Making phyllo dough at home is very difficult, so think a thousand times before you start it. Today, it can be easily purchased frozen in the store. If you are still a very stubborn person, with extensive experience in working with dough and have a lot of patience, then why not give it a try.

When I took up the dough for the first time, only half of the serving was enough for me to roll out and the desire to repeat it again disappeared from me, but over time, interest won and my hand became more confident.

I usually cook baklava from filo, but I also want to try pastries with meat fillings or just tartlets, it seems to me that it should be very tasty. Strudel is made from a similar dough, only using a different technology, not rolling, but stretching it on a large table.

Ingredients:

Mix everything except starch.

I used a food processor with a dough hook.

The dough should be smooth and soft enough, at the same time it should not stick to your hands. We leave the dough on the table with force for several minutes, this will give it plasticity. Then cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Then we cut off 3 small pieces from the dough and roll each one into a small circle so that the dough does not stick, sprinkle the surface with starch. Dust the rolled circles well with starch and stack them on top of each other.

We roll out three layers at once at the same time, all the time controlling that the layers do not stick together, sprinkling them with starch. Cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for a few minutes.

Then again we proceed to rolling to a transparent state of the layers. The thinner the sheets, the tastier pastries. With this method of rolling - in several layers, you can achieve the best result. We proceed with the rest of the test in the same way. I got somewhere around 30 sheets of a fairly large diameter.

When working with phyllo dough, you should always remember that it dries out very much in the open air, so you need to do everything quickly, cover the part with which you are not currently working with a film, cover the finished sheets with a towel or put them in a closed container.

love flour products Have you already tried a lot of recipes? If you have patience, strength and free time, then try making filo dough. Needless to say, it's not easy. But the result will exceed all your expectations!

What is this dough?

Phyllo dough is an exhaust fresh very thin dough, which belongs to the national Greek cuisine and is usually used to prepare dishes such as tiropita, burek, baklava and so on. By the way, the name can be literally translated as "leaf". Approximately the same recipe is in Turkish cuisine, but there this dough is called "yufka".

Classic filo is usually made with flour, water, olive oil, as well as vinegar (most often wine). But every Greek housewife has her own tricks, which she does not reveal to anyone. First, the dough is kneaded, then rolled out and stretched to a minimum thickness. In pastry shops, specialized machines are used for rolling, but at home, you will have to try and make your own efforts.

How to cook?

How to make filo dough? For this you will need:

• 3 cups flour;
• 1 glass of water;
• 50 ml of olive oil;
• 2 tablespoons of quality wine vinegar;
• 1 teaspoon salt (no slide).

Step-by-step instruction:

1. First you need to sift the flour and mix it with salt. Transfer it to a fairly deep and wide bowl, make a well in the center.
2. Pour warm water and oil, as well as vinegar into the hole.
3. First, knead the dough with a spoon or fork, gradually combining the liquid components with the loose ones. When a ball begins to form, continue kneading the filo with your hands.
4. Knead the dough until it is smooth, this may take about 10 minutes. As a result, you should get an elastic, elastic, soft and plastic mass.
5. Now cover the bowl with something (such as a towel) and let the dough sit at room temperature for about an hour to "stretch".
6. Divide the total volume into about 15 parts (everything will depend on the number of sheets needed to prepare the dish, as well as on their sizes).
7. Take the first part, put it on a table sprinkled with flour (otherwise the filo will stick). Next, roll out the dough into a thin layer, and also periodically stretch with your hands. The sheet should become very thin, almost translucent.
8. Lay the first sheet on parchment, cover with parchment on top.
9. Roll out the layers, fold them in a pile, alternating with sheets of parchment so that they do not dry out and stick together.
10. When all the layers are ready, start cooking the dish.

How to use the dough?

A wide variety of flour dishes can be prepared from filo. Below are the most popular and successful recipes.

Recipe #1

Make delicious strudel. You will need:

• 12 sheets of rolled filo pastry;
• 2 apples;
• 50 grams of walnuts;
• 50 grams of raisins;
• 5-6 tablespoons of sugar;
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon;
• 50 grams of butter.

