This stickily candy household of nutty pastries has its origins within the layered filo desserts of medieval central Asia, which, when mixed with the Arab custom of soaking pastries in syrup, produced the baklava identified and liked immediately from Uzbekistan to north Africa. Typically present in enormous, golden trays on the counter of bakeries in its native area, it’s surprisingly easy to make at house, too.
Prep 30 min
Cook dinner 65 min
Makes 1 tray, to feed 8-10, relying on urge for food
250g butter
300g walnut items
75g pistachio kernels
125g floor almonds
Zest of 1 orange
A beneficiant pinch of salt (non-obligatory)
1 tsp floor cardamom seeds (about 15 pods)
12 sheets filo pastry (2 x 270g packets)
250g granulated or caster sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tbsp orange blossom water, or to style
1 A phrase on the filo
I say surprisingly easy, however I can’t advise making your personal filo. I’ve tried a recipe for the stuff utilized in baklava and it requires extra persistence and finesse than I possess. If, nonetheless, you’d like to provide it a go, you could find many recipes on-line, or in Arto Der Haroutunian’s basic e book Sweets and Desserts from the Center East.
2 And on the nuts
Although I’ve really useful my favorite mixture beneath, you possibly can just about use any nuts you get pleasure from and may afford; pistachios, although scrumptious, are significantly pricy, whereas walnuts on their very own may be too bitter for some palates. So long as you find yourself with roughly the identical weight, be at liberty to customize.
3 Begin the filling
After getting your filo, shop-bought or do-it-yourself, and have selected the nuts, you can begin on the filling. Soften the butter. Coarsely grind or finely chop the walnuts till you could have a chunky rubble (if utilizing a meals processor to do that, watch out they don’t flip into nut butter). Minimize the pistachios into skinny slivers – these will add crunch and color to the completed pastries.
4 End the filling
Mix the walnuts, pistachios and floor almonds in a bowl, then combine within the orange zest (scrub the orange nicely earlier than grating the zest), salt (non-obligatory, however really useful, or the baklava might find yourself overwhelmingly candy), floor cardamom (should you’re not a cardamom fan, go away it out and substitute cinnamon to style) and 5 tablespoons (75ml) of the melted butter.
5 Grease the tin and line with filo
Warmth the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/fuel 4. Liberally brush a roughly 30cm x 25cm baking tin with a few of the remaining melted butter. Lay out the filo on a piece floor, and have the nut combination inside simple attain. Line the tin with a sheet of filo, brush with melted butter and repeat with 5 extra sheets, buttering them as you go.
6 Add the filling, then high with extra filo
Spoon the nut combination evenly excessive layer of filo, ensuring it’s pretty tightly packed with out urgent it down too firmly. Prime with the remaining filo, once more brushing every sheet with butter earlier than including the subsequent. Be additional beneficiant with the butter on the highest layer.
7 Minimize into diamonds and bake
Utilizing a pointy knife, reduce by way of the filo layers and filling in parallel strains spaced about 4cm aside, then repeat on the diagonal so the pastry is split into diamond shapes. Bake for about an hour, till richly golden on high, turning the baklava round midway by way of, so it colors evenly.
8 Make the syrup
In the meantime, put the sugar and lemon juice in a pan with 125ml water. Deliver to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for about 10 minutes, till syrupy. Take off the warmth and go away to chill barely, then stir within the orange blossom water to style (manufacturers differ tremendously in energy, so add just a little at a time).
9 Drench in syrup, bake once more, then cool
Take away the from the oven and switch up the warmth to 200C (180C fan)/390F/fuel 6. Pour the syrup excessive of the baklava, particularly alongside the pre-cut strains, and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Depart to chill utterly, then run a knife alongside the strains to loosen them earlier than making an attempt to lever the items out of the tin.
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