Greek History Community

History of Phyllo Dough?

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axariotisxy

Active member
I have been trying to reconnect with Greek cooking for a while now, and the thing I am working on now are the phyllo dishes - like pita and baklava. Phyllo is delicious, but it can also be tricky. During the whole process I have been curious - where did phyllo come from? I found some sources, but it's hard to really understand the true origin:

en.wikipedia.org

Filo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Many seem to claim that it came from different places. I have heard theories about it coming from Ancient Greece, Byzantine Empire, Medieval Turkey (but wait wasn't this Byzantine?).... What do you guys think?
 
Since I love the history of Ancient Greece - I am inclined to think it came from that time period. I read somewhere that the Ancient Greeks did have thin layers of dough that they used in dishes, and I believe it to be likely that over the centuries, the technique for making this dough was refined until eventually it became the phyllo dough that we have today. The fact that the word comes from a Greek word is what helped me lean into this theory.
 
You know, I have never given it too much thought but I think that it is possible that there are a lot of influences that led to its creation.
 
I never really thought about it either, but I've been obsessing over phyllo lately as I try to learn how to work with it with more confidence! I did some additional research - it really looks like it's hard to know exactly where it came from. It's possible there have been many influences.
 
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