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

[InTheSky]

Maybe we need a new forum 'Food and drinks'

This is a good idea .

Frank

[aster]

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

Thank you, Frank!

I have to admit, I learned more than a couple of things from your natural-oven bread, pizza and octopus recipes and cooking... They were inspirational!

I would love to see what Atayef is and its making! : )) And I think pure honey would be the real sweetener instead of refined white sugar. In my next dessert recipe trials I'll use honey for sure.

Egyptian, have some interesting recipes and cooking styles. Your in-laws probably all are great cooks and with a great palate for different tastes... : )

Maybe we need a new forum 'Food and drinks'

This is a good idea .

Frank

I second your thoughts.... : ))


Yildiz

[david antony]

Thought somehow I had stumbled into Gourmet Magazine, the food & photos
are at least equal to what I have seen there.

Very well done Aster.

Heading to Alberta tomorrow.

[Dr. Harout]

Baklava and atayef... yummi...
BTW Yildiz isn't yours called 'Sari burma'?

[aster]

Thought somehow I had stumbled into Gourmet Magazine, the food & photos
are at least equal to what I have seen there.

Very well done Aster.

Heading to Alberta tomorrow.

Thank you very much, David!

I hope you enjoy your time spent in Alberta. Such a beautiful area it is! : ))

Baklava and atayef... yummi...
BTW Yildiz isn't yours called 'Sari burma'?

You may be right, Dr. Harout, I am not familiar with all the names that pertain to certain shapes or styles or the filling that's used. Mine is completely my doing. I had decided at the time of shaping them all up that I wanted something that looked like 'bülbül yuvasi' in shape and tasted like walnut baklava... : ) And as you pointed out the central part does appear as 'burma'.

Sort of 'all-in-one' baklava tray, I guess. : )

Now that I think of it, it also reminded me of Atayef in taste when eating...but the name Atayef is new to me. I know that dessert in an other name, which I can't remember right this second.

Yildiz
Yildiz

[Dusty]

You did a wonderful job of showing us how you make it, Yildiz.

My aunts used to make it, using the recipe from Spiro, the chef and owner of Spiro's restaurants. However it was always easier to just go there and order some! My sisters make it at time, but they cheat - they buy filo dough. That's already paper thin and saves the hardest part of the work.

Dusty

[jbtaylor]

In my limited time for this forum I come across a thread titled "Baklava". I ask myself "who would start such a thread"? The first name that came to mind was Yildiz. So I look at the author column and low and behold. No surprise here. I must admit that I have not seen your version but that doesn't stop me from appreciating the multiple talents on display here.
If there was ever a reason to kill the 3 images per post rule, this is it.
I really enjoyed the images and the commentary, and suggest that you have a real talent for story telling with a camera. Make my ice cream vanilla please.

[bakubo]

Great! It looks like cooking is another of your hobbies.

[aster]

You did a wonderful job of showing us how you make it, Yildiz.

My aunts used to make it, using the recipe from Spiro, the chef and owner of Spiro's restaurants. However it was always easier to just go there and order some! My sisters make it at time, but they cheat - they buy filo dough. That's already paper thin and saves the hardest part of the work.

Dusty

Hi Dusty, : ))

Thank you!
Indeed, the filo dough part is the hard work that requires patience here and in the rather speedy way of living we experience nowadays buying the filo dough from a good maker is a good idea. But only if the maker is trusted one and Spiro sounds fine although I never sampled their version.

This is the first Baklava I ever made as I wanted to find out how the whole process and the result would be for me. : )
To my surprise, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Because of the eggs inside, the filo dough can really get wide and big without falling apart or wretched.

No wonder the Romans, Byzantine, Greek and everyone else who wanted to build strong masonry walls used eggs in the mortar. : )) Those walls still stand today!

In my limited time for this forum I come across a thread titled "Baklava". I ask myself "who would start such a thread"? The first name that came to mind was Yildiz. So I look at the author column and low and behold. No surprise here. I must admit that I have not seen your version but that doesn't stop me from appreciating the multiple talents on display here.
If there was ever a reason to kill the 3 images per post rule, this is it.
I really enjoyed the images and the commentary, and suggest that you have a real talent for story telling with a camera. Make my ice cream vanilla please.

Thank you, JBTaylor!

I guess I'm the odd one out for such topics... : ))

Thank you for sparing us some of your delightful moments which I got with some bonus with this thread! It's alaways a pleasure to have you around as a contributor in many different ways. : ))

With Vanilla ice cream it is for you!

Great! It looks like cooking is another of your hobbies.

Hi Henry,

Cooking is a hobby indeed. And I usually like seeing all the ingredients in the food that I eat. Nowadays, fast and processed food can burden our sytems with lots of chemicals and what-nots. I try to cook my own meals and I try to stay as close to natural and less-processed as possible. So, changing the white sugar to honey in the next Baklava will be my goal... : )) I just wanted to see the most used version for this time.

Thank you very much!

Yildiz

[Dr. Harout]

Atayef = قطايف
thus could be read as atayef or qatayef, and probably kadayif in Turkish

[aster]

Atayef = قطايف
thus could be read as atayef or qatayef, and probably kadayif in Turkish

Yes, that's the one, Dr. Harout! 'Kadayif' is how we say the name in Turkish. In fact, I even know it as 'Taş Kadayif' which can be translated as -oddly enough- 'Rock / Stone Kadayif' due to its boulder-like shape I think... : )

Thanks,

Yildiz

[bossel]

So when are we going to see how to make Kadayif?

[aster]

So when are we going to see how to make Kadayif?

First, you must promise that you'll put on an apron and head over to your kitchen to follow the making of the Kadayif throughly and to finally serve to wife and friends, my dear Thomas! And they should make a toast to your success as the Chef de Kadayif. : )

Well, joking aside, our Frank who lives In The Sky somewhere in Canada, has promised that he'll be sharing his ATAYEF with us through a photo recipe when he has some time to spare from looking after his new son! : ) That may be any time between next week to a day in the next 11 years until he's sure that his son is doing well on his own...: )))

Kidding of course. But I'm looking forward to his Making of Atayef...maybe his little son can join his father as the Chef Miniature during the photo recipe. A good one for the baby's photo album. : )

Yildiz