INTERNATIONAL: BORDERLESS CUISINE 5-1 - Phyllo or Filo or fillo dough or pastry (Middle East)

LINKS TO PREVIOUS BORDERLESS CUISINE POSTS BELOW!

LINK to map of Mideastern European Countries

LINK to Phyllo Gif

Greek Filo or phyllo is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and borek in Mideastern (Middle-Eastern cuisine includes 

• Arab cuisine,
• Iranian\Persian cuisine,
• Israeli cuisine/Jewish cuisine,
• Assyrian cuisine,
• Armenian cuisine, 
• Kurdish cuisine,
• Greek cuisine/Cypriot cuisine, 
• Turkish cuisine, 
• Balkan cuisine, 
• Romanian cuisine.)

Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with olive oil or butter; the pastry is then baked.

Baklava – An Ottoman dessert (With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries.) dessert with layers of filo with chopped nuts, sweetened and held together with syrup or honey. The forerunner to baklava was the Roman Placenta Cake. 

Placenta AKA Placinta cake (Roman/Turkish/Romanian, Mondolvan, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and/or Greek early historic cake)  The oldest (2nd century BCE) recipe that resembles a similar dessert is the honey covered baked layered-dough dessert placenta of Roman times.

LINK To Placenta AKA Placinta info & recipe VIDEO in Greek

LINK to cake recipe

Baklava

LINK to Walnut and Pistachio Baklava

LINK to Easy Baklava Recipe

 Banitsa – A Bulgarian dish consisting of eggs, cheese and filo baked in the oven.

Banista photo above

LINK to photo step by step Banista recipe

VIDEO LINK to Banista recipe

Borek - A savory filo pie originally from the Ottoman Empire.

LINK to Turkish Borek video recipe

Also Burek in Iraqi/Mesopotamian/Turkey  
Burek, a type of baked or fried filled bread.  It is made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo dough (or yufka dough), and are filled with salty cheese (often), minced meat, potatoes or other vegetables.

LINK to cheese burek recipe

Bougatsa -  A type of Greek breakfast pastry.

LINK to Bougatsa recipes

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LINK to Part 1 - Grits

LINK to Part 2  - Filled Pastries

LINK to Part 3 Andorra, Catalonia and 

Roussillon

LINK to Part 4 - Sauces: Pesto, Pistou, Persillade and Chimichurri