Cooking:

1. Make the filling first. To do this, peel the apples and finely chop. Grind the nuts, and pour boiling water over the raisins for literally ten minutes to make it soft. Mix it all, add sugar.
2. Take one sheet of phyllo, spread it out and grease it. butter(previously melted it). Put the second layer on top, grease it too. Lay 4 sheets in this way, brushing each with oil.
3. Put the filling on the edge of the four-layer layer, bend the edges slightly in width so that the juice does not flow out during the cooking process. Roll up the dough with the filling.
4. Also form the rest of the strudel (total will be 3) and bake them at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Recipe #2

You can make baklava. Prepare the following ingredients:

• 250 grams ready dough filo;
• 100 grams of peanuts;
• 100 grams of walnuts;
• 2 tablespoons of sugar;
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon.

For syrup:

• 150 grams of sugar;
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon;
• 50 grams of honey;
• 50 ml of water;
• 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice.

Cooking:

1. To get started, start preparing the filling. Chop the nuts (peanuts can be lightly roasted in a dry frying pan). Mix nuts with sugar.
2. Now make syrup. To do this, in a saucepan with a thick bottom, mix water, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and honey. Bring this mixture to a boil and simmer until it thickens.
3. Butter must be melted, it will be needed to lubricate the dough.
4. Now you can start shaping the baklava. To do this, take a rectangular baking dish corresponding to the size of the dough sheets, grease its bottom and walls with oil.
5. Next, place three layers of phyllo, brush with oil, place a layer of nuts on them, then place three sheets of dough again. Stack layers so that the last is filo. Brush the surface with oil, cut the baklava into rectangles and bake at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes.
6. Pour the prepared baklava with syrup.

Some useful tips, which will simplify the cooking process as much as possible, as well as improve the taste of the finished dough:

• Be sure to sift the flour, otherwise the dough will be tough.
• If you have leftover homemade filo, do not rush to throw it away, it is perfectly stored in the freezer for up to three months. Just wrap it in cling film and roll it up.
• If you use previously frozen dough, then defrost it completely before cooking, and only at room temperature! Cold and not fully defrosted dough is very brittle, it is almost impossible to work with it.
• Before cooking, it is advisable to heat the water and oil, then the dough will be more elastic and soft.
• If the dough breaks (this often happens with beginners), then add one or two egg whites(and some, on the contrary, use yolks), they will make the filo more viscous and combine all the ingredients.
• Vinegar can be substituted if desired. citric acid, it has the same properties and performs the same functions in the test.
• Do not freeze the dough twice, it will lose its properties, the most important of which is elasticity.
• The first few times the dough may tear. But over time, you will get used to it and learn to literally feel the filo and control the stretch. Everything will come with experience.

If you master this dough, you will be able to cook a mass interesting dishes for the whole family go guests.

Do you know how my personal “acquaintance” with this test began? The author of an article that I accidentally stumbled upon called the process of making it meditation. Agree, you can't pass by! I want to check, plunge into the action. And if it works out, so dissolve in it.
And the best part is, I did it! Yes Yes! Exactly! Not the first time. I was too worried then, tried not to lose sight of some details of cooking, always controlled myself, looked into the notes. But over time we became friends. I tried different recipes: with and without vinegar, without eggs and with different types vegetable oil. As a result, I gained experience, meditative calmness and my favorite recipe! I will share them now.

Required Ingredients:

• Flour - 450 gr;
• Yolks chicken eggs- 3 pcs.;
• Water - 200 ml;
• Olive oil - 3 tablespoons;
• Salt - 1 tsp

Important point! Before you start cooking, prepare all the ingredients. Sift the flour, remove the eggs from the refrigerator. Pour water and let it settle for a bit. All ingredients must be at room temperature.

How to make the best unleavened phyllo dough? Detailed recipe with photo

I add salt to three yolks. With a whisk I mix the yolks with water (200 ml). I have yolks left after cooking, or. I freeze them in a container with a lid, they can be stored for a whole month. By the way, proteins can be frozen in the same way.

I stir the mixture until it becomes homogeneous.

I sift flour (450 g) so that it becomes airy and easier to mix with liquids.

I know that many people knead the dough like this: pour all the flour, all 450 grams, onto a table or board. Make a well on top and pour in a spoonful of oil and a third of the egg mixture.
Stir, but rather, grind the flour with the liquid.
Do the same for the second and third time. Pour a spoonful of oil and a third of the egg liquid into a small depression in the dough. Mix thoroughly each time. This method has the right to life, but I do it differently. I add a little flour to the liquid, constantly stirring and controlling the density of the dough. If this is not the first time you work with dough and are used to kneading in the first way that I described - well, do it that way!
In my version of kneading, the possibility of adding too much flour is excluded.


