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Filo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Filo (disambiguation).
Filo
Baklava, made with filo pastry
TypeDough
Place of originAncient Greece, Anatolia or Central Asia
Main ingredientsFlour, water, oil

Filo, phyllo or yufka is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek in Turkish and Balkan cuisines. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with oil or butter; the pastry is then baked.

Name and etymology

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The name filo or phyllo comes from Greek φύλλο 'thin sheet' lit. 'leaf'.[1][2] The Turkish name is yufka, from Old Turkish yuvka 'thin, weak'.[3]

History

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The origin of the practice of stretchinz raw dough into paper-thin sheets is unclear, with many cultures claiming credit.[4]

Some food historians attribute the origin of filo to the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, who developed traditions of thin, layered flatbreads during the medieval period to suit their nomadic lifestyle, which later evolved into paper-thin pastry in the palace kitchens of Ottoman Istanbul.[2][5][6][7][8]

Charles Perry argues that, although filo is known to the Western world by its Greek name, the thin layered dough is of Turkish origin.[2] He notes that nomadic Turkic peoples had an “obsessive interest” in making layered bread, possibly in emulation of the thick oven breads of city people.[2] Paper-thin sheets were a later development, refined in the kitchen of the Topkapi Palace during the Ottoman Empire.[2][9][10] The 11th-century Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk by Mahmud Kashgari records the meaning of yurgha, an archaic term for yufka, as "pleated or folded bread".[2]

Others claim it may be derived from the Greeks;[4] Homer's Odyssey, written around 800 BC, mentions thin breads sweetened with walnuts and honey.[4] In the fifth century BC, Philoxenos states in his poem "Dinner" that, in the final drinking course of a meal, hosts would prepare and serve cheesecake made with milk and honey that was baked into a pie.[11]

Preparation

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Preparation of custard bougatsa in an Athens cafe

Filo dough is made with flour, water and a small amount of oil.[12] Homemade filo takes time and skill, requiring progressive rolling and stretching to a single thin and very large sheet. A very big table is used, preferably with a marble top. If the dough is stretched by hand, a long, thin rolling pin is used, with continual flouring between layers to prevent the sheets from sticking to one another.[13] In modern times, mechanical rollers are also used. Prior to World War I, households in Istanbul typically had two filo makers to prepare razor thin sheets for baklava, and the relatively thicker sheets used for börek. Fresh and frozen versions are prepared for commercial markets.[13]

Use

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When using filo to make pastries, the thin layers are made by first rolling out the sheets of dough to the final thickness, then brushing them with oil, or melted butter for some desserts, and stacking them. This contrasts with puff pastry and croissant doughs, where the layers are stacked into a thick layer of dough, then folded and rolled out multiple times to produce a laminated dough containing thin layers of dough and fat.[citation needed]

Filo can be used in many ways: layered, folded, rolled, or ruffled, with various fillings.

List of filo-based pastries

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  • Baklava – dessert made with layers of filo, chopped nuts, and syrup or honey.
  • Banitsa – A Bulgarian dish consisting of eggs, cheese and filo baked in the oven.
  • Börek – A savory filo pie.
  • Bougatsa – A type of Greek breakfast pastry.
  • Bülbül yuvası – A Middle eastern dessert with pistachios and syrup.
  • Bundevara – A Serbian sweet pie filled with pumpkin.
  • Flia – An Albanian dish consisting of multiple crêpe-like layers brushed with cream and served with sour cream.
  • Galaktoboureko – A dessert consisting of filo and muhallebi.
  • Gibanica – A Balkan dish made from filo, white cheese, and eggs.
  • Pastizz – A savory pastry from Malta filled with ricotta or mushy peas.
  • Savory spinach pie – A Balkans' spinach pie.
  • Tiropita – A Greek dish similar to Börek, filled with a cheese-egg mixture.
  • Zelnik – A savory pie from the Balkans.
  • Jabukovača – Bosnian pastry made of filo dough stuffed with apples.
  • Pastilla - Moroccan pie made of thin Warqa dough stuffed with either chicken, seafood or lamb.[14]
  • Warbat - Jordanian and Syrian dessert consisting of layers of dough and semolina custard.

Comparison to similar pastries

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There are several similar foods similar to filo that are frequently confused with filo:[15][16]

