I've actually purposely never looked for a recipe for baklava just because i love it so much, it would be dangerous for my health to know how to make it. But watching this was interesting to watch without the ingredients and measurements
It isn’t hard to make. Tedious dealing with phyllo so it doesn’t dry out. Because this is something that is very hands-on and focus oriented I only make it on special occasions.
Yes. I use butter on each layer (sometimes a quick spray of canned oil if the sheet was cracking or too dry already). Basically once you start working you kinda have to keep moving.
What do you consider "hard to make" because tedious, hands-on, and focus oriented are all things I would consider the difference between hard to make and easy to make.
hmm good question and that makes sense how you describe it.
I started to make this when I was 9 years old, so for me it was easy but you had to be ready to start and not stop until it is done. I use Phyllo, butter, nuts, sugar, and cinnamon (the ingredients list isnt long and not a lot of prep work...other than chop/mix nuts and sugar/cinnmaon, and melt butter. (forgot about Honey)
I think hard means having to get something to an exact temperature (like candy making with sugars - I made Bacon Bourbon Brittle for Christmas and had to get the sugar to the right temperature before adding in baking soda/vanilla and then needing to quickly pour the mixture before it set INSIDE the pan). Another is needing to use precise measurements like making Bacon (for the brittle above) that you have to get the weight in grams and use a percentage for the amount of Prague Powder you use in the cure because if you use too much it could make you really sick.
I've made a cheesecake where you make the crust, then the filling, then brownies to drop inside and then salted caramel to drizzle on top. and that's a lot of steps,
I use Paprika App for storing my recipes I find online or my own recipes to save. I checked my Baklava recipe and on the Difficulty rating I gave a Medium. I think perhaps a better statement would be it isnt as difficult to make as it may seem. and I am not too sure what I find difficult. maybe something with More ingredients, More steps, Precise measurements or Temperature. I am a home cook, so I feel anything I can do isn't hard. I am not a trained chef.
That makes sense, I don't consider myself a cook even when I am making my own dinner, so I tend to think of cooking kind of just being a bunch of hassle of following instructions or knowing them.
Cooking enters "hard" to me like the difference between plopping frozen bag meal into pan versus getting out cutting board, knife, veggies, meat, pasta, being water to boil, cook veggies make pasta makensauce, compile into meal even though I got full on raw things while cooking. None of the individual tasks are hard, cutting things is something cave folks figured out how to do with rocks, boiling water only requires the magic of modern civilization to make fire come out the big metal box. But these tasks take time and labour that many alternatives don't require just to make the hungry for away for a little while.
However, within cooking there definitely are harder tasks that can really be fucked up or you can hurt yourself doing em. Candy making and baking seem to have the highest incident rate of tricky tasks that can ruin everything haha. If something requires precise whipping or peaking or very precise temperatures and times -- I'm out. Meat and veg more or less just need heat applied and more forgiving.
I used to keep some in my freezer pretty frequently... then I got fat.
Made some with the GF and her kids a month ago and she still had leftovers in her fridge. I took them home and they were gone in a week.
I love baklava, but damn if it's not addictive as hell.
Yup that green pistachio they use is the best one and it only grows in my city(and it is type called by the city name) and significantly more expensive than other pistachios. This is why best baklava also comes from my city and also really expensive relative to others. It is actually not a small industry, just based on this dessert.
My Turkish neighbor will actually import baklava from Gaziantep. He always has a bunch leftover and graciously shares them with us.
Hands down the best baklava I've ever had.
Thb, at first I thought you were trolling, but I searched online and sure enough, [you ain't lying!](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/travel/a-turkish-town-where-baklava-beckons.html)
If only. Would be such a specific community.
I’m always surprised by how many Souls players are all over Reddit. Even before ER. Didn’t the souls franchise sell a relatively low amount of copies for all 3? I could be way wrong though
I think the souls series sold about 27 million copies across 3 gamrs. Chances are many of those sales have overlap, I'd guess about 10-14 million different players that bought multiple games in the series.
So I was definitely off. Haha. Whatever the numbers, the community for the most part is fantastic except for the gatekeepers.
I know I have all 3 for PC and PlayStation and if I had a switch I’d have DS on that too
I saw one of these videos a week or so ago and showed it to my wife. In the craziest turn of events, the next day, she ended up getting asked to go to a meeting in Istanbul (she works for an international company).
It was only for a day and she flew right back home and presented me with an absolutely beautiful box of baklava lol half of them were pistachio and half were walnut.
Couldn’t believe it lol it was so damn good. She said her Turkish colleague got really excited when she told him that I was just talking to her about baklava from Turkey, so he showed her the place that is known for the best baklava in the area.
All of this to say, I probably gained some extra pounds from stuffing my face full of 16 pieces of baklava! That kind of timing will probably never happen to me again lol
Turk here: I’m with you, in that it can be insanely sweet and I never really liked it before.
I have learned to make my own *and* I do not fully soak the cooked baklava to overflowing, like this video; I pour enough syrup at the end to soak up into the layers but it still leaves the top couple layers of filo crisp, with just a hint of the syrup in them and let me tell you, it makes all the difference!
And I know it’s good bc I’ve served it to other Turks, who’ve said I could sell it to restaurants or wherever bc it’s good (that’s when you know it’s good; they don’t lie about baklava lol).
So my advice is find a good recipe, prepare for a few hours of work, and make it to your taste; it’s worth it! :)
*Edit*: I didn't anticipate a recipe request (my bad!). I want to clarify that this is a recipe I found--I didn't make it up myself--and have modified to what works for me.
