Making homemade phyllo dough sounds really intimidating but it’s actually really simple. You just have to practice a little on how to roll it out properly.

There are several types of phyllo in Greece. Here I will show you how to make rustic phyllo dough which is actually the thickest of all types. With this phyllo you can make several savory pies like spinach and cheese pies.

Note: For the Traditional Greek Orange Pie with Phyllo I used thin phyllo dough (called crusty phyllo dough). Homemade rustic (or traditional) phyllo is thicker and it’s not suitable for making that pie.

My grandmother taught me how to make and to roll out phyllo dough so this post is dedicated to her.

Ingredients

8/ cups (1kg) bread flour

2 tbsp (30g) extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp (15g) salt

2 tsp (10g) vinegar

3 cups (600g) cold water

Extra flour for dusting while rolling out the phyllo

Note: I only used a pinch of pink himalayan salt but if you do not have restrictions on salt consumption I suggest using 1tbsp of salt per kilo of flour.

Instructions

Place flour in a bowl.

Add salt and mix.

Make a well in the center.

Add vinegar, olive oil and water.

Mix and then knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Form the dough into a round and wrap with plastic.

Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the fridge and cut into 10-14 smaller pieces.

Note: This recipe gives us 1.6kg of dough. We can cut it into 10-14 smaller pieces of 110-170g each. I prefer my phyllo thin so I usually cut and roll out pieces of dough that weigh 110-130g.

Keep a piece to roll out and wrap the rest of the pieces with plastic. Set aside.

Generously flour the surface and start rolling out the dough.

Note: To make your phyllo sheets thinner it’s best to use a thin rolling pin.

Roll the dough into a simple round sheet.

Note: Don’t forget to generously dust the surface and the dough with flour to prevent it from sticking.

Then fold up the sheet and place your hands in the center. Start rolling the pin while slowly moving your hands outward. Flip the sheet, dust again with flour and continue until you end with a thin sheet of phyllo. You should be able to see your hand through the sheet.

About the flour:

Gluten does the job of keeping the dough elastic. So using strong flour/ bread flour is a must. Sometimes I mix white bread flour with yellow bread flour (a stong wheat flour with special grinding, not so thin as white flour, suitable for making rustic bread) because it makes the phyllo crispier. You can also mix 900g of white bread flour with 100g thin semolina flour to have a crisp result.

While rolling out the dough I use only white bread/strong flour because it’s really thin and it has better results in preventing the phyllo sheets from sticking.

This article from TheoDORA's Kitchen Diaries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.