B
aklava is a sweet pastry made of several layers of phyllo dough and chopped nuts, soaked in sugar syrup. The exact origin of baklava isn’t determined precisely, although almost every Middle Eastern country claims to have ‘copyright’ on this delightful treat. However, there is a belief that baklava originated in Assyria at 8th century B.C. when people put together a few layers of thin bread dough, sprinkled some chopped nuts in between and added honey. This kind of delight was prepared only for special occasions. Thanks to merchants and sailors, this new delicacy immediately spread throughout the neighboring countries. It is most likely that the Greek were the most meritorious for developing technique of stretching dough thinly; even the name phyllo means leaf in Greek. Very soon, in most wealthy households baklava was prepared for all celebrations. Through centuries it evolved, first cinnamon and cloves were added to the syrup, and then Arabs introduced rose water and cardamom to enrich the flavor of this worldwide known indulgence.
In this recipe, I am using thin phyllo pastry, but that is not the rule, so – feel free to choose any thickness you like. I have put walnuts in my baklava, while you can use almonds, pistachios or even hazelnuts if you like. You can also use more spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, or you could flavor your syrup with rose water or orange blossom water (fleur d’oranger).
Baklava Recipe
by:Tereza Alabanda,The Pastry Maestra
PRINT PDF (EN) ISPIŠI PDF (HR)Prep. time : 20 minutes
Cook time : 25 minutes
Ready in 45 minutes plus soaking
Level : Basic
Ingredients:- Phyllo dough sheets 500g (1.1lbs)
- Chopped walnuts 450g (1lbs)
- Butter melted 250g (8.8oz)
- Sugar 500g (1.1lbs)
- Honey 150g (5.3oz)
- Water 200g (7oz)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- To make the syrup, put 500g (1.1lbs) of sugar and 200g (7oz) of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then, add honey and continue cooking the syrup for approximately 10 minutes. Add lemon juice, cook for another couple of minutes and remove the pan from the stove.
- Put walnuts into a food processor and chop them roughly. You should have a mixture of ground walnuts and some larger pieces.
- Brush 25cm x 25cm (10″ x 10″) pan with butter. Put one sheet of phyllo dough cut into size of the pan inside and brush it generously with melted butter. On top of that put another sheet of dough, brush with butter again. Repeat the step once more. Now you have three layers of buttered phyllo dough. These three layers are the bottom of your baklava.
- Sprinkle the pastry with chopped nuts.
- Cover with another sheet of dough, and brush with butter. Repeat this step. Sprinkle again with chopped nuts.
- Continue to put two layers of dough with nuts on top until you use all the nuts. Finish with two sheets of dough, always brushed with butter.
- Put the pan in the fridge to firm the butter a little bit. With a sharp knife cut the baklava in the diamond shape pattern. Bake it in the oven at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes, until golden.
- Remove baklava from the oven and pour warm syrup all over hot baklava.
- Cover with foil and let it soak for a couple hours or overnight at room temperature.
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