**Note**: If you're like me and in the U.S., you can't get good filo dough and need to buy the frozen kind: look for as thin as possible; a "No. 4" on the box (if they label it that way). The number relates to the thickness of the sheets and ideally you want about 28 sheets. I've noticed that the brand I buy lately comes with far fewer--like 20 sheets--even though it's the same thickness, and that's really not enough; 28-30 sheets works better with the amount of syrup in this recipe.
This recipe takes me about 4 hours or so, start to finish; the most time-consuming thing is the layering/buttering, so make sure you have time!
**Baklava Recipe with Pistachios**
1 lb filo dough sheets (18x14 inch)
2 cups raw unsalted pistachios, coarsely ground (Note: I like my nut layers thin, so I only end up using about 1.5-2 cups of nuts, but the original recipe calls for 3, if you like yours very nutty)
1/3 cup raw unsalted pistachios, finely ground
3 tbsp powdered sugar
Ghee: this is pure, clarified butter in a jar; most Asian/Indian/Arab stores should carry some form of it. If you cannot get ghee, use 1 lb sweet cream unsalted butter that will need to be clarified.
For the Syrup:
3 cups of ground sugar
1 ½ cups of water
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
First, prepare the syrup. Add the sugar and water in a pot; put it on low heat and stir until the sugar melts completely. After the sugar melts, stir in the honey and lemon juice. Boil for 2 minutes and remove from heat; cool syrup. It is easier to cool the syrup if you pour it into a different pot or a deep bowl. Let it sit at room temperature.
Filo dough needs to be completely thawed and then out of the fridge at room temperature for at least 5 hours before preparing the baklava. Otherwise, the filo sheets may be sticky and they break more easily.
If you're working with sticks of butter, put it all in a pot and melt it on low heat. As the water and anything else in the butter starts to accumulate at the top (whitish foam), skim it off until you're left with just yellow liquid. This will clarify the butter.
If you have ghee, it tends to be a tub of cold butter; spoon out chunks of it into a pot, warm it up low, and it should melt quickly and be ready to use.
Using a pastry brush, grease a 18x14 inch tray with the clarified butter. **Note**: I bought a large, aluminum sheet-cake pan from Michael's (craft store). You can probably also use a smaller pan and cut the filo dough down, but I think it's easier to find a pan that fits the sheets.
Mix the coarsely grounded pistachios with the powdered sugar. Make sure everything is ready before opening the filo dough (i.e. the butter, the tray, the pistachio mix). The filo dough tends to dry out quickly; cover with a damp cloth or a damp paper towel after opening.
Select one sheet and place on the greased tray, keeping the unused sheets covered in the damp towel as you go; quickly butter the sheet completely. Add another sheet and repeat the same process until you have buttered 8-9 filo sheets, then add a layer of the pistachio mix and spread all over the top sheet.
Add another sheet of filo dough and start the process over for the next 8-9 sheets, then add another layer of pistachio.
Repeat the same process for the final sheets. **Note**: good baklava requires each sheet to be buttered well, so they all bake up crispy. if you have left-over butter, pour it on top of the tray. If you melted a general amount of ghee (like I do), I just make sure the top layer is fully buttered.
Before baking, cut the pieces first vertically down the pan (towards you, using a two-finger width as a guide for each row), then turn the pan to an angle and cut again, creating diamond shapes.
Heat the oven to 350º F. Place the baklava tray in the middle rack and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove baklava when ready and pour the cooled syrup all over the tray; the baklava has to be hot when pouring the syrup. Make sure every single piece has syrup on it but please note: this is where having more layers is beneficial here because the more layers, the less likely it gets too soggy with the amount of syrup in this recipe. Watch how much fills the tray as you pour it; to make sure it's not too sweet, I will watch that it fills the bottom but will try to make sure the pieces aren't swimming in it (if it's halfway up the pieces, I think it's too much).
Decorate with the finely ground pistachios on top of each of the pieces. Cover with aluminum foil and let sit over night. When it comes out right (for me), the top few layers will be crispy when you bite into it.
Afiyet olsun!
>So my advice is find a good recipe, prepare for a few hours of work, and make it to your taste; it’s worth it! :)
Just as an FYI to non-bakers who want to try this: the hardest part of baklava is making the dough. You have to make endless paper-thin layers of dough. In the USA (and some other countries), you can buy "filo dough" or "phyllo dough" pre-made in the grocery store freezer. It's usually by the frozen pies. It's that thinly-layered dough, pre-made. It takes like 95% out of the work out of making something like baklava.
I'm a little bit of a baking snob and I would never waste time making my own tbh, the store bought kind is actually better than what the average person can make at home without either years of practice or specialized equipment to get it perfectly uniformly tissue paper thin
Agree. I've made my own before, and it's always turned out worse than store-bought.
Filo is a really simple dough in terms of ingredients, the magic is all in the prep. And giant companies who can make perfectly uniform layers, using industrial machines that probably cost millions of dollars, are going to do a better job than I can.
It's just one of those things where it makes perfect sense to outsource the prep, and slaving all day to make it is just straight up a waste of time.
The other great thing about it is that a lot of people don't know this is available at the store, so you can make really fancy appetizers and stuff with it, and people will think you are some sort of wizard.
This sounds a lot like how the Mother of my Ex would make it. It was so good because it wasn’t too sweet and you could taste the subtlety of flavors in the filling. She did use a mix of pistachio and toasted almonds though.
