How to create baklava at home

How to create baklava at home

Baklava, without exaggeration, is the most popular and beloved oriental sweet. It combines all possible pleasures: the most delicious crispy thin dough, delicious nutty interior, and fragrant honey soaking. Now we will tell you about the history of this famous pastry, and at the same time we will find out how baklava is made and what culinary subtleties will help to achieve an impeccable result.

Little whim of the Sultan

Baklava is considered one of the oldest desserts in the world. Most historians agree that the Assyrians invented it, and the Turks perfected the recipe. A unique recipe dating back to 1453 was preserved in a 15th-century cookbook. According to legend, its creator is a court chef who prepared baklava especially for Sultan Fatih. The ruler was in such ecstasy that he ordered the recipe to be written down and henceforth to prepare food for all huge celebrations.

In general, some historians argue that baklava, or rather its model, arose much earlier. The Assyrians learned to cook it back in the 8th century BC. e. The Turkic tribes borrowed the idea, and together with them it moved to other lands, including Greece. That’s why Turks and Greeks still argue about whose national dish is baklava.

From Turkey to America

The Turkish baklava recipe has spread all over the world. Now it is a common dessert in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Tatarstan, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Mediterranean countries and even Great Britain and America.

There are about a hundred types of baklava in total. Let's list the most popular ones. Regular baklava dzhevizli with walnuts in the form of rectangles, dzhevizli duryum in the form of tubes with nuts, ova in the form of a horseshoe with entrails and sprinkling of nuts, round sarma, also with nut entrails and sprinkling. By the way, walnuts are not consumed all the time. For example, hazelnuts are put in sutlu nurie baklava, and pistachios are put in fystkly baklava. In Europe, melted chocolate or cocoa powder is added to the dough. Americans use maple syrup as a topping.

Eastern wisdom

It is especially interesting to watch how baklava is prepared in Turkish markets. Skillfully wielding a huge rolling pin up to 3 meters in length, experienced craftsmen roll out the thinnest dough, throwing it into the air and wrapping it around the rolling pin. Then it is cut into layers, the number of which ranges from 15 to 35. The nut filling is laid between them and everything is filled with sherbet - a consistency of water, sugar or honey and lemon juice.

Here are a few secrets that will help you prepare baklava at home. In various recipes you can find both yeast dough and ordinary butter dough with soda or baking powder. Some housewives add ghee instead of butter. And to make it even tastier, add thick homemade sour cream.

If you are making layered baklava, choose the number of layers at your discretion. But there must be no less than 5 of them. The lower and upper layers of dough should be a little thicker than all the others. Otherwise, the baked goods will burn on the bottom and will not brown well on top. And so that it is covered with an appetizing glossy crust, it is brushed with egg yolk before sending it to the oven.

The nuts for the inside are not crushed very well. Large pieces will crunch appetizingly in your teeth after baking. You can use not only walnuts, but also hazelnuts, unsalted pistachios, almonds and cashews. The syrup is prepared based on the average proportion - 500 g of sugar per 200 ml of water. To prevent it from becoming sugary, during cooking you need to add the juice of half a lemon or 0.5 tsp. citric acid. The syrup is poured over the baklava at the very end, when the baked goods have cooled one hundred percent - this is a fundamental point. It is important that the syrup itself is also at room temperature.

Delicious diamonds

Let's start with the usual step-by-step recipe for baklava, which is laid in thin layers and served in the form of diamonds, topped with nut kernels.

Ingredients for the dough:

• wheat flour - 450–500 g
• butter - 100 g
• chicken eggs - 2 pcs. + yolk for greasing
• sugar - 4 tbsp. l.
• milk - 150 ml
• dry yeast - 1 tbsp. l.
• salt - 1 tsp.
• starch - for topping

• walnuts - 350 g + 50 g whole kernels for decoration
• butter - 200 g
• sugar - 50 g

• sugar - 150 g
• honey - 50 g
• water - 200 ml
• lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l.

Dissolve dry yeast in slightly warm milk and leave for 10–15 minutes. Sift the flour into a slide and make a hole. Pour in the dough, break 2 eggs, add softened butter, salt and sugar.

Knead the soft dough until it begins to stick to your hands. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and leave for 30–40 minutes.

In a hot dry frying pan, fry the nuts, remove the husks and crush them with a rolling pin, not very coarsely. Don't forget to throw in whole kernels for decoration.

Mix the crushed nuts with sugar - the inside is ready. If desired, you can add a little ground cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg to taste.

We take out the dough, roll it out into a layer, and fold it into an envelope. Roll it out again and fold it into an envelope. Place in the refrigerator for another half hour.

