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.)
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.
Baklava
Banitsa – A Bulgarian dish consisting of eggs, cheese and filo baked in the oven.
Banista photo above
Borek - A savory filo pie originally from the Ottoman Empire.
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.
Bougatsa - A type of Greek breakfast pastry.
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LINK to Part 1 - Grits
LINK to Part 2 - Filled Pastries
LINK to Part 3 Andorra, Catalonia and
LINK to Part 4 - Sauces: Pesto, Pistou, Persillade and Chimichurri
