Statement of Intent

I first saw that phyllo dough could be made by hand in 1996, when I was 22 years old. Since then I've been trying to figure out from cookbooks how to do it. I've tried several recipes from several cookbooks, but I've had limited success. The dough was too thick, the layers did not separate, or the dough was half cooked, half raw. Only in the last two years have I had the opportunity to actually see phyllo dough making in progress. I don't think phyllo dough making is a lost art, nor do I think it is a dying one. It seems to be going strong in small pockets of this world, and the point of this blog is to show how it is being done. It is done differently in different communities. Some of the women I've met use water in the dough, some carbonated water, some vinegar. Some add oil, others none. Some use olive oil, some sunflower oil, and others margarine. And the ways of rolling it out vary too. The posts to this blog will only be occasional, but I hope they will inspire the spread of this art.