I knead the dough. At first it is heterogeneous, I use a spoon.

pouring in vegetable oil(3 tbsp.) I add oil after the first sprinkling of flour.

As you knead, the dough becomes firm and elastic. Kneading with a spoon becomes more and more difficult, we move on to kneading with your hands, first in a bowl, then on a board.

I dust the surface of the cutting board with flour and spread the dough on the surface.

I roll it into a ball and beat it on the surface 30-40 times to make it more pliable.

The dough transforms amazingly! Compare the bottom photo with the top one: both have a ball of dough, but on the surface you can see that the dough has changed, it has become smoother.

If you cut the dough, you can see a smooth and uniform structure:

For further work, it is necessary that the dough is cooled. I wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for 2 hours.

After 2 hours I take out filo. I divide the ball into 8 parts.

Important! While I'm doing one of the parts, I wrap the rest so that they don't get weathered.

I roll out the dough with a rolling pin from the middle to the edges. I make sure that its thickness is the same everywhere.

When it seems already thin enough, I take it in my hands and stretch it out.

The dough is very elastic, it lends itself easily and becomes so thin, thin, literally translucent.

Have you tried rolling out the dough on a towel? This is another option for rolling extraction test. I quickly mastered this method, having found it on the Internet, and then I “peeped” from Yulia Vysotskaya. Very simple and convenient way.

To begin with, I lightly moisten a waffle or linen towel in water, then crush it well with flour. So the dough does not stick to the surface and it is much easier to roll out. Often I roll out the dough on a cutting board, but sometimes on a towel.

It remains only to trim its edges. I cut off the edges with a knife, giving the sheet the shape of a rectangle.

I do this with each of the 8 pieces.
The dough is ready to use!
To keep filo safe, I crush each leaf with flour or starch. I roll it up with baking paper and put it in the fridge.

Interesting! Phyllo will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months!

I have already said that it is worth experimenting with the filling and taste of dishes from this dough. Up to the point that you can cook without filling at all, and it turns out very tasty. There are so many options it's hard to list. But what about filo itself? Can it be modified? Yes! There are some very interesting recipes. One of them - without eggs ...

Filo without eggs - lean option

Even without eggs, this dough is incredibly interesting in desserts, hot appetizers and second courses. I offer a recipe for extract dough without eggs.

Ingredients:

• Flour - 5 tbsp.;
• Water - 2.5 tbsp.;
• Vegetable oil (olive) - 5 tablespoons;
• Vinegar (4.5%) - 2 tablespoons;
• Salt - 2 pinches.

This recipe is also called Greek. Instead of regular vinegar, it is appropriate to use both lemon juice and Apple vinegar, to choose from.

1. Mix water with oil and vinegar until smooth.
2. I mix salt with sifted flour.
3. I gradually combine the water with the flour, mixing thoroughly each time.
4. I knead the dough. I divide it into 5 parts. I wrap each part with a film and send it to the refrigerator for 2 hours.
5. After 2 hours, I roll out each part of the dough on a towel. Before that, be sure to crush it well with flour.

I will share with you another interesting way to roll out the dough. To do this, I take a long rolling pin. When I rolled out the phyllo thinly enough, I begin to twist it, like a roll on a rolling pin. I press the rolling pin to the table. Then I unroll the dough and again press it against the table with a rolling pin. I do this so many times until the dough becomes thin and almost transparent.
Now the phyllo can be stretched a little more with your hands up to 1 mm in thickness.
The dough is ready and it can be used immediately or, crushed with starch, stored in the freezer.

Well, now a few subtleties when working with filo:

• I not only get all the products in advance, but also prepare them. The process of preparing the dough is very fast, there will be no time to sift and measure.
• Did you notice that while I roll out one part, I wrap the rest with a film? The dough is very tender and it dries and weathers quickly. It is next to impossible to work with him. In addition to the film, you can also use a slightly damp towel.
• I sometimes find it more convenient to use scissors to align the edges or give the sheet the desired shape.
• If I take prepared filo from the freezer, then I let it completely thaw. Then the dough will not break in your hands.
• I find it easier to stretch my filo with my hands if I cut the dough into small pieces. If my pieces turned out to be more than expected, I stretch them in parts: I leave one edge of the dough on the table, and stretch the second, which hangs from the table.