Melt and cool 200 g of butter in advance.

We take out the dough and divide it into 10–15 parts. The number of layers depends on the size of the baking dish.

Spray the work surface with starch and roll out layers the width of a sheet of paper. Grease the mold with melted butter, lay out the first layer of dough, coat it with butter and spread the nut filling in a thin layer. In this way, we alternate layers of dough and nut filling to the very top. Lubricate the top layer with yolk.

We cut the layers of dough in the form of diamonds and decorate each layer with half a walnut kernel.

Place the baklava in an oven preheated to 200°C for 15 minutes.

Take out the baklava, cut the seams with a knife, pour the remaining melted butter between the seams. Place the pan in the oven again for another 30–40 minutes, reducing the flame to 160–170 °C.

Mix water with sugar and lemon juice, simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. When the syrup has cooled slightly, dissolve the honey in it one hundred percent and cool to room temperature. Let the finished baklava cool one hundred percent and only then moderately pour in the syrup, which must have cooled down. As a rule, you need to let the baklava steep all night (that is, in the dark) .

Golden scrolls

Here is the most common recipe for homemade baklava, which is shaped and baked into tubes with the insides. It turns out no less tasty and colorful.

• wheat flour - 500 g
• chicken eggs - 1 pc. + yolk for greasing
• milk - 200 ml + 1 tbsp. l. for lubrication
• butter - 200 g for soaking + 50 g for dough
• walnuts, almonds - 300 g
• sweet powder - 300 g
• honey - 300 g
• water - 100 ml
• cinnamon - 0.5 tsp.
• salt - a pinch

Add 50 g of softened butter and an egg with a pinch of salt to the sifted flour. Pour in warm milk and knead into a plastic soft dough. Roll into a ball, cover with a clean towel in a bowl and leave in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Grind the nuts in a blender not very coarsely, mix with sweet powder and cinnamon. Melt 200 g of butter and cool. Divide the dough into 20 balls, roll out very thin layers of random shape. Lubricate the layer with watery oil and sprinkle moderately with 2-3 tbsp. l. nutty insides.

Now we take a long wooden stick (pencil), wrap the dough around it in the form of a roll, move the edges towards the center with an accordion, and remove the stick. This is literally how we roll other rolls. Grease the baking dish with oil, place the rolls tightly, grease with a mixture of yolk and milk, and place in the oven at 170 °C for 15 minutes. Then brush the rolls with the remaining butter and bake for about another hour.

For the syrup, mix honey with water and simmer over low heat without boiling for 10 minutes. When the finished baklava has cooled one hundred percent, pour syrup over all the rolls and leave for at least 2 hours. That's all - you can treat everyone.

Knowing how to bake baklava at home, you can always amuse your sweet tooth with all your heart and amaze your guests with your culinary talent. Obviously, this will require a lot of time, patience and effort, but the result is worth it. A cool delicacy will appear on your table that everyone will like without exception.

Baklava - traditional recipe

Baklava recipes vary in different state cuisines. But all the available options combine several traditional principles of its production: thin layers of dough, sweet nutty interior, butter and honey filling. There is also debate about the country of the first origin of baklava. If in your understanding, baklava according to a traditional recipe has something in common with Turkish cuisine, then prepare a rich yeast or yeast-free dough for it and add spices to the nut filling; if you are closer to Greek cuisine, then prepare or take puff pastry, preferably phyllo.

• Total cooking time – 1 hour 20 minutes
• Active cooking time – 1 hour 0 minutes
• Cost – highest cost
• Calorie content per 100 g – 388 kcal
• Number of servings – 8 servings

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How to cook baklava according to a traditional recipe

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour – 500 g 3.5-4 cups
• Sour cream – 200 g
• Butter – 200 g
• Chicken egg – 2 pcs. 1 – for dough, 1 – for gloss
• Baking powder – 1 tsp.
• Nuts – 2.5 tbsp. (200 ml)
• Sugar – 1.5 tbsp. (200 ml) for the inside
• Spices - to taste
• Butter – 100 g for the first filling
• Sugar – 1 tbsp. (200 ml) for 2nd filling
• Water – 150 ml
• Honey – 50 g

Manufacturing:

To make the dough for baklava according to the traditional recipe, soften the butter: at room temperature or for 30 seconds in the microwave at low power (300-450). Add a small egg or just the yolk of an egg, sour cream and stir.

Combine the resulting mass with flour, into which baking powder is mixed if desired. The amount of flour may vary due to differences in its properties between different manufacturers, and also depends on the acquired softness of the softened butter.

