Phyllo Shells Recipes - Appetizers and Desserts - Peas and Crayons (2024)

FAQs

Do you thaw phyllo shells before baking? ›

Defrost in the refrigerator to make sure those butter layers stay nice and cold, and handle the dough as little as possible. Phyllo dough is available in frozen sheets or shells. The shells do not need thawing, but the sheets must be completely thawed before using.

Typically, phyllo dishes should have a finished thickness of 3 to 10 sheets per layer. (A one-pound box of phyllo contains about 20 sheets.) Tip: Phyllo pastries can often be very brittle when baked. We recommend using a serrated knife to cut the finished dish to prevent all of the filling from squishing out.

Phyllo cups can become soggy if you fill them with wet ingredients too far in advance, so be sure to fill them just before baking. How do you keep phyllo cups crisp? Store phyllo cups in an airtight container at room temperature to maintain their crispness.

Light, flaky layers of dough are formed into mini pastry cups, then fully baked and frozen fresh.

The magic of phyllo sheets comes in the layering. You'll brush oil or melted butter between each layer of phyllo. I'm using olive oil for this spinach pie. Oil the dish, add a sheet of phyllo, brush with oil, top with another phyllo sheet and repeat.

How do you get phyllo dough to bake crispy and light instead of coming out like toasted pasta? To achieve a crispy and light texture with phyllo dough, make sure to brush each layer with melted butter or oil. Additionally, avoid overloading the layers with too much filling, as this can contribute to a soggy result.

It dries out very quickly, so it is usually brushed with a fat before cooking. For the Om Ali the filo is brushed with melted butter and then put on a baking sheet and cooked in the oven until golden and crisp. The pastry is very thin and doesn't necessarily need fat to be brushed onto both sides.

Traditionally, filo dough is made from wheat flour, water and a small amount of oil or melted butter. Sometimes, a small amount of vinegar is added into the dough as well. It's first rolled out and then stretched by hand into very large, extremely thin sheets.

There are two key elements to promoting the extensibility necessary in the dough: adding vinegar to the dough, which weakens some of the gluten bonding, making it less elastic; and ample resting. Of course, it takes practice, just like working with any kind of dough.

Make ahead. Many phyllo dishes can be assembled and frozen in airtight containers prior to baking.

How to stick filo pastry together? ›

To bind the filo sheet together, melted butter is commonly used, but flavourless oil can be a substitue, but remember to brush each sheet liberally with butter to make it easy to shape. Practice this technique using Alyn Williams' chicken christmas cracker or Paul Ainsworth's raspberry meringue pie.

The main differences between puff pastry and phyllo dough are their fat content and preparation. Puff pastry is a laminated dough that gets its signature airy puff from layers of butter, while phyllo dough is comparatively low-fat. Phyllo dough is mostly flour and water and can dry out easily.

– Wrap any leftover phyllo tightly with plastic wrap and keep in a cooler for up to 1 week. – For longer storage, refreeze phyllo. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then with foil and store in freezer up to 2 months.

Put it in the refrigerator overnight—phyllo dough takes about 8 hours to thaw. After that, leave it out on your countertop at room temperature for another hour until the sheets are completely pliable. Only then is your dough properly defrosted.

Phyllo must be completely thawed and at room temperature for best results. Do not open until all other ingredients are assembled and you are ready to work. Remove any phyllo you don't need for your recipe, re-roll, wrap in plastic and refreeze up to expiration date.

Does filo pastry need to be at room temperature before using? Yes, whether your filo is fresh or frozen, it must be brought to room temperature. If it's still cold, you'll have trouble unrolling it and separating the layers without breakage.

The only potentially tricky moment when working with store-bought puff is that it needs to completely thaw before you use it. If you can, take the package of puff out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight.

It is best to defrost frozen phyllo pastry overnight in the refrigerator before using (you can defrost it at room temperature for about 4 hours).