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Phyllo dough

Maureen Abood

Dec 13, 2011, Updated Mar 19, 2026

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Phyllo dough is a special pastry that makes all kinds of wonderful, crisp baked goods. Here’s everything you need to know, from what it is to how to work with phyllo successfully.

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Phyllo dough, also known as filo or phyllo pastry, is a paper-thin pastry originating from the Middle East and while always trending, it has been important in many cuisines for centuries.

Perhaps it’s my love of paper that inspires my longtime fascination with phyllo dough. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Phyllo dough is a beautiful, delicate pastry that requires a lot of tender loving care when handled. Made with flour, water, and oil, phyllo is an unleavened (no yeast) paper-thin dough. It is typically layered with butter or oil for its various preparations.

The Lebanese use phyllo to make our prized Lebanese baklawa (sounds like bak-LAY-wuh), a pastry of many crisp layers of phyllo with nuts and clarified butter. You may be more accustomed to seeing this as ‘baklava,’ which is the Greek  and Turkish versions. To the casual eater of this pastry, the two types may seem identical, but the differences are there. Greeks use honey and spices to flavor their baklava. The Lebanese use simple syrup fragrant with mazaher, orange blossom water.

Purchasing Phyllo Dough

Phyllo dough sheets are typically store-bought rather than homemade, and comes in various sizes, thicknesses, brands, and almost as many spellings: phyllo, fillo, filo. Back when I asked Aunt Louise about her preferred dough, and she reached in among her cookbooks. She pulled out the label from a box of phyllo dough that she cut out some time before. She kept it handy so she would always remember exactly what brand and type of dough she is looking for! The boxes will indicate thickness of the dough with numbers. As in: #4, which is optimal. The higher the number, the thicker. Aunt Louise drove across town in Lansing to get her dough regularly. Her grocery lists always included “package phyllo dough”!

Store-bought phyllo pastry is actually quite excellent because of the very thin sheets of dough achieved only by machinery. It’s widely available in the freezer aisle. The dough may come in the long sheets (about 14”x18”) but more commonly you find the short ones (about 9”x14”). So my recipes all work with this size dough. If using the longer box with my recipes, you can simply cut the entire stack of phyllo down the middle. Cut the short way to create two stacks that are 9  x 14. Phyllo is easily trimmed, with scissors as you’d cut wrapping paper, to fit your pan or the recipes.

This versatile dough is known for its flaky texture and ability to create both savory and sweet dishes. Traditionally used in Middle Eastern, Greek, and Turkish cooking, phyllo dough is renowned for its delicate layers. It is a staple in recipes like spinach pie, also known as Spanakopita, apple strudel, baklava and baklawa.

Understanding Phyllo Dough

Phyllo dough’s history can be traced back to medieval Turkey, where it was meticulously prepared by skilled phyllo makers. Its charm lies in its versatility. You can use it for classic baklava, for savory or sweet pastry, or many other recipes. Phyllo is a standard in many Mediterranean dishes.

The dough is made with wheat flour and oil. It’s much thinner and more delicate than puff pastry. It is a soft dough but because it is so thin, it can seem papery. While both belong to the pastry dough category, phyllo dough’s paper-thin sheets give a unique flaky effect when baked. Puff pastry has a chewy texture. Phyllo is also lower in fat than high-fat puff pastry.

The layers of phyllo out of the box are coated with a light powder, often made with corn starch or tapioca starch. This helps prevent the layers from sticking together.

How to Use Phyllo Dough

When working with phyllo dough, it’s essential to handle it with care for success. Here are steps and tips to achieve perfect results with your phyllo dough recipes:

1. Preparation:
   • Always allow the frozen package of dough to reach room temperature before you start handling it. This will prevent the phyllo sheet from tearing. Start by thawing overnight if possible in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature two hours before using.
2. Work Surface:
   • To prevent the dough from drying out, always have a very lightly damp towel or kitchen towel on hand to cover unused dough. A little moisture will keep these thin layers pliable, but too much with turn it into a soggy mess. I often use just a towel, not dampened, and work swiftly to avoid drying out.
3. Technique
   • The dough is generally stacked in phyllo layers that are separated with melted clarified butter or oil (olive oil works as does a neutral oil such as canola oil) brushed over the layers to achieve that beautiful golden brown color and flaky layers of phyllo dough. This is true for any shape your phyllo recipes make, including phyllo cups, phyllo crust, phyllo nests, or baklawa rolls or diamonds. Sweet versions finish with pouring fragrant, cold simple syrup over the hot pastry.
4. Cooking with Phyllo Dough:
   • Whether you’re making savory dishes or sweet treats from sheets of phyllo, aim for equal distribution of fillings
   • Common fillings include a mixture of spinach, feta cheese, green onions and cream cheese for traditional Greek Spanakopita, sugared nuts or other options like coconut for nests
   • Always use clarified butter for phyllo. This melted butter is clear and the solids are removed. Regular melted butter leaves behind dark spots after baking.
5. Storing and Handling:
   • Any unused dough should be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for just a couple of days. Don’t re-freeze the phyllo.

Phyllo Recipes

If you are looking for a homemade phyllo dough recipe, head straight to my cookbook, Lebanese Baking! In it you’ll find two approaches to making phyllo for home cooks with all of the tips and tricks to be successful with this special project. I loved unlocking the secrets to making phyllo. This is what the women in our families from earlier eras had to do in order to make baklawa. I was determined to understand what they did!

My recipes using phyllo dough include truly helpful simplifications and explantions: Baklawa diamonds, Baklawa nests, Nut-Free Baklawa, Olive Oil Baklawa, Chocolate Baklawa (and more in my cookbook). My recipe for Spanakopita is easy and incredibly delicious. Check out my posts on How to Clarify Butter and Simple Syrup as these are ingredients you will often need!