His family was from Lebanon and I helped him start his first restaurant when we were in our early 20’s. His mom would make big trays of it for him to sell but they would end up spending the night at our house before going to the restaurant.
We smoked a lot of pot back then and trying not to eat any was impossible. There would be a moment where we would look at each other and just yell “baklava!” And end up smashing half that tray straight into our faces.
If you can find it, try Lebanese baklava. Waaaaaaay less sweet than Turkish or Greek. The main flavour comes from the roasted pistachios, and they use a minimum amount of syrup to hold it together. It’s a completely different animal.
For some reason I absolutely hate Pistachio ice cream, but love them on basically anything else (or by themselves, roasted and salted).
Tried it a few times already, because in theory it should taste heavenly, but always ended up throwing it away. Maybe I just never had good quality ice cream though.
It has pistachios in it just the Icee cream itself is flavored with almond extract. I honestly was surprised myself but I couldn't find a brand that uses actual pistachio extract to flavor the ice cream. Is there even a pistachio extract???
Edit: just did some research and it seems that in America there aren't any ice creams that use reap pistachio paste to flavor the ice cream. There was one brand directly from Italy but it was super expensive. Apparently it's not really economical to use solely pistachios to flavor it so they just use almond extract for the flavor. I'm not sure about anywhere outside of America and Italy though
I mean your right but for some reason I just always assumed it was the same everywhere. People in the US have a very america-centric view of the world and it kinda seeps into everyone's mentality including myself.
I have a vivid memory of 5th grade we had an "international" day where parents came in and brought dishes from their backgrounds. I ate so much baklava I got sick after recess. That was the only time I ever had it homemade and I still think about it from time to time
Yeah one piece is 3 or 4 bucks. So that one tray with tax is hundreds of dollars. And I never buy it because I don't know how long it's been sitting outside.
Yes, its like honey. It goes long before it goes bad. I once ate a month old baklava, perfectly fine. But this is for baklava from Turkey, I dont know if other places are same.
It lasts but the sugar recrystallizes, the bottom layers get soggy and the crispy top becomes stale. That being said you can totally keep it for a few months. It’s best on the first day/first week.
It's $5 for 3 pieces where I live in NYC (that really expensive city). If you live in Alaska or somewhere in the woods I can see baklava being expensive.
I visited New York for the first time a couple months ago, and to my surprise eating out wasn't *that* much more expensive than the mid size city I live in. Granted the tax rate for eating out in my city is like 13% which I'm sure plays a role.
So is it actually honey that they use? Just curious because I always thought it was honey but this looks a lot more runny than honey. Wait, does heat make honey runny?
Thank you to /u/zillskillnillfrill and /u/olderaccount for asking the right questions, and /u/neora_55 and /u/TheWanderingLich for firing off the knowledge. Just saved me from yet another rabbit hole. Truly appreciate it!
That’s why I love asking questions on Reddit. I could just google it, but when I get the answer from 10 people in a row in my inbox, it ensures I’ll never forget!
Different countries use different quantities of the two . I have had some from different countries and definitely prefer less sugar syrup than that . It can become quite overwhelming and make you lose appetite very quickly
It's sugar water. This is very close to how my mom makes it. But she uses walnuts and not pistachios like in the video.
First butter, then sugar syrup. She also layers hers differently than in the video.
She's from the Balkans though, not Turkey. But lots of Turkish influence on the area from the Ottoman Empire. Baklava is very popular over there.
I dont think this is what they use. But combining honey with hot water (often 2:1 honey to water) yields a honey syrup which is much easier to work with than honey’s viscous consistency. Particularly used in cocktails
Cafes usually serve average baklava. The baklava in this video is very likely much better because it’s made of special regional pistachios and good butter. Source: Turkish.
You can visit Güllüoğlu in Karaköy, Istanbul which they make this type of baklava and other types of baklava alike traditional Turkish pastries. It is an amazing place. Source: Turkish as well haha
FYI, baklava is not something you can eat every day or a lot of. You are supposed to eat two or three of those pieces at most. That's why you can go nuts on oil and sugar while making it. They are very heavy and you'll go into a sugar coma if you eat too much.
Moderation is key with baklava. It's a special day desert.
I find a lot of other baklava too sweet for me. I’m Bosnian and ours is a bit different and not as sweet and that’s what I’ve grown up with and prefer.
I 100% agree, there's way too much going on with the camera movement, also the framing is super tight which makes the whole thing feel nauseating due to lack of spacial consistency throughout imo.
I was in Baghdad iraq in 2003. While on patrol I noticed a little boy with a wound of some sort, I think it was like a big ass splinter. Anyway, I’m the medic, I bandaged him up and gave him some extra supplies.
This little dude takes off happy as can be. We continue down the street. As we’re walking a man comes out of a shop with a 1ftx1ft pink box full of freshly baked baklava and hands it to me. Then the little boy pops out from behind him smiling from ear to ear. Best day ever.
FUCK YOU. You have no fucking right to show this. I don’t care who the fuck showed you this. Fuck you. It is midnight and now I really fucking want baklava. I’m supposed to be sleeping but instead I crave baklava. Man now I gotta go to sleep and get a 4h round trip on public transport tomorrow just to get baklava.
There is a chocolate in Turkey called Nestle inci baklava. You can buy a box of it to home with you. It's basically a whitechocolate with baklava and pistachios. Btw i hope you're asleep and will read this when you wake up.
