October- Phyllo Dough

  Phyllo dough lends itself well to sweet and savory applications.  Being an advocate for eastern European desserts, I love the use of phyllo for almost anything soaked in syrup, delicately flavored with spice blends, or made in eastern Europe, really.   Being an advocate of the savory pie, I love the use of phyllo for a delicate top and bottom crust.  It is often known for being difficult to work with but a few pointers can open you up to a world of possibility and give you the confidence you need to start buttering sheets this amazing pastry with skill. 

 Phyllo comes in a few different forms, though the commercial version is famous for its frail sheets.  This is the version waiting for you in your grocery store’s freezer section.  Kataifi is shredded phyllo pastry that is used in knafeh and other desserts.  Then there is a thicker version of phyllo which lends itself well to savory applications, commonly called country phyllo.  This style of phyllo can be a good starting point if you are really nervous about the super thin variety. There is always fresh phyllo dough, which is easy to make (water, oil, flour, acid) but I've been told that you need to be a Greek grandmother to be capable of rolling it out in proper fashion.  If you are interested in working with these verities, they can be found in appropriately ethnic food stores,on amazon or, in some cases, at a Greek grandmother's house. 

I had the opportunity to work in a bakery where we used shredded, country and thin phyllo.  The thing that surprised me is how versatile this pastry is.  There is so much more to make with phyllo than baklava, though that is a perfectly legit application.  We made serpents, by laying out few sheets of layered and buttered phyllo, piping an apricot almond paste in a line against one of the long borders, rolling it into a cigarette and then coiling it.  There is a famous and larger version of this called M’hanncha.  We made savory casseroles with country phyllo- layering the pastry on the bottom, a savory tomato filling and then torn pieces of the dough on top for a dramatic presentation.   We used kataifi for individual kunefe, made in square molds sandwiching buttered shredded dough around a sweet cheese filling and then soaking it in spiced syrup.   These books by Greg & Lucy Malouf  are wonderful places to start looking for inspiration once you get bit by the phyllo or spice blend bug.  If nothing else, they are a visual vacation to places like Turkey and Syria.   The photos suck you in and make you forget about the conflict tearing these places apart and remind you that there are deep culinary traditions holding the people together. 

If you are looking for something modern and applicable to the season, here is a recipe for a phyllo dough pumpkin pie and another for an appetizer pizza made with phyllo.  Otherwise, click on the links throughout this post for more traditional eastern European recipes.  I am looking forward to photos of what you create.  Hopefully this challenge will inspire you to try a new flavor profile or style of phyllo.