Baklava Recipe Turkish Traditional Sweet Food

BAKLAVA - ORIGINAL TURKISH BAKLAVA RECIPE

Steps:

• Put your sugar and water in a pot and start boiling. Make sure the sugar is dissolved in the water before the water starts to boil. After the water starts to boil, add the lemon juice.
• Boil your syrup for about 30 minutes, until you have a thick syrup.
• For the dough, put the yoghurt, oil, melted margarine and egg in our bowl. Pour the baking powder on it.
• Put the lemon juice and vinegar on the baking powder to make it foam. After adding a pinch of salt, knead it by adding flour gradually.
• It does not need to be a very hard dough. Divide the kneaded dough into 4 equal parts. Cover the divided dough with a damp kitchen cloth.
• Take the first piece and roll it out so that it is not too thin. After opening, pour starch all over so that there is no empty space. (The more starch is abundant, the crisper the dough. If you put less starch, your dough will stick together and there will be no layers.)
• Begin to fold the dough you starched like an envelope. Every time you fold the dough, don't forget to sprinkle starch on the folded place. You have to fold the dough into an envelope a total of eight times.
• Put the starched and folded dough under a damp cloth and rest. Do the same for the other three pieces of dough. Put the dough under your damp cloth every time or your dough may start to dry.
• After the folding process is over, take the first folded dough and roll it out as thin as you can with the roller. Put your oven tray on the dough you roll out and cut the dough into tray sizes. You can use a 12-inch round tray or a 12-by16-inch rectangular tray.
• Roll out your two pieces of dough and place them on the tray and sprinkle your chopped walnuts on the tray.
• Roll out the remaining two pieces of dough in the same way and put them on the tray.
• Slice the baklava as you see in the pictures below or in a square shape.
• Pour pure butter and vegetable oil on the sliced baklava. It is important to use pure butter so that your baklava does not burn while cooking.
• Bake your baklava in the oven that you preheated to 160 °C/320 °F until they are browned. The cooking time can take up to 80-90 minutes.
• In order for the baklava to absorb the sherbet well, both the baklava and the sherbet must be cold. After the baklava is completely cooled, pour cold sherbet on it.
• After 5-6 hours, your baklava will be ready for service.

BAKLAVA RECIPE - TURKISH TRADITIONAL SWEET

Steps:

• To begin making the Baklava Recipe (Turkish Traditional Sweet), we first have to make sure we have all the ingredients ready.
• Baklava Recipe procedure is split into 4 parts.
• Coarsely chop the walnuts and pistachios in a food processor (it will be a coarse powder). Set aside 4 tablespoons of chopped nuts for decoration.
• Put the remainder in a bowl and combine it with 1/3 cup of sugar, cinnamon and cloves and mix well.
• Heat the oven to 170 C. Lay a dish towel on a work surface and sprinkle it lightly with water. Thaw the phyllo dough package according the manufacturer's instructions.
• Unroll the sheets on the towel and then cover it with a second damp dish towel. When unrolling them I encountered several cracks and cuts in the sheets.
• Do not panic. They are easily repairable and do not make any difference in the dessert.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Brush a baking pan with melted butter. Take a sheet of phyllo dough and carefully spread it in the pan, folding the sheet in such a way that it fits the pan.
• Brush the layered sheet with butter and gently press it into the sides and corners of the pan.
• Lay another sheet on top and brush with butter. Do the same with the third of the sheets. Once 1/3rd of the sheets have been used, scatter half the nut filling over the layers.
• Layer another third of the sheets in the pan, buttering each one and pressing into the corners and sides. Then sprinkle the remaining half of the nut mixture evenly.
• Layer the last third of the sheets, buttering them and pressing them the same way as we did with the previous layers. Brush the top most layer thoroughly with butter and pour any remainder of butter on the top (I ignored the last step. I did not pour the remaining butter. I just liberally brushed the top layer and left it at that).
• So essentially, after every 3 sheets there is a nut layer for the baklava recipe.
• With a small knife, cut diagonal lines around 1/2-inch deep to mark out the shape. Do not press down too much when cutting.
• Place the tray in the oven and bake for around 1 hr 15 minutes (It took me exactly 1 hr) until golden brown in color.
• Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until dissolved, stirring occasionally. Pour in the honey and stir to combine.
• Boil without stirring until the syrup reaches a soft ball consistency (239F on a candy thermometer). This process takes about 30 minutes.
• To test the consistency without the thermometer, take the pan off the heat and dip a teaspoon in the syrup. Let it cool down for few seconds and then drop it in a small cup with water.
• Once dropped into the water, it should form a mushy ball.
• Remove the syrup from the heat and let it cool down to lukewarm temperature. Now add the juice from a lemon and the orange flower water or the vanilla extract.
• Remove the pan from the oven and immediately pour the cooled syrup evenly over the hot baklava.
• Pouring the syrup over the hot pastries enables better absorption.
• With the chef's knife cut along the marked lines almost to the bottom of the pan. Let the pastries cool.
• Cut through the marked lines completely and carefully lift the pastries with a spatula and arrange them on a plate.
• Sprinkle the top with the reserved nuts and serve the Baklava for your parties and special occasions.

