How to make baklava – recipe | middle eastern food and drink

This family of sticky-sweet walnut cakes traces its origins to the layered phyllo desserts of medieval Central Asia, which, combined with the Arab tradition of soaking the cakes in syrup, produced the baklava known and loved today from Uzbekistan to the north of Africa. Often found in huge golden trays on the counter of bakeries in its home region, it’s also surprisingly simple to make at home.

Homework 30 minutes
Cook 65 minutes
brands 1 tray, to feed 8-10depending on appetite

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250g butter
300 g of chopped walnuts
75 g pistachios in kernels
125 g ground almonds
zest of 1 orange
A generous pinch of salt (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds (about 15 pods)
12 sheets of phyllo dough (2 packages of 270 g)
250g granulated or powdered sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tablespoon orange blossom wateror to taste

1 A word about the edge

I say surprisingly simple, but I can’t recommend making your own edge. I tried a recipe for the stuff used in baklava and it requires more patience and finesse than I possess. However, if you want to give it a try, you can find plenty of recipes online or in Arto Der Haroutunian’s classic book Sweets and Desserts from the Middle East.

2 And about nuts

Baklava by Felicity Cloake 03d

Although I’ve recommended my favorite combination below, you can use just about any nut you enjoy and can afford; pistachios, while delicious, are particularly expensive, while nuts alone may be too bitter for some palates. As long as you end up with roughly the same weight, feel free to customize.

3 Start filling

Once you have your phyllo, store-bought or homemade, and you’ve decided on the nuts, you can start on the filling. Melt the butter. Coarsely grind the nuts or chop them finely until they are coarse lumps (if you use a food processor to do this, be careful they don’t turn into nut butter). Cut the pistachios into thin slices; this will add crunch and color to the finished cakes.

4 Finish the filling

Combine the walnuts, pistachios, and ground almonds in a bowl, then mix in the orange zest (rub the orange well before grating the zest), salt (optional, but recommended, or the baklava can end up overwhelmingly sweet), ground cardamom (if required). if you’re not a fan of cardamom, leave it out and substitute cinnamon to taste) and five tablespoons (75 ml) of the melted butter.

5 Grease the mold and line with phyllo

Heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan)/350°F/Gas 4. Generously brush a roughly 30cm x 25cm baking dish with some of the remaining melted butter. Place the phyllo on a work surface and have the nut mixture within easy reach. Top the tin with a phyllo sheet, brush with melted butter, and repeat with five more sheets, buttering them as you go.

6 Add the filling, then top with more phyllo

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Pour the nut mixture evenly over the top phyllo layer, making sure it’s pretty tight without pressing it down too hard. Top with the remaining phyllo, again buttering each sheet before adding the next. Be very generous with the butter on the top layer.

7 Cut into diamonds and bake

Using a sharp knife, cut the phyllo layers and fill in parallel lines about 4cm apart, then repeat diagonally so the dough is divided into a diamond shape. Bake for about an hour, until well browned on top, flipping the baklava halfway through, so it is evenly colored.

8 Make the syrup

Meanwhile, put the sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with 125ml of water. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for about 10 minutes, until syrupy. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, then add orange blossom water to taste (brands vary greatly in strength, so add a little at a time).

9 Soak in syrup, bake again, then cool

Remove the baklava from the oven and raise the heat to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Pour the syrup over the top of the baklava, especially along the pre-cut lines, and return to the oven for five minutes. Allow to cool completely, then run a knife along the lines to loosen them before attempting to pry the pieces out of the tin.

Source: https://cupstograms.net
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