  • Maghrebi malsouka (AKA warqa or brik sheets): Malsouka thicker than filo and is made by cooking a semolina-based dough on a hot pan.[16][17][18][19]
  • Turkish yufka: Yufka is an unleavened bread cooked on a saj, thicker than filo sheets, and may sometimes differ in ingredients.[20][21][22]
  • Güllaç wafers: Güllaç wafers are made by pouring a starch-based wafer of a hot saj.[23][24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "filo". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Perry, Charles (as CP) (1999). "Filo". In Davidson, Alan (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 299.
  3. ^ [1] Nişanyan Dictionary "yufka"
  4. ^ a b c Mayer, Caroline E. "Phyllo Facts". Washington Post. 1989. Archived.
  5. ^ Goldstein, Darra (2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 256. Flatbreads are of great antiquity in western Asia, but the very thin filo appears to be a Turkic innovation originating in Central Asia. Medieval Arab recipes often use the Turkish term tutmaç for this type of thin pastry. The eleventh-century Turkish-Arabic dictionary Diwăn lugät at-turk written by Mahmud of Kashgar mentions yufka several times, including a dish made of filo folded and fried in butter and one variety of dough (yalaci yurga) so fragile it crumbles at the touch. Since the Turks were a nomadic people, a type of bread that could be rolled out and cooked on a portable griddle in a matter of minutes was more practical than leavened bread, which needed time to rise and an oven for baking. In 1433 the French pilgrim Bertrandon de la Brocquière (1400-1459) encountered Turcoman nomads in the mountains of southern Turkey, who offered him fresh filo with yogurt, cheese, and grapes. The filo was made so quickly that Brocquière declared, "They make two of their cakes sooner than a waferman can make one wafer."
  6. ^ Sousanis, Marti (1983). The Art of Filo Cookbook: International Entrées, Appetizers & Desserts Wrapped in Flaky Pastry. Berkeley: Aris Books. pp. 13–14. We all know baklava as that delicious pastry available at Greek restaurants and delis, but its ultimate origins go far beyond Greece into Central Asia, for filo was invented by the Turks.
  7. ^ Mack, Glenn Randall; Surina, Asele (2005). Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia. Greenwood Press. p. 92. The Turkic contributions to food in this period, such as manti (dumplings), kebabs, sumalak (wheat porridge), and the milk products of yoghurt, airan, and kumiss are mentioned in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Divanü Lügat-it Türk, an eleventh century Turkish-Arabic dictionary. He refers to pit cooking, grilling, and baking with earthenware pots. Grain-based foods, attesting to their sedentary lifestyle, included the flatbreads yufka, chorek, and ekmek, a pastry (katmer), tutmac (noodle soup), and halva.
  8. ^ Marks, Gil (2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. John Wiley & Sons. In the kitchens of the royal palace in Istanbul, cooks perfected a method for stretching plain dough called yufka very thin and used it to make an array of baked goods. The Turks introduced their paper-thin dough throughout the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans, where it became known as phyllo ("leaf" in Greek), and called fila in Arabic.
  9. ^ Perry, Charles. "The Taste for Layered Bread among the Nomadic Turks and the Central Asian Origins of Baklava", in A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (ed. Sami Zubaida, Richard Tapper), 1994. ISBN 1-86064-603-4
  10. ^ Sousanis 1983, p. 14. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSousanis1983 (help)
  11. ^ Hoffman, Susanna. The Olive and the Caper. Workman Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 9781563058486
  12. ^ Marks, Gil (2008). Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780544187504.
  13. ^ a b Helou, Anissa (2015). Sweet Middle East: Classic Recipes, from Baklava to Fig Ice Cream. Chronicle Books. p. 73. ISBN 9781452130620.
  14. ^ Karadsheh, Suzy (2022-03-04). "Best Pastilla (Skillet Chicken Pie)". The Mediterranean Dish. Retrieved 2025-02-22.
  15. ^ a b Davidson, Alan (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  16. ^ a b "Introducing brik, the Tunisian pastry you've probably eaten but never made". SBS Food. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  17. ^ Marks, Gil (17 November 2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. HMH. pp. 280–282, 1883–1888. ISBN 978-0-544-18631-6. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  18. ^ "Chef Fehmi cooks malsouka, a Tunisian-style of crepe". Wicked Local. 2011.
  19. ^ Yotam, Ottolenghi (May 9, 2017). "The Challenge of Perfect Phyllo". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  20. ^ Eckhardt, Robyn; Hagerman, David (2017). Istanbul and Beyond: Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-544-44431-7. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  21. ^ Ballinger, Geoffrey. "Yufka, Turkey's All-Star Pastry Sheets". Culinary Backstreets. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  22. ^ Sivrioglu, Somer; Dale, David (3 December 2019). Anatolia: Adventures in Turkish eating. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-76087-306-6. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  23. ^ Isin, Mary [in Turkish] (8 January 2013). "Güllaç". Sherbet and Spice: The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 170–177. ISBN 978-1-84885-898-5. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  24. ^ Isin, Priscilla Mary (25 August 2011). "Gullac". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  25. ^ "قصة صناعة أول «لفة جلاش يوناني» بالمنصورة في محل عمره 90 عاما" [The story of making the first "Greek phyllo pastry roll" in Mansoura in a 90-year-old shop]. El Watan News (in Arabic). 17 July 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2026.

Bibliography

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  • The dictionary definition of filo at Wiktionary
  • Media related to Phyllo at Wikimedia Commons
  • Phyllo dough at the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject
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