If you don’t like the light dough in the finished baklava, then you can make it brownish by adding sweet syrup to it, but in this case the baklava will be even sweeter (even more sugary!) and the calorie content will be even higher.

By hand or using household appliances, quickly knead the soft, flaky dough and place it in the refrigerator while you make the inside.

The nuts for the inside can be virtually anything. For the most economical, but also very tasty option, add peanuts to precious nuts - walnuts or hazelnuts, for example, 1:1, 1:2, or to your taste.

Set aside walnut quarters (whole almond or hazelnut kernels) in a suitable quantity (for example, 24 pieces), and chop the other nuts.

For the inside, you need to combine the nuts, crushed by rolling with a rolling pin, in a meat grinder or using a blender, with finely ground sugar and ground spices to taste (vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon).

The chilled dough must be divided into several parts - their number will depend on the height you want the finished dessert and taking into account the size of your mold. For example, for my 20x30 rectangular pan, I divided the dough into only 4 pieces. The baklava will turn out to be low, but this is exactly what my household prefers.

Roll each part of the dough into a layer to fit the mold - very narrow.

The insides will need three portions, so immediately divide it into 3 similar parts. Place a sheet of dough in a greased pan and spread the nut-sugar filling sparingly. Repeat two more times, ending with a layer of dough. As a result, you should get the following layers: doughorekhitestoorekhitestoorekhitesto.

The top layer of dough must be marked for future portions. To do this, first cut several parallel lines with a knife, without cutting the very bottom layer of dough! Then make cuts so that diamond shapes come out. Cutting the bottom layer of dough is not allowed, otherwise all the fillings will flow out to the bottom of the mold, the bottom dough will burn and later become unnecessarily soggy, and the top layers will not be soaked as necessary.

Lubricate the surface with yolk mixed with 1 tbsp. cool water for gloss. Stick a nut into any diamond in the center.

Place the mold with the baklava preparation in a preheated oven (200 degrees). After fifteen minutes, take it out and renew the cuts with a knife, also without cutting them to the bottom layer of dough. Don't forget to go along the walls of the mold with a knife.

Make the first fill - oil.
Brush the surface sparingly with melted butter. Return the pan with the preparation back to the oven for another 30-45 minutes - the time depends on the oven settings and the height of the baklava.

While the baklava is baking, cook the sweet syrup for the second filling: bring to a boil and lightly cook water with sugar (white or brown) over medium heat until slightly thickened and remove from heat.
In the standard, saffron is added to the sweet filling. When the syrup has cooled, stir it with a portion of honey.

Fully baked baklava must be poured with the second filling - honey. To do this, renew the cuts on the 3 layers of dough again. First, pour two teaspoons of syrup onto any diamond, and then pour the syrup into the cuts in a narrow stream.

After it has cooled completely, cut the baklava according to the traditional recipe to the end, i.e. cutting through to the bottom layer of dough. Place the diamond portions on a serving dish; it is better to line them with parchment paper (baking paper) or foil.

Baklava at home – 4 recipes

Olga Polyanskaya • 03.24.2018

Eastern cuisine is rich in sweets. Despite their high calorie content and satiety, they attract guys and ladies. Baklava can easily be classified as one of these intoxicating delicacies.

More often, baklava is prepared with puff pastry and nuts, poured with syrup and given a diamond shape. In the east, it is served for the Novruz holiday. According to historians, the first mention of sweets dates back to the 15th century during the reign of Sultan Fatih. There is another version in which baklava was invented in the 13th century on the Asia Minor peninsula.

Baklava or baklava (baklava) can be prepared from various types of dough: filo, puff pastry, yeast dough and even pita bread.

The highlight of the dough is its subtlety. When you start cooking baklava, you need to get a recipe and follow it exactly. Guests at the event or family members will not remain indifferent and will definitely ask for more.

Azerbaijani baklava

The traditional Azerbaijani-style baklava recipe allows you to prepare a hearty, melt-in-your-mouth delicacy without the help of others. Baklava at home is a troublesome task, but the end result is worth it.

The dessert is high in calories and will be able to replace any other sweet on the anniversary and other holidays.

Production time – 2 hours.

Ingredients:

• 0.5 kg flour;
• 250 ml milk;
• 0.5 tsp dry yeast;
• 300 gr. butter;
• 1 testicle;
• 400 gr. Sahara;
• 300 gr. nuts;
• carmadon, saffron;
• 3 tbsp. honey;
• 1 yolk;
• salt.

