Baklava
- Prashansa Ranjan
- Jan 8, 2021
- 4 min read
My new year of 2021 started with some sweetness. This recipe is one that I have been eyeing for months now. But the number of efforts required to make this, made me constantly laze on my bed, every weekend. But finally came new year's eve and I thought to make this. And I must say, this was indeed worth all the wait and efforts. So let's get onto making and baking this middle eastern dessert called Baklava.
Ingredients:
For the dough of phyllo pastry at home:
Half cup refined oil. (without any aroma, avoid peanuts oil or sesame oil)
Half cup milk.
Three cups of Maida (All purpose flour).
Two and a half teaspoon baking powder.
Pinch of salt.
For the filling:
One cup of chopped nuts like almonds, pistachios, cashews- coarsely ground. (no raisins or dates)
For the syrup:
One cup of sugar.
Two teaspoons lemon juice.
Half inch long cinnamon stick.
Orange zest - Peel off a small orange.
For the topping:
40 gms butter
Half tablespoon oil
For dusting of the pastries:
One tablespoon of cornflour.
One tablespoon of All-purpose flour.
How to prepare:
Let's first prepare our syrup. It's the easiest of all. In a saucepan, take one cup of sugar, add a half cup of water, two teaspoons of lemon juice, a half-inch long cinnamon stick, and some orange zest. Mix it all well and bring this to boil at a slow flame. Keep stirring until the sugar dissolves completely and the mixture thickens up. Once it does, keep it aside for cooling down.
Now let us prepare the dough for the phyllo pastries. These pastries need good kneading. So be prepared with some tough hands on the work station. In a mixing bowl, take half cup refined oil (aroma-less), mix half cup milk and half cup water to it. Mix these well. Now sieve in the three cups of Maida into it. While doing this, add the pinch of salt and two and a half teaspoons of baking powder. Mix all of this well. You can either use a beater or simply, hands. Roll it again and again on the work station. Initially, the dough will be a bit cracked, but as you keep going, it will smoothen up. We need a fluffy and soft dough. When this is ready, take a wet cloth and keep the dough aside, covered with a wet cloth.
Now, let's get onto preparing our topping. This topping will be used once we have assembled the Baklava in our baking tray. So for this, you simply require forty grams of butter along with half a tablespoon of refined oil (aroma-less). Melt it and keep it aside. You can also use sixty grams of butter if you prefer not to use the oil.
Post half an hour of the dough resting, take a small amount of it, and roll it well into small balls. Then clean your working station as you would be requiring a large space to roll the phyllo pastries. For this, mix cornflour with the all-purpose flour and dust the work station. Take one dough ball and roll it on the workstation using a rolling pin. Keep it constantly dusting using the cornflour-maida mix. It will avoid sticking and increase the elasticity of the dough.
The rolled layers should be so thin that they are completely translucent to see through your hands. When you have rolled in 10-15 such layers, then we start the assembling process.
In the assembling process, take the baking tray, rub some butter in the bottom. Then layer it with the pastry layer. Add 5-6 layers of it.
Post 5-6 layers, spread the coarsely ground nuts. Once done, add another 7-8 layers of the phyllo pastry sheets.
Now, with mild pressure on fingers, tuck the sheets inside the tray so as to not leave any openings.
Take a sharp knife and carefully cut out squares in the layers. You can make any other design too if you wish. Make sure that the knife goes to the bottom because once baked, it will be hard to cut it.
Once done, take a brush and brush the entire baklava with the topping mix (butter and oil melted) that we prepared in step 3. Pour it generously.
Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees. Keep the baklava at convection (baking) mode at 180 degrees for at least 45-50 minutes. Keep checking after 15 minutes.
Once the top layer has become golden brown and crispy, it's time to take it out from the oven. Let the baklava rest for 15-20 minutes.
Now, carefully and generously pour in the sugar syrup that we made in step 1. Make sure to not pour too much of it otherwise Baklavas become soggy.
You can decorate the Baklava with some nuts or even chocolate sauce.
Serve it when it has completely cooled down.
This has been one of the most exciting recipes that I have tried till now. Do not worry if you don't get it properly baked or properly made the first time. This needs practice is what I have realized from my first-time experiment with it!!!
Happy Bak-laughing!
Comments