All the most important points I called. Perhaps you have your own little tricks? I would be glad if you share your experience in the comments!
I wish you successful preparation of this wonderful dough! I am sure you will succeed, and you will use my advice more than once!

What is the difference between phyllo dough and puff pastry?

First of all, let's find out what kind of dough it is, because I have heard more than once how it is compared with puff pastry, sometimes even confusing them.
Yes, they are similar in terms of manufacturing. Both of these doughs are rolled into thin layers. But filo sheets are much thinner, almost transparent. And all because it is not only rolled out, but also pulled out.
And the difference lies in the fact that if you need butter (margarine) for puff, and at the same time a whole pack, then there is practically no fat in filo, except for a few tablespoons of vegetable oil (most often olive oil) and that's it!

I will be glad if my experience in making filo dough is useful to someone! Please share your impressions about the dough, tell us what desserts or, maybe, main dishes you cook from it. I look forward to your feedback!
When adding photos of desserts to Instagram, specify the tag #pirogeevo or #pirogeevo so that I can find your masterpieces on the web. Thank you!

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Phyllo dough pies June 10th, 2013

I finally got around to filo pastry. It is truly magical and it is difficult to compare it with anything. There are two types of pies with meat and cheese filling.

Simple to impossibility, but beautiful and expensive!

Filo - unleavened, very thin, stretched dough, sold in layers of 10 layers. Used in Mediterranean cuisine. The Greek word Phyllon means "leaf". Layers of dough can be as thin as paper or a few millimeters thick.

Phyllo dough is widely used in Greek and Turkish cuisines in both sweet and savory dishes. In Turkish cuisine, pastries made from this dough are called borek or boregi, in Albanian cuisine - byrek, and in Austrian-German-Hungarian cuisine, the dough is called blatterteig (strudel is baked from it). Paper-thin filo sheets contain less fat than all other types of dough. While cooking, each layer is brushed with melted butter or olive oil to achieve a crunchy result.
Phyllo dough can be purchased frozen or chilled. The size of the sheets varies by manufacturer, but for most recipes they can be cut or folded to fit your mold. I usually order it online.

So, we need:
Phyllo dough - one package;
Melted butter.

1. for cheese filling:
Feta cheese or feta cheese (I like it with feta but it is very salty);
Favorite greens (in classic recipe add scalded spinach)
Eggs - 2 pcs.

2. for meat filling:
Fried with onions chopped meat;
Boiled or baked potatoes;
A little green.

Mix minced meat with potatoes and herbs.
Mix cheese with herbs and eggs.
Next, grease the form with melted butter and carefully lay out the filo dough, cut the ends with scissors.
We put the filling in the molds and close the dough on top.

We send it to the oven preheated to 180 degrees, for about 40 minutes. Until a beautiful golden color.

We take out our beauty, and here it is already at will: it can be hot, or you can cool it, it’s still very tasty.

Cheese turns out especially tasty!

Surprisingly simple but effective! And most importantly, fast! And do not mess with the test, I know that not everyone likes it.
Now I want different baskets with custard make and fill them with berries, mint, ice cream...
Bon appetit!

“The hut is not red with corners, it is red with pies,” says a Russian proverb ... And today we bake Greek pies!
Let's start with the test. Almost all pies: both with sweets and with savory filling, the Greeks bake with filo dough (Filo or Phyllo).
Phyllo dough is frozen thin sheets unleavened dough. When preparing pies, the dough layers are thawed, then each layer is lightly greased with melted butter, the next layer is applied, it is again oiled, etc. For the bottom of the pie, at least ten layers of dough are used, for the top the same amount. Connoisseurs Greek cuisine it is advised to coat the layers of dough with melted butter or creamy margarine, despite the fact that in some recipes there are recommendations to grease the dough sheets with olive oil. If you use vegetable oil, then each plate of dough is covered with a hard crust and at the same time remains raw inside. To lubricate the plates, either a bird's feather or a soft brush is used so that the oil is evenly distributed between the layers and there is no excess. Since the dough has a bland taste, it is recommended to use salted butter to lubricate the layers when preparing pies with savory fillings.