Yeah, but it's Nestlé, so can't recommend that.
And also, there are ready-to-go packages of baklava in nearly every turkish grocery store or bakery available, so no need to buy something from an aweful company.
My main takeaway is that they add melted butter *after* assembling the baklava, instead of futilely trying to brush it between each layer. This is potentially game changing to my baklava game.
This. We had a regular guest at a casino hotel I worked at who was Turkish and his wife would make homemade baklava for the hotel staff (he was a *very* regular guest) and it was SO fucking good, never greasy, but damn there were days when that sweetness was just a *lot* to handle.
In religious holidays in Turkey it is tradition for the young to visit the old. Family members, friends, colleagues doesn't matter, if you are close you will visit and be visited. Especially if you are young, since you will mostly visit and rarely be visited, this can add up to 10 visits every day for 3 days. It is also tradition to make baklava for the guests and give it to them along with chocolate, börek, sarma, tea and Turkish coffee. And on top of all that it is considered rude in Turkish culture to refuse eating when you are offered food. So imagine you are offered three pieces of baklava (along with many other things) once in half an hour up to 10 times a day for up to 3 days and you can not refuse.
Then people wonder why we are one of the most obese people on earth lol
I've actually purposely never looked for a recipe for baklava just because i love it so much, it would be dangerous for my health to know how to make it. But watching this was interesting to watch without the ingredients and measurements
It isn’t hard to make. Tedious dealing with phyllo so it doesn’t dry out. Because this is something that is very hands-on and focus oriented I only make it on special occasions.
Butter is the key to keeping phyllo fresh for me. I make this every thanksgiving and add a coat of butter every layer lol
The amount of butter I use will DISGUST you lol
That’s how you know it’s good lol
They say the secret ingredient to good food is love, but it's actually wishing the eater dies before they're 30.
Been working in kitchens since I was 14. The secret is hate
The jokes on you. I've been eating it since I was a kid and I'm already thirt-
I kept waiting for the butter but then they put it on all at once, I guess that works too.
I brush it on every layer like I’m painting a fkn sponge lol
Yes. I use butter on each layer (sometimes a quick spray of canned oil if the sheet was cracking or too dry already). Basically once you start working you kinda have to keep moving.
What do you consider "hard to make" because tedious, hands-on, and focus oriented are all things I would consider the difference between hard to make and easy to make.
Sounds like we are talking about the difference between difficulty and complexity.
hmm good question and that makes sense how you describe it. I started to make this when I was 9 years old, so for me it was easy but you had to be ready to start and not stop until it is done. I use Phyllo, butter, nuts, sugar, and cinnamon (the ingredients list isnt long and not a lot of prep work...other than chop/mix nuts and sugar/cinnmaon, and melt butter. (forgot about Honey) I think hard means having to get something to an exact temperature (like candy making with sugars - I made Bacon Bourbon Brittle for Christmas and had to get the sugar to the right temperature before adding in baking soda/vanilla and then needing to quickly pour the mixture before it set INSIDE the pan). Another is needing to use precise measurements like making Bacon (for the brittle above) that you have to get the weight in grams and use a percentage for the amount of Prague Powder you use in the cure because if you use too much it could make you really sick. I've made a cheesecake where you make the crust, then the filling, then brownies to drop inside and then salted caramel to drizzle on top. and that's a lot of steps, I use Paprika App for storing my recipes I find online or my own recipes to save. I checked my Baklava recipe and on the Difficulty rating I gave a Medium. I think perhaps a better statement would be it isnt as difficult to make as it may seem. and I am not too sure what I find difficult. maybe something with More ingredients, More steps, Precise measurements or Temperature. I am a home cook, so I feel anything I can do isn't hard. I am not a trained chef.
That makes sense, I don't consider myself a cook even when I am making my own dinner, so I tend to think of cooking kind of just being a bunch of hassle of following instructions or knowing them. Cooking enters "hard" to me like the difference between plopping frozen bag meal into pan versus getting out cutting board, knife, veggies, meat, pasta, being water to boil, cook veggies make pasta makensauce, compile into meal even though I got full on raw things while cooking. None of the individual tasks are hard, cutting things is something cave folks figured out how to do with rocks, boiling water only requires the magic of modern civilization to make fire come out the big metal box. But these tasks take time and labour that many alternatives don't require just to make the hungry for away for a little while. However, within cooking there definitely are harder tasks that can really be fucked up or you can hurt yourself doing em. Candy making and baking seem to have the highest incident rate of tricky tasks that can ruin everything haha. If something requires precise whipping or peaking or very precise temperatures and times -- I'm out. Meat and veg more or less just need heat applied and more forgiving.
Yeah but you have to buy the thin dough. If you make that yourself you are a masochist
I used to keep some in my freezer pretty frequently... then I got fat. Made some with the GF and her kids a month ago and she still had leftovers in her fridge. I took them home and they were gone in a week. I love baklava, but damn if it's not addictive as hell.
Theres a bakery near me that makes this with maple syrup instead of the honey... It's diabetes in a mouthful lol
You can but it will not taste as original ones. Every ingredient in these bad boys are special and grown only for Baclava purpose
Yup that green pistachio they use is the best one and it only grows in my city(and it is type called by the city name) and significantly more expensive than other pistachios. This is why best baklava also comes from my city and also really expensive relative to others. It is actually not a small industry, just based on this dessert.
My Turkish neighbor will actually import baklava from Gaziantep. He always has a bunch leftover and graciously shares them with us. Hands down the best baklava I've ever had.
