Friday 10 August 2012

Phyllo

Although some Greek influence is likely, the exact origin of phyllo is not well documented. Since the Ottoman Sultans employed chefs from many parts of the Ottoman Empire, the practice of stretching raw dough into paper-thin sheets probably evolved in the kitchens of the Topkapı Palace.

Some Turkish circles claim that yufka was "an early form of phyllo" since the Diwan Lughat al-Turk, a dictionary of Turkic dialects by Mahmud Kashgari recorded pleated/folded bread as one meaning of the word yuvgha, which is related to yufka, meaning 'thin', the modern Turkish name for phyllo as well as a Turkish flatbread also called yufka. However, this view is untenable considering that lavash is also a thin bread and can also be considered "an early form of phyllo", especially considering that unlike yufka, lavash dates to ancient times and is typically larger in size.

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