to defrost or not to defrost - that is the question

[aleph_zahir]

Since there are no decent Middle Eastern restaurants in town, and since I'm crazy, I'm making these complicated Moroccan Chicken B'Stillas for dinner, accompanied by Lebaneh and rice pilaf. Sounds tasty, and I'm really hoping it will work out. Right now I'm debating about whether to pull the phyllo dough out of the freezer a few hours before I

Comments

[antimony]

Pull the box of phyllo out of the freezer several hours in advance and put in the fridge, but DO NOT open it. When ready to work, have your melted butter/oil and pastry brush ready, and lay out two giant sheets of waxed paper. Place the opened phyllo in between the sheets, cover the whole thing with a towel when not pulling pieces out. If you need to make layered stacks and then arrange those stacks, go ahead and make them all first -- the stacks are much easier to work with than individual sheets. Also, if a sheet tears, just attach it to another sheet and keep going -- while I've never made b'stilla, I have eaten it, and the shape isn't that difficult of one to work with in phyllo. Just stay calm, work as quickly as you can without getting sloppy, and you'll be fine.