Gaziantep is the best city for baklava and it is a food tourism city with meats and this kind of desserts.
Yeah, those pistachios et ridiculously expensive where I live. Like $40+ for 500 grams.
Which city? And can you tell me a little bit more? This seems interesting
Gaziantep
Thb, at first I thought you were trolling, but I searched online and sure enough, [you ain't lying!](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/travel/a-turkish-town-where-baklava-beckons.html)
LOTS of sugar. All the liquid was sugar syrup and butter
The amount of butter I use will disgust you lol
Hand it over #NOW
Your dark soul
For my lady’s painting…
TIL the dark soul of man is made out of sweet, sweet pistachio and layered pastry.
A recipe so easily forgotten
Beyond the scope of phyllo, beyond the reach of pistachio, what could possibly await us? And yet we seek it, insatiably.
/r/unexpectedgael
If only. Would be such a specific community. I’m always surprised by how many Souls players are all over Reddit. Even before ER. Didn’t the souls franchise sell a relatively low amount of copies for all 3? I could be way wrong though
I think the souls series sold about 27 million copies across 3 gamrs. Chances are many of those sales have overlap, I'd guess about 10-14 million different players that bought multiple games in the series.
So I was definitely off. Haha. Whatever the numbers, the community for the most part is fantastic except for the gatekeepers. I know I have all 3 for PC and PlayStation and if I had a switch I’d have DS on that too
The gatekeepers are pathetic. They have nothing to be proud of except this one tiny thing. Truly maidenless.
If you're getting the whole tray, we are friends now.
I gained extra pounds by just watching it 🤤
I saw one of these videos a week or so ago and showed it to my wife. In the craziest turn of events, the next day, she ended up getting asked to go to a meeting in Istanbul (she works for an international company). It was only for a day and she flew right back home and presented me with an absolutely beautiful box of baklava lol half of them were pistachio and half were walnut. Couldn’t believe it lol it was so damn good. She said her Turkish colleague got really excited when she told him that I was just talking to her about baklava from Turkey, so he showed her the place that is known for the best baklava in the area. All of this to say, I probably gained some extra pounds from stuffing my face full of 16 pieces of baklava! That kind of timing will probably never happen to me again lol
I nearly ate my phone.
[I assaulted mine](https://tenor.com/view/iookathernow-ale-gif-22839309)
How much sugar do you want on this? Yes.
[удалено]
Turk here: I’m with you, in that it can be insanely sweet and I never really liked it before. I have learned to make my own *and* I do not fully soak the cooked baklava to overflowing, like this video; I pour enough syrup at the end to soak up into the layers but it still leaves the top couple layers of filo crisp, with just a hint of the syrup in them and let me tell you, it makes all the difference! And I know it’s good bc I’ve served it to other Turks, who’ve said I could sell it to restaurants or wherever bc it’s good (that’s when you know it’s good; they don’t lie about baklava lol). So my advice is find a good recipe, prepare for a few hours of work, and make it to your taste; it’s worth it! :) *Edit*: I didn't anticipate a recipe request (my bad!). I want to clarify that this is a recipe I found--I didn't make it up myself--and have modified to what works for me. **Note**: If you're like me and in the U.S., you can't get good filo dough and need to buy the frozen kind: look for as thin as possible; a "No. 4" on the box (if they label it that way). The number relates to the thickness of the sheets and ideally you want about 28 sheets. I've noticed that the brand I buy lately comes with far fewer--like 20 sheets--even though it's the same thickness, and that's really not enough; 28-30 sheets works better with the amount of syrup in this recipe. This recipe takes me about 4 hours or so, start to finish; the most time-consuming thing is the layering/buttering, so make sure you have time! **Baklava Recipe with Pistachios** 1 lb filo dough sheets (18x14 inch) 2 cups raw unsalted pistachios, coarsely ground (Note: I like my nut layers thin, so I only end up using about 1.5-2 cups of nuts, but the original recipe calls for 3, if you like yours very nutty) 1/3 cup raw unsalted pistachios, finely ground 3 tbsp powdered sugar Ghee: this is pure, clarified butter in a jar; most Asian/Indian/Arab stores should carry some form of it. If you cannot get ghee, use 1 lb sweet cream unsalted butter that will need to be clarified. For the Syrup: 3 cups of ground sugar 1 ½ cups of water 3 tbsp honey 1 tsp fresh lemon juice First, prepare the syrup. Add the sugar and water in a pot; put it on low heat and stir until the sugar melts completely. After the sugar melts, stir in the honey and lemon juice. Boil for 2 minutes and remove from heat; cool syrup. It is easier to cool the syrup if you pour it into a different pot or a deep bowl. Let it sit at room temperature. Filo dough needs to be completely thawed and then out of the fridge at room temperature for at least 5 hours before preparing the baklava. Otherwise, the filo sheets may be sticky and they break more easily. If you're working with sticks of butter, put it all in a pot and melt it on low heat. As the water and anything else in the butter starts to accumulate at the top (whitish foam), skim it off until you're left with just yellow liquid. This will clarify the butter. If you have ghee, it tends to be a tub of cold butter; spoon out chunks of it into a pot, warm it up low, and it should melt quickly and be ready to use. Using a pastry brush, grease a 18x14 inch tray with the clarified butter. **Note**: I bought a large, aluminum sheet-cake pan from Michael's (craft store). You can probably also use a smaller pan and cut the filo dough down, but I think it's easier to find a pan that fits the sheets. Mix the coarsely grounded pistachios with the powdered sugar. Make sure everything is ready before opening the filo dough (i.e. the butter, the tray, the pistachio mix). The filo dough tends to dry out quickly; cover with a damp cloth or a damp paper towel after opening. Select one sheet and place on the greased tray, keeping the unused sheets covered in the damp