Usually ready-made phyllo sheets are sold in Greek grocery stores or supermarkets in closed plastic boxes of 24-30 sheets of dough in one package. In such a box, each layer is lined with a thin piece of polyethylene, which prevents the dough from sticking together. Phyllo dough is stored only in the freezer, as it thaws in the refrigerator in about 8-9 hours (before preparing the pies, the box with the dough should be removed from the freezer and placed overnight in the refrigerator), and only in a closed box, as in the air the dough instantly begins to dry out, becomes covered with a crust and loses elasticity. Because of its last feature, it is recommended to work with the dough quickly and smoothly. Before you take it out of the refrigerator and take it out into the air, you should prepare all the necessary accessories for making pies: melt the butter, remove the brush for greasing from the shelf, heat the oven to the desired temperature, sprinkle the table or board on which you will lay out the layers of dough, flour, grease the baking dish and, of course, prepare the filling in advance. If you need to take a break while laying down the layers, cover the dough with a damp towel to keep it from drying out.

Since the layers of phyllo dough are very thin, pies with such a dough are baked very quickly, so the filling for such pies should be ready. Raw meat or vegetables are never wrapped in such a dough! The filling for such pies should not be wet, as the steam coming out can easily break through thin layers of dough.
Pies are cooked at a temperature of 180 - 200 degrees for no more than 30 minutes. If you cook a phyllo pastry pie on a low heat for a long time, it will not bake through and will be raw.

And the final touch to the filo dough portrait. Since the dough is very fond of freezing, it can be prepared in advance and stored in the freezer for up to six months. At the same time, you can freeze not only the dough, but also ready-made pies and pies. Even baked pies can be frozen. Cooking frozen pies does not require defrosting at all. You can place the frozen cake directly into a hot oven, but in this case you should slightly increase the baking time. Already baked frozen pies are heated in the oven at a temperature of 160 degrees for several minutes until the pies are hot.

Buying dough in Russia is difficult, if not impossible, but it is possible to cook it yourself. If you don't want to mess around with making phyllo, you can use ready-made puff pastry which I usually do with success. However, puff pastry is more delicate and lighter than filo dough, so using puff pastry, you can only get an analogue of the original Greek pies. For experienced cooks, here is the recipe:

5 glasses of sifted wheat flour;
5 tablespoons of olive oil;
2 1/2 cups water (approximately);
salt;
2 tablespoons of vinegar (4.5%)
Leave a little flour (no more than 1/2 cup), we will need it for adding when rolling out the layers. From the rest of the flour, olive oil, salt, water and vinegar, knead soft dough. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap the dough in a bag and put it in the refrigerator, in the coldest part of it, for example, on the shelf under the freezer, for one hour. After an hour, sprinkle the surface on which you will roll out the layers of dough with flour, remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 20 equal parts. Roll out each piece into a thin sheet, about 2-3mm thick. When rolling out the next part, cover the already rolled out with a damp towel, and place the pieces of the still unrolled dough in a bag and keep in the refrigerator.
If desired, the recipe can be slightly modified by adding two raw eggs and reducing the amount of water to 1 1/2 cups. Such a "butter" dough is best suited for pies with vegetable fillings.
And now, finally, recipes for Greek pies that use filo dough. The Greeks usually bake either large rectangular closed pies, for which, respectively, rectangular deep baking dishes resembling large metal trays, or small triangular pies are used. All pies, the recipes of which are given below, you can bake both large and small. It's just as your heart desires!

TYROPITA

For filling:
400 gr cheese;
4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
200 gr cheese type "Home";
5 eggs;
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley;
a little green dill;
a little ground black pepper;
nutmeg- at the tip of a knife

If the cheese is very salty, cut it into large chunks and soak in water for 4 hours, then mash with a fork into small crumbs, add the Homemade cheese, eggs and rub the filling into a paste. Then add parsley, dill, pepper and nutmeg and mix everything thoroughly.
Now prepare the phyllo dough and place 10 sheets in a baking dish, brushing each with melted butter or margarine, the edges of the dough should go over the edge of the form. If you use frozen puff pastry, then for this amount of filling you will need 500 g (one pack) of dough. Divide the dough into two parts (one should be slightly larger than the other). Roll out the larger part and lay it out in a mold, leaving the edges of the dough so that they slightly go over the side of the mold.
Spread the prepared feta cheese filling in an even layer. Cover the filling with the remaining pastry (if using filo, place 10 more layers of pastry on top, brushing each with oil) and seal the edges to form closed pie. Brush the surface of the pie with butter and bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Tiropita is served warm to the table.

