Baklava.. my own recipe.
Tips
Use frozen filo pastry. (I do have a recipe for the purist who wants to make their own but it is very difficult to make and I no longer bother)
Buy rosewater and orange water not essence , you will find it in supermarkets, I did in the UK.You can use all rosewater, all orange water or as I do a blend of both
Should use unsalted butter but usually I don`t bother and it is just fine., skim off any froth after melting.
Chop the walnuts very very fine.
Lemon juice can be fresh or Real Lemon bottled.
Keep your filo patry covered with a damp cloth as you are working as it dries out in minutes.
Use the same size pan as the size of the pastry sheets, if you can`t do this then cut the sheets to fit with scissors and now and again use the offcuts to make another layer.
My recipe is measured in cups.. if you don`t have a proper 8 fluid ounce or 250 ml baking cup use anything that will just hold that amount of fluid .
Make your syrup first.
Syrup ingredients.
1 and half cups white sugar
1 and half cups of water
1 cup honey
1 tablespoon (15ml) orangewater
1 tabblespoon (15 ml) rose water
1 tablespoon lemon jiuce
Blend all except the rose and orange water in a pan, bring to a soft simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the rose and orange water. Set aside.
1lb packet of frozen filo pastry.
Half a pound of butter..do not use marg!!
2 cups of chopped walnuts
1 cup of soft brown sugar.
Grease your baking tin well with butter.
Lay 2 sheets of filo flat on bottom of tin.They need to fit the tin well with no gaps and no bunching up. cut them if need be.
Paint the sheets with melted butter.
Add two more sheets, paint them,repeat till, you have 6 sheets in tin
DO NOT PRESS DOWN AS YOU DO IT.
Spread some of the nut mixture over .
Repeat the layering and buttering for another 4 sheets,
Add a nut layer.
Keep going till all the pastry is used up ending up with just pastry for the top layer (no nuts)
You may find you need to melt a bit more butter as it takes a bit of practice to get the amounts just right.
Paint the final top layer with butter, make very sure every bit of patry is buttered.
Using a very sharp knife, I use a scalpel, cut through all layers to make diamond shapes.. dont be too fussy for the first try, squares taste just as good
Bake in a350f oven for 30 minutes,lower the temp to 300f for a further hour or until the pastry top is golden.
Remove from oven, allow to cool a little it needs to be warm.
pour the cooled syrup all over the pastry.. you will think there is too much, there is not, it will soak in.
Wait till completely cold, then using a sharp knife cut through the original knife cuts to seperate.
I use paper cup cases to put each piece in as it is very sticky.
Trust me, it is not as picky as it seems, the hardest part is cutting the unbaked pastry, you may not be able to cut right through to the bottom, dont worry it comes OK after you cut it again but make sure you cut through the first few layers the first time.
I would like to say has zero calories but....................
Variation for fillings, the pastry part remains the same.
Almond instead of walnuts or a mixture.. add a touch of cinnamon, abou eighth of a teaspoon.
You can make a filling with coconut and vanilla essence.
You can use fruit instead of nuts but it does come very different.
There is a semolina filling but I would have toi give you a recipe for that
You can change the flavours of the syrup to anything you like
Baklava is different things to different people. Mine leans towards a Lebanese one.
You can change many things except, it does need filo pastry, a syrup and lots of butter.
Enjoy !!
XX Jeannine