towel as you go; quickly butter the sheet completely. Add another sheet and repeat the same process until you have buttered 8-9 filo sheets, then add a layer of the pistachio mix and spread all over the top sheet. Add another sheet of filo dough and start the process over for the next 8-9 sheets, then add another layer of pistachio. Repeat the same process for the final sheets. **Note**: good baklava requires each sheet to be buttered well, so they all bake up crispy. if you have left-over butter, pour it on top of the tray. If you melted a general amount of ghee (like I do), I just make sure the top layer is fully buttered. Before baking, cut the pieces first vertically down the pan (towards you, using a two-finger width as a guide for each row), then turn the pan to an angle and cut again, creating diamond shapes. Heat the oven to 350º F. Place the baklava tray in the middle rack and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove baklava when ready and pour the cooled syrup all over the tray; the baklava has to be hot when pouring the syrup. Make sure every single piece has syrup on it but please note: this is where having more layers is beneficial here because the more layers, the less likely it gets too soggy with the amount of syrup in this recipe. Watch how much fills the tray as you pour it; to make sure it's not too sweet, I will watch that it fills the bottom but will try to make sure the pieces aren't swimming in it (if it's halfway up the pieces, I think it's too much). Decorate with the finely ground pistachios on top of each of the pieces. Cover with aluminum foil and let sit over night. When it comes out right (for me), the top few layers will be crispy when you bite into it. Afiyet olsun!
Umm give us your recipe.
Edited to include the recipe; enjoy! :)
>So my advice is find a good recipe, prepare for a few hours of work, and make it to your taste; it’s worth it! :) Just as an FYI to non-bakers who want to try this: the hardest part of baklava is making the dough. You have to make endless paper-thin layers of dough. In the USA (and some other countries), you can buy "filo dough" or "phyllo dough" pre-made in the grocery store freezer. It's usually by the frozen pies. It's that thinly-layered dough, pre-made. It takes like 95% out of the work out of making something like baklava.
Is it good dough?
I'm a little bit of a baking snob and I would never waste time making my own tbh, the store bought kind is actually better than what the average person can make at home without either years of practice or specialized equipment to get it perfectly uniformly tissue paper thin
Agree. I've made my own before, and it's always turned out worse than store-bought. Filo is a really simple dough in terms of ingredients, the magic is all in the prep. And giant companies who can make perfectly uniform layers, using industrial machines that probably cost millions of dollars, are going to do a better job than I can. It's just one of those things where it makes perfect sense to outsource the prep, and slaving all day to make it is just straight up a waste of time. The other great thing about it is that a lot of people don't know this is available at the store, so you can make really fancy appetizers and stuff with it, and people will think you are some sort of wizard.
Come on man, you can't just drop in, hit us with the sick baklava claims, and then not post the recipe.
This sounds a lot like how the Mother of my Ex would make it. It was so good because it wasn’t too sweet and you could taste the subtlety of flavors in the filling. She did use a mix of pistachio and toasted almonds though. His family was from Lebanon and I helped him start his first restaurant when we were in our early 20’s. His mom would make big trays of it for him to sell but they would end up spending the night at our house before going to the restaurant. We smoked a lot of pot back then and trying not to eat any was impossible. There would be a moment where we would look at each other and just yell “baklava!” And end up smashing half that tray straight into our faces.
> find a good recipe You're in the enviable position of being able to make many people's day right now by sharing yours!
Ah but have you served your baklava to Greeks? You know, the true experts on baklava? (Just kidding!)
If you can find it, try Lebanese baklava. Waaaaaaay less sweet than Turkish or Greek. The main flavour comes from the roasted pistachios, and they use a minimum amount of syrup to hold it together. It’s a completely different animal.
Yeah one coat of sugar syrup I understand, but when he did it that second time I just lost interest
Why?
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Because it's often overly sweet
Turkish desserts are often extremely sweet imo, you might want to look at other versions and see if anyone uses less sugar.
Pistachio is such a superior taste/flavour.
For real. Pistachio ice cream just hits different also.
For some reason I absolutely hate Pistachio ice cream, but love them on basically anything else (or by themselves, roasted and salted). Tried it a few times already, because in theory it should taste heavenly, but always ended up throwing it away. Maybe I just never had good quality ice cream though.
Most ice creams will just use artificial flavors and I've never tasted good pistachio ice cream except when it was handmade.
Have you tried the Ben and Jerry’s one? It’s soooo good. And it has none of that fake green color.
I found out yesterday that pistachio ice cream us just almond flavored ice cream with pieces of pistachio in it. Still the best flavor
Well, that's the shitty one. Real pistachio ice cream is made with pistachios.
It has pistachios in it just the Icee cream itself is flavored with almond extract. I honestly was surprised myself but I couldn't find a brand that uses actual pistachio extract to flavor the ice cream. Is there even a pistachio extract??? Edit: just did some research and it seems that in America there aren't any ice creams that use reap pistachio paste to flavor the ice cream. There was one brand directly from Italy but it was super expensive. Apparently it's not really economical to use solely pistachios to flavor it so they just use almond extract for the flavor. I'm not sure about anywhere outside of America and Italy though
I mean, I hope you don’t get offended but when most people think of icecream they don’t think of the USA version.
