional)

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In a 12-inch nonstick pan over medium heat, cook apples with dried fruit, sugar and cinnamon until tender, about 10 minutes. Let cool, reserving liquid for optional sauce. Layer 2 phyllo sheets on top of each other. Coat top of phyllo layer with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1/3 of cookie crumbs.

Layer 2 more sheets of phyllo on top, coat with cooking spray, then crumbs; repeat once more. Spread apple mixture on top; roll up from the shorter end. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Place strudel on sheet and bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool. Cut into 8 pieces. Place a slice on each plate; top with berries. Optional sauce: Mix yogurt with reserved liquid and drizzle over slices.

hope this helps.                good luck and enjoy.

Answer 4

You seperate each layer of Phyllo pastry and brush each one with melted butter. You could lay the pastry in the bottom of a oblong baking tray, bake at 350 f for about 15 mins, and put in your favorite filling such as chicken stew, beef stew, or even a vegetable mixture. Then top again with layers of phyllo pastry and bake again for about 30 mins

Answer 5

look here

http://search.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...

Answer 6

The Athen's Fillo Dough site has a ton of recipes.

http://www.athens.com/consumers/recipes....

Answer 7

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing pan

2 cups sugar

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (85 per cent cocoa preferred), melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup praline liqueur

3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

5 sheets fillo dough

1/2 cup clarified butter

4 scoops good quality vanilla ice cream

1 cup caramel sauce

1 cup chocolate sauce

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 by 13-inch pan.

Place the softened butter in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, and whisk until it is pale yellow and light. Add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is light and fluffy. Whisk in the cooled chocolate, then add the eggs 1 at a time, whisking after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla and liqueur, sift in the flour, cocoa, and salt and fold them in until combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan, smoothing it out evenly, and bake in the center of the oven until the brownies have puffed slightly around the edges and are shiny on the surface, about 30 minutes. They will be very moist in the center. Allow the brownies to cool 4 to 6 hours, but overnight is best.

When you are ready to make the baklava, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush the fillo sheets with clarified butter and stack them. Cut fillo sheets into 4 (6-inch) squares. Brush one side of the 4 squares with some caramel sauce and sprinkle with half of the chopped pecans. Cut the brownies into 3-inch squares (reserve remaining brownies for another purpose) and place one on each fillo square. Fold fillo sheets around the brownies like an envelope, brush them with clarified butter, and place them seam-side down on a baking sheet. Bake until they are golden brown, about 4 or 5 minutes.

Carefully place them on plate with a scoop of ice cream. Cover in caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, and pecans and enjoy.  

Answer 8

Yes.  It's best to separate the layers.  You can add two or three layers at once but the dough tends to become harder (as opposed to flaky).

he best way to do it is to have a damp towel covering the dough.  Paint the top layer with melted butter and peel a layer at a time and put it onto the pan/baking sheet.  Each time you pull a layer off; replace the towel.  Filo tends to get very dry when exposed to air and it ruins the taste/texture.

It depends on what your making with it but you can mold it and cut it and do a lot with filo dough.  I mostly use it for making Baklava and Turnovers so I'm used to separating the layers to get the lightest & flakiest texture.