This classic Eastern-influenced sweet reveals the link between Greece and its neighbors to the east. Many cultures claim to have invented baklava, and much evidence points to the Middle East as its place of origin. Although Greece might not have been its birthplace, the Greeks certainly have embraced and mastered the methods of making some of the finest baklava around.
Ingredients
For Making the Syrup
- 12 oz Honey
- 18 oz Sugar
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 4 Whole Cloves
- 2 Whole Lemons, squeezed (Whole Lemon cut in half and added)
- 1.5 cups Water
For Assembling the Pastry
- 5 oz Pistachios, whole
- 4 oz Almonds, whole
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 3 oz Plain Dry Bread Crumbs
- 4 oz Sugar
- 10 oz Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 lb Phyllo Dough, commercially prepared
- Syrup
How to Make It
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For Making the Syrup
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan; simmer gently for 30 minutes or until syrupy in consistency.
- Strain syrup while still hot to remove cinnamon stick, cloves, and lemon. For Assembling the Pastry
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Place almonds and pistachios on baking sheet; bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until nuts just begin to color slightly, before removing from oven to cool. Reset oven to 350°F.
- After nuts have cooled, crush them coarsely using either a mortar and pestle or a rolling pin.
- Combine crushed nuts with cinnamon, bread crumbs, and sugar; mix thoroughly.
- To assemble the baklava, first brush a shallow baking dish (approximately the same size as the phyllo sheets) with butter. Add 2 sheets of buttered phyllo dough to the bottom of the dish, and sprinkle a thin layer of nut/bread crumb mixture onto the sheets.
- Place another buttered phyllo sheet on top of the nut/bread crumb mixture, and then top that sheet with a thin layer of nut/bread crumb mixture; continue this layering until you have either reached the top of your pan or you have added 10 layers, finishing with a layer of phyllo dough with no nut mixture on top of it.
- Sprinkle or spray the surface of the phyllo dough with some water to moisten it, and cut into a diamond-shaped pattern by cutting straight lines the length of the narrow part of the dish, approximately 2 inches apart, followed by cutting lines at 45° angles to the straight lines (also approximately 2 inches apart).
- Cover the prepared baklava with a sheet of aluminum foil, if baking in a convection oven (the phyllo will be blown off if this is not done).
- Place baklava into preheated 350°F oven; bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown.
- Remove baklava from the oven and allow it to cool completely
- Reheat syrup in a small saucepan for a thinner consistency, and pour evenly over the surface of the baked, cooled baklava.
- Slice the baklava using the diamond pattern on the surface to serve.