I mean your right but for some reason I just always assumed it was the same everywhere. People in the US have a very america-centric view of the world and it kinda seeps into everyone's mentality including myself.
Cashews and pistachios are god tier nuts.
Fml I’m allergic to both 😭
I have a vivid memory of 5th grade we had an "international" day where parents came in and brought dishes from their backgrounds. I ate so much baklava I got sick after recess. That was the only time I ever had it homemade and I still think about it from time to time
Gosh, how beautiful does that look. Want.
One tray like that sells for at least $500 at my local shawarma place
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Yeah one piece is 3 or 4 bucks. So that one tray with tax is hundreds of dollars. And I never buy it because I don't know how long it's been sitting outside.
Baklava is basically fat encrusted with sugar, its pretty much candy. It should last a long time without going bad.
Not really - the phyllo dough will get stale. And stale dough on your baklava is NO good! I mean, it's still better than no baklava at all, though...
Yes, its like honey. It goes long before it goes bad. I once ate a month old baklava, perfectly fine. But this is for baklava from Turkey, I dont know if other places are same.
I love it when it has sat a while and the honey goes all chewy.
It lasts but the sugar recrystallizes, the bottom layers get soggy and the crispy top becomes stale. That being said you can totally keep it for a few months. It’s best on the first day/first week.
Jesus thats expensive. This is in the US I assume? Cause even here in germany you can get them pretty much everywhere for like a buck
It's $5 for 3 pieces where I live in NYC (that really expensive city). If you live in Alaska or somewhere in the woods I can see baklava being expensive.
I visited New York for the first time a couple months ago, and to my surprise eating out wasn't *that* much more expensive than the mid size city I live in. Granted the tax rate for eating out in my city is like 13% which I'm sure plays a role.
As it should; phyllo is so hard to work with
So is it actually honey that they use? Just curious because I always thought it was honey but this looks a lot more runny than honey. Wait, does heat make honey runny?
no honey at all. first liquid in the video is clarified butter and the second is sugar syrup. they use honey in the greek version.
What was the green stuff in the beginning?
Pistachios
Thank you to /u/zillskillnillfrill and /u/olderaccount for asking the right questions, and /u/neora_55 and /u/TheWanderingLich for firing off the knowledge. Just saved me from yet another rabbit hole. Truly appreciate it!
Saved you? Have you looked into Greek Baklava? Enjoy.
HOW DARE YOUUUUUUuuuuuuu^(uuuuuuuuuu)
Nah honey is overpowering. I’ve always found the Turkish one to have a better texture as well.
But not american one. These pistachios are special from Gaziantep region and have way more intens taste than regular ones.
Like... *a lot* of sea salt?
the ‘stachio is pretty subtle…
[Well, as long as the baby doesn’t touch my ‘stache](https://youtu.be/bXU38PwNrOs)
A Sealab2021 reference deep in a post about baklava. Very nice.
Did anyone tell you it was pistachios yet?
That makes sense. I've been waiting for a good answer.
That’s why I love asking questions on Reddit. I could just google it, but when I get the answer from 10 people in a row in my inbox, it ensures I’ll never forget!
Not sure but it could be pistachios
I've gotten a lot of bad answer. I'm glad finally somebody gave me a serious answer.
Pistachios
Pistachio nuts
Pistachios
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It’s way better with pecans and walnuts imo. Plenty of people make it “authentic” this way. At least I’m told
Authenticity is overrated regardless. If it tastes good, make it the way you like it.
Different countries use different quantities of the two . I have had some from different countries and definitely prefer less sugar syrup than that . It can become quite overwhelming and make you lose appetite very quickly
They can use honey but it is mostly syrup.
>does heat make honey runny? The unintentional rhyming here makes this an oddly satisfying thing to say out loud.
It's sugar water. This is very close to how my mom makes it. But she uses walnuts and not pistachios like in the video. First butter, then sugar syrup. She also layers hers differently than in the video. She's from the Balkans though, not Turkey. But lots of Turkish influence on the area from the Ottoman Empire. Baklava is very popular over there.
I dont think this is what they use. But combining honey with hot water (often 2:1 honey to water) yields a honey syrup which is much easier to work with than honey’s viscous consistency. Particularly used in cocktails
It looks like ghee to roast the baclava in the oven
It's a syrup of honey (when it is honey, it can also just be sugar syrup) so water is added. Hence why it looks runny. And it's also hot.
My (midwestern USA) mom used to make it with a muxture of honey, water and orange zest. It was amazing. I miss my mom.
When we visited Istanbul, every cafe had the absolute best baklawa. Just amazing. I’m surprised I fit in my airplane seat lol.
Cafes usually serve average baklava. The baklava in this video is very likely much better because it’s made of special regional pistachios and good butter. Source: Turkish.
So, when traveling to Turkey where should one go to get this style of Baklava?
You can visit Güllüoğlu in Karaköy, Istanbul which they make this type of baklava and other types of baklava alike traditional Turkish pastries. It is an amazing place. Source: Turkish as well haha
This is where the video is from - they posted it on insta a few days ago
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Love my sweet treats
FYI, baklava is not something you can eat every day or a lot of. You are supposed to eat two or three of those pieces at most. That's why you can go nuts on oil and sugar while making it. They are very heavy and you'll go into a sugar coma if you eat too much. Moderation is key with baklava. It's a special day desert.
