BAKLAVA: A dessert you should know the making of ! : )

[aster]

Hello everyone,

Today, I'll try to walk you through the making of Baklava, a dessert popular in the coastal and non-coastal countries of the Mediterranean Sea.
There are many varieties but basics of the makings are the same.

This is the first Baklava that I ever ventured upon the makings. : )

It'll be a long photo-thread, so please be patient.

First, here's the final look: one of the pieces served...

Yildiz

All ready to be sampled : )

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Right after I took it out of the oven and poured the cooled-down syrup on it. Now it has to rest a while to absorb the syrup.

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[aster]

The ingredients:
A flat surface like the top of a marble kitchen counter or a smooth table top that's suitable for rolling out dough.
400gr. of Flour
3 Eggs
A glass of water
500gr. of Walnuts or pistachios..or any other nut kind that you like.
Cinnamon ( suits the Baklava made with walnuts but is not an essential part of the making. Use only if you like the flavour. : ) )
A pack of Starch- Used only when rolling the dough pieces out to keep it from sticking to the surface of the counter or to each other.
A spoonful of Salt for the dough mix.

The ingredients together.

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Place the eggs and salt in the crater of the flour and pour some water. Now mix and then knead the dough until you get a rather hard dough.

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Knead the dough for a while pressing it against the cool of the hard marble surface. Knead it to get a loaf-like shape and bend the sides towards the middle and let it rest under a wet kitchen cloth for 15 minutes.
Repeat this process 3 times.

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[aster]

Knead the dough into a 40-50cm long roll. Then, cut 2-fingers-thick pieces from this roll and place them on starch-sprinkled surface to prevent sticking to the surface.

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All the cut pieces as they should look.

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Press each of the pieces gently against the surface with your palm until they look like this:

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[aster]

Place every two piece against eachother with starch in betweeen to prevent sticking.
Here they are all together.

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Now, clean the excess starch left on the counter around the circulaar pieces. And cover them with a wet kitchen cloth for 45 minutes.

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While the dough is resting for 45 minutes we'll prepare the syrup. Pour 300ml of water+500gr of sugar+a spoonful of lemon juice in a deep pan or the likes will work fine. Now let it boil on the gas cooker for at least 10 minutes until you get a rather thick liquid.

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[aster]

After 10 minutes of boiling the syrup is ready.

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After the 45-minute resting, now it's time to roll the doubled pieces out. Smoothly roll them out until you get a filmsy layer of flat dough that should appear as transparent against your hand.

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[aster]

The filmsy, draping dough at its final stage.

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Place the dough flat on the coounter and sprinkle crushed or ground nuts to cover the entire dough estate.

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Now roll it as seen in the photo.

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[aster]

Push the rolled dough towards the center from the sides until you get a squeezed look...Then pull the wooden roller stick out from the center and give the final shape of the dough before placing it on the buttered baking tray / pan.

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In the baking pan.

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Now, repeat the same process for the rest of the circular dough pieces until they are all placed on the baking pan.
My first-time Baklava looked like this.

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[aster]

Melt the butter in a pan. Cool it down until it no longer burns your skin and pour the whole pan over the Baklava dough in the baking pan. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C degrees and let bake for 15-20 minutes until the top is looking nicely-blazed.

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Ready for the pre-heated oven.

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After 20 minutes of baking, place it on the kitchen counter and pour the now-cold syrup over the hot Baklava. Let it soak in the syrup and cool down before serving.

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[aster]

The cooled-down look!
Ready for serving and going creative on the platter. You can serve it with icecream, coffee, chocolate or plain, just as it is... : )

Bon Appetit!

Yildiz

Let's take one of the pieces out and start getting creative... : ))

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I'll have mine 'as is' for now...maybe with some icecream the next time!

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[Greg Beetham]

Ha! great pictorial recipe, I think I could even make it with that explanation...er maybe not.
Nice job Yildiz, looks yummy, is the result crunchy or soft?.
Greg

[Birma]

A great walk through the recipe Yildiz. As Greg says, the pictures seem very informative. I'll have mine with ice-cream and a coffee I think .

I especially liked the pictures of the raw ingredients - before the 'magic' happens!

[bossel]

Now I am really getting hungry and some baklava would be the perfect dessert right now And congrats for the pics, they seem well arranged and come out very tasty!

[aster]

Ha! great pictorial recipe, I think I could even make it with that explanation...er maybe not.
Nice job Yildiz, looks yummy, is the result crunchy or soft?.
Greg

Thank you, Greg! : ))

It's fairly easy...Think of your last camping expedition and this is just a breeze for you. You can make it while you're watching your favourite TV shows...

When you bite into it, the outer part feels crunchy and then the inside where the syrup has penetrated is soft and filled with walnuts. So basicly, you eat more nuts than you do pastry which is less fattening! I dare call it the not-so-fattening Baklava!

A great walk through the recipe Yildiz. As Greg says, the pictures seem very informative. I'll have mine with ice-cream and a coffee I think .

I especially liked the pictures of the raw ingredients - before the 'magic' happens!

Thank you, Birma. : )

I wish I could hand out a plateful to where you are, Birma! I don't have much of a sweet tooth myself but even I liked this one...
Maybe someday..... : )

Now I am really getting hungry and some baklava would be the perfect dessert right now And congrats for the pics, they seem well arranged and come out very tasty!

Thank you, Thomas. : ))

It was a funny process of shooting. The button on the remote was pushed into activation mode because of the stretch-film I covered it with to keep flour dust away and the camera just would not stop sequential shooting until I tore the part where it covered the button. It was crazy! : ) Now I have the same frame shot 15 times or so...

Yildiz
Yildiz

[InTheSky]

GREAT job hiccup! and I will try you recipe for sure this weekend.

On our side in my Family in law, my girlfriend is Egyptian, so there is a little difference in the process. We are adding "Eau de Rose" and pistaches, that make the Baklava looking green and purple. My Mother and law even don't give me the right to put honey in it ... whey they say to me that this is the Greek version that use Honey, but on my side ... I prefer using Family Honey (from father to kid ... they are doing honey in my small town in the north of Quebec).

Again, very interesting and delicious series of pictures , Chapeau !

If It have time, I will do a series of picture to show you how to make Atayef that for me is the friend of Baklava when I thinking of this kind of dessert.

Frank

[bossel]

Maybe we need a new forum 'Food and drinks'