SPANAKOPITA

butter or margarine for greasing dough layers;

For filling:
500 gr green spinach (you can use frozen);
olive oil (no more than 1/2 cup);
2 large onions;
2 cloves of garlic;
400 gr cheese;
2 eggs;
half a teaspoon of nutmeg;
salt, pepper to taste;
a little of any greens (coriander, basil, dill, parsley)

Sort through the spinach leaves and rinse well. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the spinach leaves and cook until soft. Then take out the spinach, cool and chop finely. If you are using frozen spinach, thaw it first and then boil it in hot water. Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry in a pan with olive oil.

Tip: When frying onion and garlic together, garlic should be added to the onion at the very end, when the onion is almost ready. If you sauté the onion with the garlic for as long as it takes to cook the onion, the garlic will burn and give the dish a bitter taste. If you reduce the cooking time of the onion, focusing on garlic, then the onion will not be fried and, accordingly, will also spoil the taste of the dish.

Add the spinach to the onion and garlic, and simmer the mixture for about 15 more minutes, until all excess moisture has evaporated from the spinach, stirring occasionally. Remove the skillet from the heat and let the contents cool. Then add finely chopped greens, nutmeg and eggs to the spinach (no need for salt!), and mix everything gently. Mash the cheese into crumbs and add to the rest of the products. Lightly pepper the spinach mass, if it is not salty enough, add some salt and mix again. The filling is ready.
Now grease the baking dish with oil. We spread the dough (see the previous recipe). To prepare spanakopita, you will need 1 kg of filo dough (20 sheets, 10 sheets for the bottom and top layers of dough) or 1 kg of puff pastry (two packages of ready-made dough). We spread the prepared filling on the dough, which we cover with the remaining dough and form a closed pie. Lubricate spanakopita with butter and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.
Spanakopita is served hot.

Tip: Somehow my girlfriend and I decided to please our friends with spanakopita, but, unfortunately, the store did not even have ice cream of spinach. I had to buy a pack of broccoli. As a result, we got a very original pie, only the taste of broccoli drowned out all the other ingredients a little.

Creatopita

Creatopita - Cretan meat pie. Since there are many options for creato pita fillings, we offer you two of the most interesting.

Option 1:
filo dough or ready-made puff pastry (500 gr);
butter or margarine for greasing dough layers;

For filling:
3 tablespoons butter or margarine;
a bunch of green onions (or shallots);
500 gr lamb or beef;
1/2 cup dry white wine;
1 tablespoon (heaping) finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint leaves (if using dry mint, use 1 teaspoon as dry mint has a stronger flavor)
1 tablespoon finely chopped dill;
1/2 cup tomato sauce ( tomato paste diluted with water to the state of the sauce);
salt and pepper to taste;
1/2 cup grated spicy cheese;
1 egg;
1 tablespoon bread crumbs (if needed)

Pass the meat through a meat grinder. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and fry the finely chopped green onion. Add minced meat, fry the meat until it turns brown, stirring with a fork so that the minced meat does not stick together in lumps. Add wine and boil for a few minutes. Then add parsley, mint, dill and tomato sauce, salt, pepper and simmer for another 20 minutes or until all the liquid has boiled away. After that, remove from heat, cool, add cheese and egg, and mix everything well. If the filling still turned out to be watery, add bread crumbs, which will take away excess moisture.
Now we prepare the cake for baking. We put the layers of dough in a greased form in the same way as it is written in previous recipes, put the filling on the dough, close it on top with the remaining layers of dough and form a closed pie. Lubricate it with oil and bake at a temperature of 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the cake is covered with a golden crust.