PISTACHIO BAKLAVA

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse the pistachios until coarsely ground (or you can chop them by hand until very finely chopped). Don't overprocess the nuts. You want to maintain some texture.
• Clarify the butter by melting it over low heat, then letting it cook until the foam rises to the top and the milk solids fall to the bottom of the pan. This will take about 5 to 15 minutes depending upon how high your heat is, but don't rush it or the butter could burn.
• Skim foam off the top of the melted butter. Line a fine-mesh sieve with a piece of cheesecloth, place it over a bowl and pour the melted butter through.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees and brush the inside of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with a little of the clarified butter.
• Prepare the phyllo dough by trimming the stack of it with scissors to fit the bottom of your baking dish. Packages of phyllo come in different sizes; some won't need any trimming, some may need an inch or two cut off a side, and some may need to be cut in half crosswise. Cover phyllo layers with a lightly damp kitchen towel, and keep covered.
• Place 1 piece of phyllo on the bottom of the baking pan; brush lightly with clarified butter. Layer phyllo sheets on top, brushing each sheet with butter as you go, until half the phyllo is used.
• Spread pistachios on phyllo in an even layer, then layer with remaining phyllo, brushing each sheet with butter as you go (rewarm butter if necessary).
• Cut the pastry into 36 pieces, using clean up-and-down strokes and rotating the pan if necessary. Make sure to cut all the way through to bottom of pan. Pour any remaining butter evenly over pan.
• Bake baklava until the top is golden brown, and the lower phyllo layers beneath the pistachios are thoroughly baked through. To test this, use a knife to lift up a corner of one of the pastry rectangles from the center of the pan so you can peek at the bottom layers. Start checking after 40 minutes, but it could take an hour or even 1 hour 10 minutes. If the top starts to get too brown before the pastry is cooked through, lay a piece of foil over the top.
• Meanwhile, prepare sugar syrup: In a medium pot, combine sugar with 1 2/3 cups/400 milliliters water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Stir in lemon juice.
• When the baklava is baked through, reheat the syrup until it comes to a simmer. Remove pan from oven and place in the sink or on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drips of syrup. Slowly pour hot sugar syrup over the pastry; it will bubble up and some may overflow. When the syrup stops bubbling, move pan to wire rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

TRADITIONAL GREEK BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Mix the walnuts, breadcrumbs and cinnamon. Butter your baking pan (large enough to lay out the pastry while lining the sides of the pan as well) and place 5 sheets of the pastry on the bottom, 1 by 1, buttering each individually as you place it on the bottom. Cover the remaining phyllo sheets with a slightly damp kitchen towel for the time being so they do not dry out.
• With a large spoon evenly spread 1/2 the nut filling over all the pastry. Cover the filling with another 3 sheets of phyllo pastry, again individually buttering each as you place it. Evenly spoon on the remaining 1/2 of the nut mixture and place another 5 sheets of phyllo pastry on top, again buttering each individually as you place it. Pat the top pastry sheets down very gently and cut away any excess round the edges with a very sharp knife.
• Cut the Baklava into triangle servings. Place a clove on every 3rd or so piece, puncturing the pastry with the stem of the clove. Bake the Baklava in a well preheated oven at 180ºC - 350ºF for 1 hour approximately or until the pastry is golden. Remove the Baklava from the oven.
• Prepare the syrup by boiling the water, sugar and juice of your preference in a saucepan over a gentle flame, stirring with a whisk, for about 10 minutes and then allow the syrup to cool. Pour the syrup onto the Baklava (cold syrup - hot Baklava). When the Baklava absorbs the syrup it is normal for the top layer of pastry to remain crispy. Allow the Baklava to cool and then knock yourself out -- the edges are extra delicious --
• *** Under no circumstances should an oven fan be used while baking the Baklava. It will burn the top pastry layers and edges within minutes.