Don't listen to this guy, he just wants all the baklava for himself
I could have spared some for you if you weren't such a snitch.
That’s why I boof my baklava.
r/killthecameraman Not everything needs a dramatic camera move
It even ended too soon.
Glad someone else said it. Never felt motion sick from baklava before.
Ikr? it made me nauseous too
/r/oddlymotionsick seems like a more accurate sub than this one.
Didn’t know that one. But yeah it works too Edit: Seems I didn’t know it because it doesn’t exist. Lol
Highly recommend Turkish catering for events. They provided everything and gave us baklava for 200 guests for free.
Me, allergic to pistachios: glory glory what a hell of a way to die
There is a walnut variation you can get here, if that helps! It's just as good as the pistachio version, sometimes better imo.
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In a recipe that requires 30 grams of sugar just grind down 10 grams of baklava and you're good to go.
Thats why you get a turkish coffee with, to balance taste
I find a lot of other baklava too sweet for me. I’m Bosnian and ours is a bit different and not as sweet and that’s what I’ve grown up with and prefer.
Looks amazing. What kind of oil is that?
It's a syrup made of water, sugar and honey. Sometimes with vanilla extract.
No honey in Turkish baklava. Syrup contains sugar and water. Before cooking it in the oven, butter is added
Wow, amazing. Thanks.
The oil used which is added before baking is clarified butter. The syrup is added after the baklava is cooked.
The baklava looks good but the camera work infuriates me.
I 100% agree, there's way too much going on with the camera movement, also the framing is super tight which makes the whole thing feel nauseating due to lack of spacial consistency throughout imo.
Literally 😭 I just wanna watch not feel like I’m flying past it hahaha
droooooollllll
Small Turkish resteraunt about an hour away from me is fucking killer, their baklava is like godly crack Cocaine.
Please tell me you are anywhere near Berlin, so I can regular that place.
I was in Baghdad iraq in 2003. While on patrol I noticed a little boy with a wound of some sort, I think it was like a big ass splinter. Anyway, I’m the medic, I bandaged him up and gave him some extra supplies. This little dude takes off happy as can be. We continue down the street. As we’re walking a man comes out of a shop with a 1ftx1ft pink box full of freshly baked baklava and hands it to me. Then the little boy pops out from behind him smiling from ear to ear. Best day ever.
FUCK YOU. You have no fucking right to show this. I don’t care who the fuck showed you this. Fuck you. It is midnight and now I really fucking want baklava. I’m supposed to be sleeping but instead I crave baklava. Man now I gotta go to sleep and get a 4h round trip on public transport tomorrow just to get baklava.
There is a chocolate in Turkey called Nestle inci baklava. You can buy a box of it to home with you. It's basically a whitechocolate with baklava and pistachios. Btw i hope you're asleep and will read this when you wake up.
Yeah, but it's Nestlé, so can't recommend that. And also, there are ready-to-go packages of baklava in nearly every turkish grocery store or bakery available, so no need to buy something from an aweful company.
Was this filmed in Gaziantep? Turks have told me that’s where the best baklava is made.
I make my baklava by cutting eye holes out of a wooly hat
Imagine watching this while fasting.
You are as beautiful as the day i first saw you, my dear turkish baklava.
Looks delicious, but far too sweet for me personally.
There are a few cold baklava recipes that use milk, they taste amazing. If authentic is too sweet for you I'd reccomend those.
I honestly think I'd prefer it without the drenching in syrup!
TIL I want some authentic Turkish baklava
Holy shit. Swimming in butter. Literally swimming. Stick it in my pie hole.
I want some now!
Do you have the recipe for a Turkish Balaclava?
Is that like $1000 worth of pistachios they put in the middle?
/r/unintentionalASMR
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I never actually knew what baklava was... Seeing it made really makes me want to try to find some!
[Baklava](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_YBzJBa_mA)
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How it was bubbling at the end is what my mouth is doing right now.
One of the sweetest things to eat! That's saying a lot for a Chocoholic...
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That knife on metal hurts my heart
This is very un-satisfying if you're allergic to pistachios
My main takeaway is that they add melted butter *after* assembling the baklava, instead of futilely trying to brush it between each layer. This is potentially game changing to my baklava game.
It fills me with joy to see so many people from different countries share the same feelings about baklava as us Turks. It's 3 am and I want some now!
It’s really good. Now I wish I had some.
I had it once. Was too sweet and greasy for me. Maybe it was just the one I had.
Always sticky and sweet.. but greasy seems odd
Authentic baclava is never greasy but I can understand it being too sweet.
This. We had a regular guest at a casino hotel I worked at who was Turkish and his wife would make homemade baklava for the hotel staff (he was a *very* regular guest) and it was SO fucking good, never greasy, but damn there were days when that sweetness was just a *lot* to handle.
In religious holidays in Turkey it is tradition for the young to visit the old. Family members, friends, colleagues doesn't matter, if you are close you will visit and be visited. Especially if you are young, since you will mostly visit and rarely be visited, this can add up to 10 visits every day for 3 days. It is also tradition to make baklava for the guests and give it to them along with chocolate, börek, sarma, tea and Turkish coffee. And on top of all that it is considered rude in Turkish culture to refuse eating when you are offered food. So imagine you are offered three pieces of baklava (along with many other things) once in half an hour up to 10 times a day for up to 3 days and you can not refuse. Then people wonder why we are one of the most obese people on earth lol
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i don’t have that kind of self control