Manufacturing:

1. Mix flour with yeast, a third of butter and a few grams of salt. Add milk, beat in the egg and knead the dough.
2. Cover the dough with film and set aside for 60 minutes.
3. Combine the toasted nuts with sugar and carmadon in a blender.
4. Divide the dough into 12 similar parts, one of which will be larger than the others.
5. Roll out the large portion thinly so that it is larger than the baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with melted butter.
6. Next, roll out another part of the dough and place it on the first layer, repeating the function with butter.
7. Sprinkle a small amount of the inside onto the oil layer. Cover the top with another layer of dough. Continue until all parts of the dough and innards have been used.
8. Lubricate the top layer with a mixture of yolk, water and saffron.
9. Cut the baklava into diamonds, not reaching the bottom, decorating each diamond with a piece of nut.
10. Bake baklava at 190 degrees for 15 minutes. Then remove and pour melted butter over the baklava. Place in the oven for another 25 minutes, reducing the heat to 180 degrees.
11. Prepare syrup by combining 150 g. sugar and ½ glass of water. Heat the syrup until the sugar dissolves, remove from the stove and add honey.
12. Cover the finished dish with syrup and let soak.

Lazy baklava with walnuts

Lazy baklava is prepared quickly from ordinary goods that every housewife has at home. According to the recipe, walnuts are added, but you can use the rest and even a mixture. When guests are already on the doorstep, and there is nothing to serve for tea, you will need this recipe.

Production time – 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 huge pita breads;
• ½ can of boiled condensed milk;
• 170 gr. walnuts;
• 2 tbsp. butter;
• slightly sweet powder.

Manufacturing:

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
2. Place two pita breads so that they overlap slightly. Brush with a thin layer of melted butter.
3. Apply an even layer of boiled condensed milk on top of the butter.
4. Walnuts must be ground in advance using a blender or a regular rolling pin.
5. Spread the chopped nuts in an even layer over the boiled condensed milk.
6. Carefully roll the roll. Brush with melted butter.
7. Cut the roll into circles and place on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Bake for about 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees.
8. Before serving, you can pour honey, syrup or cover the baklava with sweet powder.

Honey baklava

This is an unusual, but not the least tasty option for making baklava. Adding honey in the finishing step makes the dish less crunchy, but not soggy. This baklava is suitable for long family gatherings with tea.

Production time – 40 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 500 gr. puff pastry without yeast;
• 2 testicles;
• 50 gr. sweet powder;
• 3 gr. cinnamon;
• 1 packet of vanillin;
• 300 gr. nuts;
• 150 gr. raisins;
• 3 tbsp. honey.

Manufacturing:

1. Thaw the puff pastry and divide into 3 parts. Roll out each piece as thinly as possible. The perfect thickness is a sheet of paper.
2. Take a wide thin baking sheet, grease it with a thin layer of oil and lay out the rolled out layer of dough. Use a fork to make punctures in various places and bake the dough at 180 degrees until golden brown.
3. Finely chop the toasted nuts.
4. Separate the whites from the yolks, beat the whites until fluffy, adding sweet powder and cinnamon.
5. While the first sheet is cooling, place the next layer of dough on the baking sheet. Brush its surface with egg whites and cover with nuts and raisins.
6. Place the baked shortbread on top and press lightly. Don't be alarmed if the shortbread cracks; this does not affect the appearance.
7. Repeat filling the insides and cover with the remaining dough.
8. Make diamond-shaped cuts without reaching the bottom. Place pieces of nuts on any diamond and coat with yolk.
9. Bake until golden brown for 40-45 minutes at 180 degrees.
10. Pour watery honey over the finished baklava.

Puff pastry baklava

This is another easy and quick recipe. The dough is taken ready-made, which reduces production time. This airy and delicious baklava is suitable for dessert at children's parties and tea parties.

Production time – 60 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast-free puff pastry;
• 3 cups prunes;
• 1 cup raisins;
• 1 cup of sugar;
• 1.5 cups walnuts;
• 0.5 cups of nut consistency;
• 100 gr. oils;
• 1 yolk;
• 3 tbsp. honey.

Manufacturing:

1. Remove the puff pastry from the freezer and defrost according to directions. Divide the dough into four similar parts.
2. Grind all used nuts with a blender, rolling pin or knife. Grind the dried fruits in a blender until pureed.
3. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet or baking pan and place the first part of the dough on top. Roll out the dough into thin layers.
4. Apply melted butter to the dough and add half of the pureed dried fruits. Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on top. Cover the top with the rolled out dough.
5. The next layer is nuts. Before distributing them, you need to coat the dough with oil. Cover with the next layer of dough.
6. Brush the dough with oil and top with the remaining dried fruit. Cover the top with a layer of dough.
7. Mix the yolk with 1 tablespoon of water and cover the top of the baklava. Cut into diamond shapes without cutting to the bottom. Place a piece of walnut on each diamond.
8. While the baklava is baking, approximately 40 minutes at 170 degrees, cook syrup from 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water. You need to cook it for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and add honey.
9. Pour syrup over the finished baklava and serve.

