Baklava

Time:6 hours before eating. .5 prep, 1.5 bake, 4 hour cool.

454 g

Assorted nuts, almonds, pistachios, etc…, processed into small chunks.

4 TBL {50 g}

sugar (original amt)

1 tsp {2.3 g}

cinnamon

1 stick {113 g}

butter

454 g

filo dough

100 g 1/2 cup

Sugar

90 g 1/2 cup

honey

lemon, zested

2 TBL {30 g}

lemon juice (from 1/2 lemons above)

pods cardamom, split

1 stick {56 g}

Cinnamon, broken

150 ml {150 g}

Water

1499 g ??5840 Calories

Total(!??389 Calories/100g !)

Thaw pastry in the fridge overnight or on the counter Preheat oven to 325F/162C Mix toasted nuts (325F/162C 10-15 minutes), sugar and cinnamon and divide into two parts.

Melt butter and butter 13x9 pan.

Place folded sheet of filo on top, and brush with butter.

(No need to cut filo, leaving it folded will result in a unbuttered inner layer.) Repeat until you’ve used 1/3 of the sheets.., with alternating layers of melted butter.

Place half of the mixture of nuts.

Repeat with 1/3 folded sheets , alternating with butter.

Add remaining nuts, top with remaining filo, alternating butter, butter top.

Cut into squares or diamonds.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Reduce temp to 300F/148C bake for 45 to 60 minutes more.

After reduce temp, mix remaining ingredients and gently simmer and let steep.

Pour strained syrup over baklava when removed from the oven.

Tip pan slightly to create less sweet end, although Arthur didn’t mind sweet end.

Let cool to room temp.

Note	2014/07 Not sweet enough, with none of the 315 ml of sugar. Diamonds look messy.

Note	2014/08 100 g sugar good, cut into big chunks and little, cutting squares results in squares, rectangles will result in diamonds, tipping pan will result in less sweet section

Note

2025-04-29

Baklava with Fay.

Used about 1/4 lb each of pistachios and walnuts and some peanuts, in about six different combinations with desiccated coconut, dried fruit mango, craisins, raisins and 1/2 the filling cinnamon sugar (2T + 1/2 tsp cinnamon). Added lemon zest directly into filling.

Rehyrdated fruit in boiling water to cover. Mango and craisins were preferred due to acidity/sourness which raisins lacked.
Needs nuts, fruit only layer was lacking texture.
Cheap rose water from FreshCo was flavourless except for chemicals. Don’t use the cheap stuff.

Conclusion

Half the amount of nuts and sugar was good, with the addition of sour/sweet hydrated fruit liked chopped dried mango or craisins and (toasted) desiccated coconut, enough to significantly cover a layer. Pistachios and walnuts were best, peanuts not so much.

Cutting into 9x9 grid, of about 1.4x1 inch rectangles was a good "tasting" size,

Remove 1 or 2 square from the end to pour syrup into, which allows the upper layer to remain dry and crispy as possible.

Replace after pouring syrup.

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