Easy Mini Mushroom Pies Recipe (With Filo Pastry) (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between phyllo and filo pastry? ›

Phyllo (also spelled filo), which means “leaf” in Greek, is tissue-thin sheets of dough that have very little fat. Many popular Greek dishes, such as baklava and spanakopita, are made with phyllo dough. Phyllo dough can also make great edible serving cups for appetizers or desserts.

Brush your filo layers with butter

Bring out crisp and golden filo pastries. Grab your pastry brush and smear tempting butter over your filo. Each layer will absorb about 1 tbsp. of butter, so prepare, cook, and melt a good measure before brushing.

Lay a damp (NOT wet) kitchen towel over the phyllo sheets while you are putting together your recipe. Make sure the towel is just slightly damp, enough to give the phyllo dough a little moisture so it doesn't dry out. Once you take a sheet off the stack, lay the towel back over the unused dough.

To save time, you can use cooking spray between the layers to create the same flaky effect. You will want to keep the stack of unbuttered dough sheets covered with a slightly dampened dish towel at all times, because phyllo dries out very quickly.

Phyllo dough is usually found in the frozen food section, either in flat squares or in rolls. One package contains dozens of paper-thin sheets of phyllo. Most preparations use 5 or more of these sheets stacked 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.

It's important that you don't let your filo pastry dry out! This can happen in just a couple minutes, and your filo will crack and become unusable.

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.

Bring phyllo dough to room temperature prior to use (about 2 hours). Phyllo must be completely thawed and at room temperature for best results. Unopened phyllo has a refrigerated shelf life of 4 weeks thus it can be on hand and ready to use whenever needed.

Brush a little melted butter around the base, then gather up the outsides and scrunch them together. Brush half the remaining butter over the top. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make another filo parcel. Transfer the parcels to the preheated baking tray and bake in the oven for about 25 mins until golden.

Why is my filo pastry not crispy? ›

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. Bake at the recommended temperature, and keep a close eye on it to prevent over-browning.

Leftover Fillo or Kataifi Pastry can be placed back in its packaging, sealed tightly and stored in the fridge for later use. Alternatively, you can also make extra portions of the meal, store in an airtight container and keep them in the freezer to be baked at another time.

Defrost Properly

Refrigerate frozen phyllo for about 8 hours or overnight to allow it to thaw, then leave it at room temp for another hour or two until all the sheets are pliable.

Phyllo, also spelled filo or fillo, means "leaf" in Greek, and the pastry dough is widely used in the Balkans and Middle East. Each sheet is usually brushed with melted butter before baking. Phyllo gets crisp and flaky when baked but it doesn't have the same rich, airy quality that puff pastry has.

You can swap in puff pastry for phyllo dough in a pinch, and the other way around, but don't expect the same results. Here's the best way to use each of these flaky, versatile doughs. It's easy to love any recipe calling for phyllo or puff pastry.

Even better, switch your pastry from shortcrust or puff to filo. This is the lowest-fat pastry by far, with 2.9g fat per 100g. This compares with 26.2g for puff or 31.4g for shortcrust. Filo is the lowest-calorie option too, and it's easy to use.