Making pita with homemade phyllo pastry is very satisfying. I use this recipe to make savoury pies like our ground meat pie. This traditional recipe makes enough for 20 sheets of phyllo for a 10" (25cm) round pan.
To make homemade phyllo pastry:
Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, and stir them together.
Make a well in the center, and add olive oil, white wine vinegar, and warm water.
Mix with your hands until dough just comes together and pulls away from the bowl.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface.
Knead until dough is smooth, adding a tiny bit of flour if needed. Keep kneading until dough is elastic, for about five minutes.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least one hour, or up to two or three hours if you have things to do.
Divide dough evenly into 20 balls. If you want to be really precise, you can weigh your dough and divide it by 20 (mine was 500 grams, so each ball was 25 grams each).
Place the twenty balls on a plate and cover with plastic wrap so they stay moist.
Get your dusting mixture ready by mixing 1/3 cup cornstarch and 1 tbsp flour together in a small bowl.
Dust your counter with the cornstarch mixture - I find it easier to use a shaker or a sifter.
Place a little dough ball on the counter and dust again with cornstarch mixture. Roll into a 4 inch (10cm) circle.
Dust again, and set the circle aside.
Roll out five more dough balls all about the same size, dusting each layer so they don't stick together.
Stack on top of each other, and don't forget to dust each layer.
Take the whole stack of six and roll them out to an 8 inch (20cm) circle, turning as you go.
Separate the six little circles, dust more cornstarch mixture on them, and re-stack.
Roll again until the stack is about 11 inches (28cm) round. Place the stack of phyllo sheets on a sheet of parchment paper, and top with another piece of parchment.
Cover with kitchen towel.
Repeat with the remaining 14 balls of dough in batches of seven and seven this time.
If you'd like to refrigerate the phyllo and use the next day, use extra dusting mixture in between each phyllo sheet so they don't stick together. Roll up the dough with the parchment paper and wrap in plastic wrap.
Check out our savory pie recipes here.
Enjoy!
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