filo is the Greek name for a dough of many paper-thin layers separated by films of butter. This structure is not obtained by repeatedly folding and rolling a single slab of buttered dough, as for pâte feuilletĂ©e, but by buttering and stacking separate paper-thin sheets (the method of baklava, börek, and spanakopitta) or rolling up one paper-thin sheet around a filling to create many layers (the method of strudel, rĂ©tes, and zavĂn). The sheets may be made thin by stretching the dough by hand (holding it by the knuckles, rather than the fingertips, to avoid tearing it) or by rolling a sheet (or for convenience a stack of sheets, separated by cornflour) until paper thin.
