Work With Phyllo Dough
Phyllo dough, also spelled "filo" or "fillo," is a light crust used in a variety of pastries. Phyllo dough comes as a roll of thin individual strips that are stacked and wrapped together. You can find phyllo dough with the frozen foods in the grocery store. Keep phyllo dough frozen until you are ready to work with it. Use these tips to work with phyllo dough.
Steps
- Defrost the phyllo dough.
- Place the package of phyllo dough in the refrigerator. Refrain from opening the package of dough before putting it in the refrigerator.
- Allow the phyllo dough to defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
- Ensure that the phyllo dough is completely thawed before removing it from the refrigerator.
- Prepare the filling. Use a savory filling, such as spinach and goat cheese, or a sweet filling, such as sweetened nuts, in phyllo dough.
- Prepare the filling you will place inside the phyllo dough.
- Allow the filling to cool thoroughly before you begin working with the phyllo dough.
- Chill the filling if possible before working with the phyllo dough.
- Ensure that the filling is not overly moist.
- Prepare the workspace.
- Prepare a workspace that is large enough to spread out the roll of phyllo dough and to work with individual sheets of phyllo dough.
- Gather a pastry brush, melted butter and any other utensils and ingredients you will be using with your phyllo dough.
- Preheat the oven if you will bake the phyllo dough once you have prepared it.
- Unroll the phyllo dough.
- Remove the thawed phyllo dough from the refrigerator.
- Take the roll of phyllo dough out of its box.
- Use your fingers to unroll the phyllo dough onto your workspace.
- Position the sheet of phyllo dough.
- Take 1 sheet from the unrolled stack of phyllo dough.
- Place the sheet of phyllo dough on a free area of your workspace.
- Cover the unrolled stack of phyllo dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.
- Spread the melted butter.
- Use a pastry brush to cover the single sheet of phyllo dough with butter.
- Spread the butter in a thin layer from the outer edges of the sheet of phyllo dough to the center of the sheet. Cover the sheet with melted butter quickly.
- Cut the phyllo dough. Use a knife to cut the buttered sheet of phyllo dough to the desired size.
- Fill the phyllo dough.
- Place the filling inside the cut portions of phyllo dough.
- Press the ends of each cut and filled portion of dough together to hold the filling inside.
- Bake or refrigerate the phyllo dough.
- Bake the filled phyllo dough for as long as called for in your recipe.
- Refrigerate the filled phyllo dough if you will not bake the dough immediately.
- Chill the remaining dough.
- Wrap the unused sheets of phyllo dough firmly in plastic wrap.
- Return the phyllo dough to its original box.
- Repackage and return the dough to the refrigerator as quickly as possible.
- Finished.
Tips
- Leftover phyllo dough can be wrapped and stored in the refrigerator for a 2-week period. You can also freeze leftover phyllo dough. Place aluminum foil around the phyllo dough wrapped in plastic. Place the wrapped dough inside its original box. Keep the wrapped dough in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- Work briskly when handling phyllo dough. Phyllo dough dries out rapidly.
- If your recipe calls for all of the phyllo dough in one package, buy an extra package to have as back up. Individual sheets of phyllo dough tear easily.
Warnings
- Do not defrost phyllo dough at room temperature. Thawing the phyllo dough outside of the refrigerator will cause the individual sheets of dough to stick together.
Things You'll Need
- Package of phyllo dough
- Freezer
- Refrigerator
- Large workspace
- Damp cloth or plastic wrap
- Melted butter
- Pastry brush
- Filling for phyllo dough
- Knife
- Oven
