Filo Puff Pastry
If you've got plain flour, unsalted butter and chilled water, you're most of the way to this vegetarian: about 60 minutes of cooking across 6 steps. You'll find the full ingredient list (with a scaler to change the servings), 6 steps of method, substitutions, and ideas for what to serve alongside.
You'll mainly reach for oven. At easy difficulty across 6 steps, it's a good one for a busy evening. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Sift the plain flour and salt into a bowl, rub in 30 g of the butter, then add the lemon juice and most of the chilled water, mixing to a soft but not sticky dough and adding the remaining water only if needed. Knead briefly until smooth, wrap, and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Place the remaining 220 g of cold butter between two sheets of baking paper and beat it with a rolling pin into a flat square about 1 cm thick, keeping it cool and pliable.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a square large enough to enclose the butter, set the butter in the centre on the diagonal, and fold the corners over to seal it completely.
- Roll the parcel away from you into a long rectangle three times its width, then fold it into thirds like a letter; this is the first turn. Wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
- Repeat the rolling and folding for a total of six turns, always rolling in the same direction, giving the dough a quarter turn each time, and resting it in the fridge for 20 minutes between every two turns so the butter stays firm.
- After the final turn, wrap the pastry and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling and shaping; bake in a hot oven at 200 C so the layers puff and crisp, and keep all surfaces and tools cold throughout to preserve the lamination.
You'll use: Oven
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Lemon
- lime · 1 tbsp white wine vinegar per lemon
Tips & common questions
How long does Filo Puff Pastry take to make?
About 60 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 6 steps and 6 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Filo Puff Pastry vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Filo Puff Pastry is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Blaetterteiggebaeck BMK.jpg by BMK, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.