A paper-thin pastry dough made from wheat flour and water, used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines to make layered pastries and pies.
From Greek phyllon, meaning 'leaf,' because the dough is rolled into sheets so thin they resemble leaves. The word traveled through Turkish (yufka) into English via Mediterranean cooking traditions.
Filo dough represents one of cooking's most elegant physics experiments—each impossibly thin layer creates structural strength and creates shattering texture that thick pastry simply cannot achieve.
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