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BAKLAVA - An incredibly sweet and wonderful Balkan dessert
Baklava is claimed by almost every Balkan state as its own
invention; most people in the United States first encounter
it in Greek restaurants. If the truth were known, it's
probably the Turkish who invented it, as is the case for
many other ``typically Greek'' dishes. This recipe comes
from my Bulgarian grandmother, and follows Bulgarian tradi-
tion, in that the filling is very simple.
DOUGH
500 g strudel dough (or fillo leaves)
500 g unsalted butter, well melted. Salted butter or
margarine are not acceptable.
FILLING
500 g walnut meat, chopped medium fine
50 g sugar
5 ml vanilla (or use vanilla sugar)
SYRUP
1 l sugar
500 ml water
5 ml lemon juice
(1) Heat oven to 150 deg. C to 160 deg. C.
(2) Make the syrup first. Boil the water and sugar for
15 minutes. Add lemon juice, boil 10 more minutes,
set aside to cool.
(3) Make the filling: Mix all ingredients well. I
prefer the walnuts fairly coarse; some people like
them quite fine.
(4) Cut the dough with scissors to the size of the
tray. Handle the dough very carefully; do not
press hard on it at any time. Cover with wax
paper and damp towel.
(5) Take out one sheet of dough at a time and place it
in the pan. Brush the dough with melted butter
between each layer. Continue until you have about
12 sheets buttered. Small and broken pieces of
dough can be used in the center, but there must be
butter between every two layers.
(6) Spread walnut filling across the tray.
(7) Put on a sheet of dough, brush on butter, and
continue until all the dough is used up.
(8) Cut into diamond shapes: cut into quarters with
cuts parallel to the long axis, then cut diago-
nally across. Don't press hard!
(9) Bake for about 11/2 hour, until golden brown. Be
careful not to burn the bottom or the walnuts,
especially with a glass pan.
(10) Let cool on rack for 5 minutes. Add syrup which
should have cooled to room temperature. Let cool
for at least two hours before eating.
Probably the hardest thing about this recipe is waiting
those last two hours!
Depending on where you go, you'll hear the name of this dish
pronounced different ways. I pronounce the name with all
/ah/ sounds, with accents of equal intensity on both the
first and third syllable. The second syllable is quite
faint. Greek-speaking persons typically put a heavy accent
on the second syllable.
Many variations on the filling are to be found. A simple one
was mentioned above, regarding the coarseness of grind of
the walnuts in the filling. They may even be ground.
Spices such as chopped cloves or cinnamon may be added, and
the filling may be included in several layers instead of
just one.
A large (33x22 cm) pan is almost too big to handle. I typi-
cally make this recipe in two 20x28 cm pans, which is just
about the size of a half sheet of the dough I buy. By the
way, if you can make your own strudel dough, it will be even
better ... but much more effort.
It is best to have a partner help you prepare the pans. One
person handles the dough and places it in the pan, while the
other applies the butter. It is very important that suffi-
cient butter be placed between layers so that each layer
gets flaky, rather than having them stick together. Pay
particular attention to the edges and corners.
In case you haven't noticed, this is very sweet stuff. It
goes great with a fine cup of coffee, espresso, or Turkish
coffee, even with sugar. Two pieces will probably fill any-
one up; it refrigerates and freezes quite well. This recipe
requires a lot of effort, but it's well worth it.
Difficulty: moderate to hard. Time: 11/2 hours preparation,
11/2 hours cooking, 2 hours cooling. Precision: measure the
ingredients.
Chris Kent
DEC Western Research Lab, Palo Alto, California
kent@decwrl.dec.com {ihnp4,decvax,ucbvax}!decwrl!kent
| Last modified: 9 May 2006 | 42 hits in May 2012 |
