Homemade Phyllo Pastry dough

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups sifted All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tbspn. butter, meltedl

Method:

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Gradually add water, stirring to make a stiff dough.
3. Turn onto a pastry board. P
4. lace the oil in a bowl and spread a little of it on the palms of your hands.
5. Knead the dough with a folding and turning motion, adding more oil to your hands when dough begins to stick.
6. Continue until you have a smooth, elastic ball of dough and the oil is nearly all used.
7. Then roll the ball of dough in the remaining oil to cover all sides, place a clean cloth over the bowl, and allow the dough to rest for two hours or more in a warm place away from drafts.
8. A barely warm oven is satisfactory.
9. Separate 1/4 of the dough and roll to 1/4 inch thickness on a pastry board rubbed with cornstarch.
10. Cover with a clean cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.
11. Cover a table (cardtable or larger) with a smooth cloth and carefully lift dough onto it.
12. Put your hands under the dough, palms down and gently stretch and pull the dough with the backs of your hands, working your way around the table, until the dough is as thin as tissue paper.
13.   Do not worry if it hangs down around the edged of the table, or if some holes appear, especially around the edges.
14. Cut off the thicker edge and save the scraps.
15. The phyllo is now ready to be cut into pieces with scissors if you wish to use it moist.
16. If you prefer dry phyllo, allow it to stand until dry, about 10 minutes, then cut into desired sizes.
17. The scraps of dough can be put into a moist bowl and kneaded and rolled again.

Phyllo Dough is a unique paper-thin pastry dough that is used extensively in Greek cooking. Before starting to work with phyllo, make sure that all your ingredients and utensils are in hand and that you have a large area to work on. You would need to have ready your baking sheets, a pastry brush, the filling, and the melted butter that is used to top each individual pastry sheet. Once you have unrolled the phyllo, work with it one sheet or a portion of a sheet at a time. If you think that you are not going to be very fast working with it, you may want to have some plastic wrap handy, to cover the rest of it so that it doesn't dry out. Brush each pastry sheet with the melted butter, starting at the edges and working inwards. Divide the dough in two, keeping 1/2 from drying out, roll out as thinly as possible, place your hands under the dough palms down, and from the center you stretch the dough working your hands towards the edge. When the dough starts looking transparent it is thin enough. Trim the thicker edge all around with a scissors and brush the dough with warm oil or butter. You may wrap it in rolls or triangles. When wrapping in rolls, make sure that you fold first the outer sides inwards and then just roll across. When wrapping in triangles cut the pastry sheets into thirds lengthwise and for each third see Fig. 1.;Wrapping phyllo in triangles.

When baking - to ensure a crisp pastry, you can sprinkle top layer of the phyllo with cold water before baking. Put it in the oven and cook until its top has a brown golden color.

 


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