Homemade Phyllo Pastry Food

HOMEMADE PHYLLO (OR FILO) DOUGH

Steps:

• Place 2 cups flour in a mixing bowl; make a well in the center. Drizzle in olive oil and add salt; add white wine vinegar and warm water. Mix until dough just comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 1 or 2 minutes. Transfer dough ball to a lightly floured work surface.
• Knead until dough is smooth, using just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the work surface or your hands, 2 or 3 minutes. Continue to knead until dough is supple and elastic, about 5 more minutes. Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature, 1 to 2 hours.
• Divide dough into 20 (20 gram) portions using a kitchen scale; roll each portion into a ball. Place on plate and cover with plastic wrap to prevent dough balls from drying out while you begin to roll them out. Work in batches of 5.
• Mix cornstarch and 2 tablespoons flour together in a bowl. Dust a work surface and the first dough ball with the cornstarch mixture. Flatten out the dough ball and roll out into a circle, about 5 inches in diameter. Dust again with cornstarch mixture. Set circle to one side. Roll out 4 more dough balls to about the same diameter and stack them on the first one, dusting each layer with more of the cornstarch mixture to keep them from sticking together.
• When you have 5 circles, roll out the stack to a larger circle about double in size, turning as you go to maintain a round shape. Separate each layer and lay out the circles. Re-apply more cornstarch mixture where needed and restack them. Roll again until the 5-layer stack is paper thin, about 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Place on a sheet of parchment paper; top with another piece of parchment. Gently roll up the dough; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate.
• Repeat with the remaining 15 balls of dough in batches of 5.

HOMEMADE PHYLLO PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl and add the water with oil.
• Stir until forms soft dough, then knead in the bowl about 10 minutes.
• Dough will feel sticky at first, but kneading, it should develop into a dough that becomes smooth and satiny.
• When well mixed and smooth, wrap pastry in plastic wrap and leave it to rest at room temperature about one hour.
• If not all the dough is being used right away, wrap the unused portion and keep chilled in fridge up to a week.
• Always bring to room temp before using.
• Divide the pastry into 12 equal portions, shaping them into smooth balls.
• Cover with a cloth, except the one you're working with.
• Take a ball of dough, and shape it into a square.
• Place it on a lightly floured surface, and roll into a 6 inch square using rolling pin.
• Dust again with flour.
• Take the dowel, and place on one end of the pastry, and roll neatly onto the dowel, pressing firmly as you do so.
• Keep hands on each side of the pastry.
• Unroll the pastry and dust the work surface and pastry with a little flour, and roll up again from opposite side as before, exerting pressure as you go.
• Unroll carefully.
• After second rolling, the pastry should be about 10x12 inches.
• Using the back of your hands, place them under the pastry and stretch gently, moving hands to keep it even, working toward the edges.
• The edges can be given a final stretch with the fingertips.
• You should wind up with a pastry that's 14x18 inches in size.
• Place on a cloth, cover with wax paper and fold the cloth over the top.
• Repeat the above process with remaining dough balls, laying each on top of the previous one with wax paper between them.
• Use soon after making as they'll go sour if you keep them too long.
• If desired, you can roll them out more thinly.
• Repeating the dowel rolling process more will result in a thinner square each time.
• Phyllo can be used like a puff pastry when thicker, or it's wonderful in baklawa, lamb pastries, or many other mid eastern sweets when rolled very thin.
• In Greece, they'll often use phyllo as a crust for certain types of pies, such as spinach.

LEFTOVER PHYLLO DOUGH PASTRIES

Steps:

• Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in farina and reduce heat. Whisk vigorously over very low heat until mixture is smooth, thick, and detaches from the bottom of the pan, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool, about 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin pan.
• Stir egg and honey into the cooled farina and whisk until smooth. Add walnuts, apricots, orange extract, and orange peel. Stir well to combine.
• Work with 1 phyllo sheet at a time, covering the rest with a tea towel so they won't dry out. Fold phyllo sheet in half widthwise, then cut it in half widthwise with scissors. Place each of the phyllo pieces in a muffin cup and gently press down so it fills the cup and sits on the bottom. Proceed the same way with the rest of the phyllo sheets.
• Distribute the filling among the muffin cups. Pinch the phyllo tops together with your fingertips to seal. Drizzle tops with melted butter.
• Bake in the preheated oven until tops start to brown, about 15 minutes. Use a dinner knife to loosen pastries out of the muffin cups and transfer to a baking sheet. Continue baking until evenly browned, 10 to 15 minutes more.
• Serve lukewarm or at room temperature.

PHYLLO PASTRY TRIANGLES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take 1 sheet of phyllo dough, brush it very carefully with butter. Sprinkle with sugar. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up. Cut the dough in half lengthwise. Then cut into triangle wedges. Approximately 8 pieces from each half. Place on a sheet pan, lay out triangles and bake until golden brown.