Baking: Filo Pastry

Filo Pastry – Has to be one of my favourite pastries. You don’t need to make it from scratch, indeed you have to be a very keen baker or even slightly mad to spend the time to make it yourself. Filo pastry is low in fat and very versatile to use.  Used for both sweet and savoury dishes, it can be folded into various shapes, and baked or fried. Quick and easy it is now readily available to buy in most supermarkets. If you haven’t tried it before then you don’t know what you are missing.

Filo Pastry is made from flour and water and very popular in Central and Eastern Europe as well as throughout the Middle East. Of course, you can make your own – I did it once when I training at college and once again at home.  Its fun if you are so inclined and have the time, but it is really tricky and time consuming.  As it has gained in popularity over here (I’m old enough to remember when it was not available which is why I made my own at home) it is now readily available as both Fresh and Frozen. While now available from big brands as well as supermarket own brands, I am going to stick my neck out here and say I often find the unknown brands from my local Turkish shop are the best quality and easiest to use. Sometimes it can be very brittle and dry especially if stock turn over is slow, so if you are lucky enough to have an ethnic shop that stocks, it then do give them a try. That said if you follow a few simple rules when working with filo pastry you are unlikely to run into any real trouble regardless of the make.

 

Tips for using Filo Pastry

Filo is very thin papery sheets of pastry, remove from the packet and gently unfold. 

Cover the stack of pastry with a tea towel that has been made damp then really well rung out. This will prevent them from drying out while you work.

Take out one sheet at a time leaving the rest covered while you work.

Brush each separate sheet of filo pastry with oil or melted butter.

When using butter which is good for flavour especially for sweet dishes, consider clarifying the butter first.  Filo is often cooked at a high temperature and sometimes the milk solids in butter that is just melted burns and gives a speckled appearance. To clarify butter heat very gently so that the milk solids separate out and drop to the bottom of the pan then pour off the clear butterfat into a dish and use that.

Filo pastry can be stored in the refrigerator if well wrapped for up to 5 days. Frozen Filo will keep for 4 to 5 months.

I asked fellow Bloggers to share their favourite filo recipes.

Savoury Filo Recipes To Try

Chicken and Ham Hock Filo Pie From Crulys Cooking

Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Tangle pie Cooking with My Kids

Roasted Spiced Carrot and Feta Strudel Recipes Made easy

Vegan Spanakopita Veggielicious

Mushroom and Nut Filo Parcels Casa Costello

 Really Easy Beef and Tomato Pie Recipes Made Easy

Bastilla MadHouse Family Reviews

Individual Filo Wellingtons (Beef) Searching for Spice

 

Sweet Filo Recipes to Try

Traditional Hungarian Quark Strudel from Captain BobCat 

Mini Jewelled Filo Tartlets Recipes Made Easy

Salted Caramel and Pecan Baklava The Baking Explorer

Easy Rhubarb Millefeuille Farmers Girl Kitchen

Squash and Apple Strudel with Dried Cranberries Veggie Desserts

Mince Pie Filo Cigars Veggie Desserts