Working With Phyllo

Want to impress someone with your cooking skills before they even taste your food? Or make them think you worked away for hours to make something special for them? Make them something with phyllo. Ok, you might still be cooking in the kitchen for hours, but it won’t all be time spent on phyllo.

Phyllo dough is a basic flour and water dough. The dough is rolled out into incredibly thin sheets for use in making both sweet and savory Mediterranean dishes, where the phyllo dough is often used as a wrapping. Phyllo is an intimidating ingredient for many people when they first start working with it. Due to its thinness, it is extremely delicate and prone to drying out. It requires a quick, yet gentle hand. With a little practice and finesse you will find it isn’t as intimidating as people believe. Though a badly treated roll can cause grief for even the most experienced users.

It’s still well worth the time and effort to learn how to use it, because it makes your dish extremely delicious. And for many Greek dishes it’s used in, like spanakopita, it isn’t even the most time consuming part of putting the final dish together. The key to working with phyllo is being prepared. And I’m here to help you get prepared. All the other components of your recipe, including ingredient preparation, tool and utensil selection, kitchen set up and mental mise en place should be prepared and ready to go before you even take your phyllo out to start working with it. If you take out your phyllo too soon, it will dry out, become brittle and impossible to work with.

Step 1: Buying phyllo

You can find phyllo in most grocery stores, look for it in the freezer section near the puff pastry. Phyllo comes in different thicknesses, but unless you find yourself in a Greek or Middle Eastern specialty store, you’re most likely to find the thin pastry sheets. Some grocery stores may also carry the thicker variety called horiatiko, or country style, which is great for hearty or rustic dishes like pan versions of spanakopita or tiropita. I prefer the thinner pastry sheets, because they are so satisfyingly light and flakey when combined with butter!

Step 2: Proper storage at home

If you plan on using your phyllo right away, store it in your refrigerator until all your other ingredients are prepped and ready to go, and you have assembled all your cooking tools.

If you’re not going to be using your phyllo for a few days to weeks, store in your freezer. Then transfer it from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before you plan to use it (or at least 6 hours before using it) to allow it to defrost.

Step 3: Ingredient prep

Make sure all other ingredients for the dish you are preparing are ready to go (e.g. spanakopita/tiropita filling, ground nuts/spices for baklava).

Ingredients for Spanakopita:

Filling
6-8 tablespoons olive oil
4-5 cups chopped scallions (about 3 bunches)
1 ½ cups yellow onion, chopped or grated (about 1 medium onion)
1 cup chopped fresh parsley (about ½ bunch)
¼-½ cup chopped fresh dill (optional and according to taste)
9 cups frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (about 40 – 48 oz)
24 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
4-5 eggs

Topping (for pan version only)
1-2 eggs (1 egg for 9×13” tray, 2 eggs for larger trays)
½ cup milk

Assembly
1-2 rolls phyllo dough*, thawed (in refrigerator the night before ingredient prep, or at least 4-6 hours)
1 cup clarified butter

Yield:
One 12×17 inch tray or sheet pan of approximately 35 pieces; or
60 individually wrapped triangles; or
One 9×13 inch pan of approximately 24 pieces, and approximately 30-40 individual triangles

Cooking Instructions

Thaw phyllo in refrigerator overnight, or about 4-6 hours before using
Thaw spinach in a colander and squeeze out as much liquid as possible, using your hands or cheesecloth. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Sauté yellow onion and scallions until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
Add parsley and dill and cook for about 1 minute
Add drained chopped spinach, mix well and cook for about 5 minutes
Remove from heat and place spinach mixture in a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature
Add feta to cooled spinach mixture and mix to evenly distribute feta
Add four eggs and mix well. If filling seems too dense, add another egg and mix well. The filling should hold its shape slightly, but spread easily when light pressure is applied.
Set filling aside

Step 4: Gather all your necessary cooking utensils and tools:

Pan or sheet tray and sharp knife, if making baklava, or tiropita or spanakopita in a pan
Scissors (or the sharp knife) to open the bag of phyllo
Pastry brush
Ruler (if cutting your phyllo into strips for individual spanakopita or tiriopita)
Dish cloth to cover your phyllo and help prevent it from drying out*
Spray bottle with water (optional)*
Melted, clarified butter – yes, this technically an ingredient, but also a very important tool in preventing your phyllo from drying out while assembling your dish

*IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PHYLLO MOISTURE LEVEL: There is a very fine line and delicate balance between phyllo that is easy to work with, and phyllo that will make you lose your mind in the kitchen. The phyllo needs to be dry enough to separate easily from the other sheets in the roll, but not dry enough to tear, or shatter in your fingers as you are working with it. If the phyllo seems dry and brittle when you initially remove it from the outer wrapping, be sure to lightly mist the towel you keep it under. But make sure you don’t use too much water, as that will cause your phyllo to stick together. And that is just as bad as having phyllo that is too dry and brittle. Make sure the towel feels just barely damp to the touch.

Step 5: Preheat your oven accordingly

Step 6: Remove phyllo from refrigerator and prep according to use

If using full sheets for a pan preparation, remove the phyllo roll from outer plastic bag, and gently unroll the phyllo, count the number of individual sheets, then place them under a barely damp dish towel to prevent it from drying out.

If cutting your phyllo into smaller strips for individually wrapped pites, remove the phyllo roll from the outer plastic bag (keep the inner plastic sheet intact with the roll), measure your portions, then, using a very sharp knife, cut the roll in cross sections, making sure to cut all the way through the bottom layer. Unroll the first cross section of cut phyllo and place under a barely damp dish towel to prevent it from drying out (unroll cross sections only as you work with them, keep the others rolled and covered until finished working with the previous cross section)

Step 7: Assembly

For pan preparation, use pastry brush to coat entire bottom of pan with clarified butter. Gently lift top sheet of phyllo from under dish towel and place in bottom of pan. For country style phyllo, gently brush phyllo sheet with clarified butter, then place another sheet of phyllo on top, buttering every layer, until desired number of layers is reached (about 5 sheets). If using thin pastry sheets, place a second sheet of phyllo on top of first unbuttered sheet, and brush with butter. Repeat, buttering every other layer until desired thickness (about 10 sheets). Then evenly spread filling to desired thickness. Begin placing top layer of phyllo sheets, as done with bottom layer. Make sure to butter entire the top sheet of phyllo.
For individually wrapped pita, gently lift top phyllo strip from under dish towel and place on flat surface such as kitchen counter or cutting board, perpendicular to yourself. Gently brush thin layer of clarified butter along entire length of phyllo strip. If using thin pastry sheets, place another strip of phyllo on top of buttered phyllo. Add filling to bottom edge of phyllo strip (closest to you).

Lift bottom right or left corner of phyllo edge with filling, and bring up to the opposite side, beginning to form your triangle. Flip pointed edge facing you, up and over, so that the straight edge is now facing you, making sure to tuck in any loose filling securely into the packet. Take opposite corner and flip over to opposite long edge, again, making sure any loose filling or phyllo edges are securely tucked in under fold.

Repeat until you near the opposite end of the phyllo strip. Lightly butter the end of the phyllo strip, and wrap around the triangle, sealing your packet. Place completed packet on a dish or tray, and continue wrapping individual packets until finished with filling and/or phyllo.