Baklava is a delicious dessert with any cuisine, and a wonderful brunch pastry. Photo courtesy of Recchiuti Confections.

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April 2008

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cookies, Cake & Pastry

Recipe: Baklava

A Greek & Turkish Favorite You’ll Enjoy Making At Home

Our eyes brighten whenever we see baklava on a menu: thin, crisp sheets of Greek phyllo dough, interleafed with honey and chopped pistachio nuts, gently spiced with allspice and rosewater. Now we can make them at home, with this recipe from San Francisco chocolatier and patissier Michael Recchiuti. Making baklava can be enjoyable with a friend: You need to work fast to keep the phyllo moist, and four hands work quicker than two!

The History Of Baklava

While many Americans are most familiar with baklava as a Greek pastry, its origins, like many foods, will never be known for certain. However, evidence indicates that it is Turkish, and may well have been invented in the kitchens of the The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey—the residence of the Ottoman Sultans from 1465 to 1853. While there are many dishes of nuts and honey dating to ancient times, there are no mentions prior to the Ottoman Empire of the recipe in its current form, with nuts and honey interleafed in pastry. The pastry is part of the cuisines of many of the 25 former Ottoman Empire countries, which included Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Crete, Cyprus, Greece, Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldavia and Serbia. The Empire was finally dissolved in 1922, but delicious baklava remains for all to enjoy.

Ingredients

Syrup

• 1-¾ cups granulated cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1-½ cups spring water
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon rosewater
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

Filling

• 1/3 cup sesame seeds
• 1-½ cups pistachios, unsalted and lightly toasted
  (pistachios are the traditional nuts of the Middle East, but
  you can substitute walnuts)
• 1/3 cup dried currants
• 6 tablespoons granulated cane sugar
• ½ teaspoons freshly ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon fleur de sel
• 1-½ cups clarified butter, melted
• 1 pound phyllo pastry (one package at room temperature)

Preparation

Make The Syrup Dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the allspice, rosewater and orange blossom water. Let cool completely. Make The Filling Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-9 inch square baking dish with butter. Melt 3 tablespoons of the clarified butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and sauté until golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and add the pistachios, currants, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and fleur de sel. Stir to combine. Set aside.

Every ingredient in the recipe contributes to making it a success. Don’t look for the cheapest pistachios, look for the best. These gourmet pistachio nuts from Pariya Foods will do the trick. Other favorites come from Santa Barbara Pistachios. Both are NIBBLE Top Picks Of The Week.

Assemble

1. Over low heat, melt the remaining clarified butter in a saucepan.
2. Carefully roll open the phyllo dough. Cut the sheets in half, crosswise. Stack the dough sheets on top of each other, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and place a damp cloth on top. This will keep the dough from drying out while you are assembling the layers. Phyllo dough is best handled when slightly moist, but not soggy.
3. Place two sheets of the dough in the bottom of the buttered pan. Re-cover the stacked dough to keep it from drying and repeat this process throughout the assembly.
4. Using a pastry brush, brush the surface of the dough with the melted butter. Add two more sheets of dough and apply another coat of butter. Continue until you have a total of eight layers.
5. Using a spoon, evenly spread half of the filling over the surface of the dough layers. Add eight more layers of dough and butter. Spread the remaining filling over this layer and cover with eight more layers of dough. Brush the top layer of the dough with the remaining butter.
6. Using a sharp knife and being careful not to distort the layers, cut the baklava into 2-inch squares. Bake on the middle shelves of the oven for 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 300°F and bake for an additional 45 to 50 minutes until the surface is a deep golden color.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Pour the syrup evenly over the top and set aside to cool completely.
8. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. Makes 16 pieces.

Recipe © copyright Recchiuti Confections. Other written material © Copyright 2005- 2008 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their respective owners.