Greek Phyllo Dough
Instructions
1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the center and add tepid water, olive oil, and ouzo or vinegar or lemon juice. Stir with a fork until all ingredients are well combined. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead and fold using your palms not your fingers until a smooth, silky and elastic dough is formed, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add more flour during kneading, if necessary.
2. Roll the ball of dough in olive oil inside an oiled bowl. Cover and let rest at room temperature at least 1 hour before using.
3. To roll, divide into two equal balls (unless stated otherwise in recipe). Keep dough balls covered. Using a rolling pin or thin dowel and working on a lightly floured surface, roll open the first ball of dough to a thin, usually 12-inch circle (a 20-inch circle for double the pastry). Brush the entire surface generously with olive oil.
PHYLLOVariations, Tips, and Working with Commercial Varieties
The Glorious Foods of Greece, Diane Kochilas, William Morrow Publishers
Variations:
Phyllo in the Ionian: Follow the same directions as for basic phyllo, but reduce water to 1 cup and add a cup of strained plain yogurt together with remaining liquids.
Phyllo in Epirus: Reduce the amount of water to 1 1/4 cups and add one large egg, beaten, to the ingredients list.
Epirote cooks traditionally use a slightly different technique than the one prescribed above for mixing the dough. In step 1, mix together 4 cups of the flour and the salt in a large basin and make a well in the center. Add the egg to the well. With one hand, sprinkle in the water, a little at a time, and, as you do this, knead the dough by pressing it as it dampens with the back of the other fist, as though punching the dough. Keep sprinkling and kneading until a dough mass forms that is smooth and firm and doesn't stick. Sprinkle in a little more flour if necessary to achieve the proper consistency.
Roll out the dough immediately into a rope about an inch and some thick and divide it into as many individual pieces as the individual recipe specifies. Rub each ball with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and set aside, covered with a kitchen towel, to rest for about 10 minutes. Roll out following the directions in the individual recipes.
Phyllo in Roumeli: Follow the directions for basic phyllo, reducing the amount of water to 1 1/4 cups, increasing the amount of olive oil to
1 cups, and reducing the vinegar or lemon juice to 1 tablespoon. The additional olive oil makes for a slightly flakier final result.
Phyllo in Crete: Most cooks add yeast and a little eau de vie to the basic phyllo dough recipe. Combine 1 packet of active dry yeast in step 1 of the basic recipe, together with the flour and salt. Follow the same directions for mixing and kneading, but use warm water and reduce the amount to 1 cup while increasing the olive oil to half a cup and the lemon juice or eau de vie (not vinegar) to 3 tablespoons. This is the basic phyllo used for making the gamut of Crete's small skillet pies. It will provide enough dough for 25-30 pastries.
Commercial Frozen Phyllo
Almost all the pies in this book, save for the some of the Cretan ones, may be made with commercial phyllo. Figure on three sheets of commercial phyllo as a replacement for one sheet of homemade. For heavy filling, place four or five sheets on the bottom of the pan.
Fitting commercial phyllo into pie pans: If using large round pans, as indicated in many of the recipes in this book, you will need about six sheets for the bottom of the pan. Begin by placing the first one in the center. Brush with olive oil or melted butter. Place the remaining five sheets fan-like from the center outwards, so that they hang over the edge. Brush each with oil or butter before placing the next one on top. Fill the pie as indicated in the individual recip and cover with about five more sheets, spreading them fanlike fro the center as well and brushing each with fat.
Lubricating the Phyllo
Phyllo sheets always have to brushed with a little fat--about a teaspoon per sheet--before baking. Butter makes the phyllo crisp, but it should be melted and clarified before brushing. Olive oil is delicious in savory dishes.
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