Honey baklava

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Apple Pie with Sour Cream

• For kids
• Children's party
• New Year
• Christmas
• February 23
• Easter
• For pregnant and lactating women
• vegetarian

Ingredients

general information

Total production time

3 h

Active production time

1 hour 30 minutes

Complexity

Average

Number of servings

Step-by-step recipe with photos

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and dry at a temperature of 100-140°C for about 10 minutes.

Cool the nuts and grind them in a blender (not very finely, approximately like coarse salt).
Place the crushed nuts in a large bowl, add sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and mix well.

Prepare honey syrup.
To make honey syrup, combine honey (500 g) with water (100 ml), bring to a boil and boil to a thin thread.

The time for boiling the syrup will depend on the thickness of the bottom and walls of the pan, as well as on the intensity of heating.
The higher the heat, the faster the syrup will boil. In order not to miss the moment when the syrup is ready, it is better to test it on a narrow thread more often.

Test for a narrow thread. Pour a teaspoon of syrup onto a cool plate. Then lightly press the bottom of the spoon onto the surface of the syrup and immediately lift the spoon up. At the same time, a narrow thread of syrup will stretch behind the spoon.

Advice.
Instead of honey syrup, you can fill the baklava with honey-sugar syrup. For making
honey-sugar syrup. Dissolve sugar with water and boil slightly, skimming off any foam that forms.
After the foam disappears, add honey to the sweet syrup and boil until it tastes like a narrow thread.

The ratio of sugar, honey and water for honey-sugar syrup is as follows (in grams):

Prepare yeast dough.
Pour 1 teaspoon of sugar into a bowl, pour in 1 tablespoon of warm milk and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Crumble the yeast and mix well with the sweet milk.

Leave in a warm place for 15-20 minutes until the yeast rises in a “cap”.

Break the eggs (or egg yolks) into a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and sour cream.

Mix everything well.

Pour in the remaining milk, add melted butter and vegetable oil, and stir.

Sift about a glass of flour and mix.

Add foamed yeast to the dough and mix again.

Add flour evenly to form a soft dough.

Place the dough in a deep bowl, grease the surface of the dough with vegetable oil, cover the bowl with cling film or cover with a cotton towel.

Place the dough in a warm space for 1.5-2 hours, until it has approximately tripled in volume.

Knead the risen dough, cover the bowl again with cling film and let the dough rise again.
Divide the finished dough into 10-14 pieces.

Melt butter (200 g) and cool.
Grease the pan with melted butter using a brush.
Roll out a piece of dough to a thickness of 1 mm and place it in a mold (the bottom layer of dough, if desired, can be rolled out to a larger size in order to cover not only the bottom, but also the sides of the mold with dough; for this, you can take a piece of dough a little larger than the others).
Generously brush the dough with butter.

Sprinkle some of the insides sparingly over the dough.

Roll out the second layer of dough and place it on top of the first.

Brush the dough with butter and also sprinkle with the nut innards.
Thus, alternating the dough (greased with butter) with nut entrails, fill the form.
Do not sprinkle the outermost layer with nuts.

Leave the baklava to proof for 15-20 minutes.
Then brush with egg yolk.

Carefully cut the baklava into diamond shapes (without cutting through the dough to the bottom of the pan).
Decorate any piece of baklava with half a walnut (slightly press the nuts into the dough).

Place the baklava in an oven preheated to 180°C.
Bring the remaining butter (there should be 100-50 grams left) to a boil.
After 15 minutes, pour the baklava with bubbling butter, trying to get it into the cuts.

Return the baklava to the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove the baklava from the oven and again cut the baklava diamonds along the old cuts to the bottom of the mold.
Pour honey or honey-sugar syrup over the baklava, making sure that the syrup gets into the cuts of the baklava.

Place in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Advice. Baklava tastes better the more it is soaked in honey syrup. Therefore, you don’t have to skimp on syrup for pouring baklava.

Remove the finished baklava from the oven, cover with a napkin and leave in the pan until completely cooled and soaked (for 3-5 hours).
Store baklava in the refrigerator for about a month.

Bon appetit!

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