Option 2:
phyllo dough or ready-made puff pastry (1 kg);
butter or margarine for greasing dough layers;

For filling:
1 1/2 kg lamb or beef;
1 kg of onion;
2 bouillon cubes (beef);
4 tablespoons of butter;
10 eggs;
1 tea cup of milk;
2 tea cups of semolina;
salt, pepper to taste;
cinnamon

Pass the meat through a meat grinder, finely chop one onion. Melt half of the indicated amount of oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and fry the onion in it until soft. Add minced meat, salt, pepper, cinnamon, 1.5 cups hot water and simmer the meat until all the liquid has evaporated.
Peel the remaining onions from the husk, cut each into four parts and cook the onions in the broth made from the bouillon cube until soft. You can prepare the broth from lamb or beef bones in advance, then the cake will turn out tastier. Remove the cooked onion from the broth and rub through a sieve into a puree.
Separate two tea cups of the broth in which the onion was boiled. Weld semolina using two cups of broth and a cup of milk, then refrigerate it. Add mashed onion, eggs, remaining butter, cinnamon, salt and pepper to the porridge to taste.
Put the layers of dough in a greased form, so that the edges protrude beyond the side, coat each layer with oil. Put the meat filling on top of the dough, and the semolina filling on top of the meat filling. Cover with the remaining layers of dough, again, brushing each one. Pinch the edges of the pie so that you get a closed pie, brush the top of the pie with butter and bake in the oven at 180 degrees until the pie is golden brown.

GALAKTOBOURICO

1 kg filo dough;
1/4 cup unsalted butter for brushing the layers;

For filling:
3 eggs;
1/2 cup sugar;
1/5 cup semolina;
1 3/5 cups cream;
3-4 drops of vanilla essence (can be replaced with vanilla);
30 gr butter;

for the syrup:
1/5 cup of water;
lemon peel;
150 grams of sugar;
1 tablespoon lemon juice

If in previous recipes phyllo dough could easily be replaced with regular puff pastry, then in this recipe, as well as in the next one, you will not be able to simplify the procedure for preparing a sweet dessert pie in this way, since in both cases already baked pies will have to be soaked in syrup, which will make the already soft and airy puff pastry too soft and moist.
We are preparing the stuffing. Bring the milk to a boil and cook the semolina porridge for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat, add butter to the porridge and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Beat eggs with sugar until they turn into a homogeneous, lush mass. Then add the beaten eggs to the cooled porridge, add vanilla essence and beat again well. We put the pan on the fire and keep it on fire for 2-3 minutes, without ceasing to beat the contents of the pan. Take the pot off the heat and leave it. The filling is ready. Stir several times while preparing the cake. semolina cream so that a crust does not form on its surface.
Grease a baking dish with oil. Lay out 10 layers of filo pastry, brushing each one. Then we spread the semolina cream on the dough and close it with another 10 oiled dough plates. We form a closed cake, grease its surface with butter and bake in a well-heated oven at a temperature of 180 degrees for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, take the cake out of the oven and set to cool for 10 minutes, while preparing the syrup. Dissolve sugar in water, add lemon peel and lemon juice. Boil the syrup over low heat for 5-7 minutes until it thickens. Let the syrup brew for 5 minutes, then remove the lemon peel from it and carefully pour it over the cake, distributing the syrup over the entire surface. When all the syrup has been absorbed, the galactobouriko is ready. Cut it into small pieces and serve to the table.

BACLAVAS

500 gr filo dough;
400 gr ground almonds;
2 teaspoons of cinnamon;
a pinch of ground cloves;
1 glass of butter;
2 cups of sugar;
1 cup of liquid, unsweetened honey;
fresh lemon juice;
2 teaspoons vanillin or vanilla essence

To prepare baklavas, usually at least 40 sheets of filo dough are used, however, if you are preparing this dish for the first time, you can get by with twenty.
Mix almonds, cinnamon and cloves. Grease a baking dish with butter and place 4 sheets of filo pastry in it, brushing each with butter. Lubricate the fourth (top) layer with butter too and sprinkle with a thin layer of the nut mixture. Then lay out 2 sheets of dough, sprinkle again with the nut mixture, etc. The top layer of the baklavas should consist, like the bottom one, of four sheets of filo dough. Cut the baklava into squares or diamonds, brush the surface of the pie with butter and bake at 160 degrees for 45 minutes.
Prepare the syrup: Combine sugar, honey, vanilla, lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes at a low boil.
Pour the prepared syrup over the top layer of the baked baklava, distributing it evenly over the entire surface of the pie, and leave the baklava to cool. The pie is served cold.