Making Baklawa (Baklava)

Delicious confectionaries and pastries come from the middle east, rich with doughs, nuts, butter, creams or cheeses and dates.

One of the most common desserts that you'll find in nearly every restaurant here is one made simply with paper-thin sheets of dough, boundless amounts of butter, and sandwiched between the two stacks of dough are usually nuts. On the restaurant menus this is usually written as baklava, but Arabs would know it better pronounced as Baklawa.

Granted, its not an easy dish to make, the dough can dry quickly, leaving you with sheets that will crumble in your hands before you can even pick them up, or rip the moment you hold them. I find this dessert is best made when you have a good friend or family member to help you. This is the first middle eastern dessert I'd learned to make, and it also gave me my first burn scars on my arm from handling pans that were actually too large for the oven and my clumsiness.

So given its difficulty, here I'll show you the steps of how you could make it, and ways to make the dish easier. The Arabic style simple syrup is always poured over the top of the finished dessert, so make sure you have a small pitcher of this on the side when you serve it.

First, you'll need a large baking sheet, approx 11x17 inches, or large enough just so the dough will reach all corners of the pan, depending on the size also of your pan. You will need also a basting brush to brush melted butter between your layers of Filo dough.

Here is the dough I used, which is actually around 9x12 inches large. The pan I used was much larger for this batch, but it also works. Using the rolling pin to hold the edges of dough straight while placing the dough was helpful without a partner, but not totally necessary also.  

Walnuts are used as the filling here, but you may also use ground cashews or a mix of nuts. Almonds work well, but because they are more firm, they should be blanched with skins removed before using them.

To make a diamond shaped baklawa, before cooking slice the baklawa lengthwise, then at a diagonal angle. Bake in the oven and watch the magic happen.

After cooking, your baklawa should be nicely golden brown. Add the ground pistachios over each piece for decoration, then re-cut, place 2-3 pieces on a plate and drizzle with simple syrup before serving.

Ingredients:

• 1 package Filo Dough, approx 1 lb (Also spelled phyllo)
• 1/2 lb walnuts, coarsley chopped or crushed.
• 2/3cup sugar
• 1/4c unsalted melted butter 
• 1 TB rose water
• Approx 1/2c unsalted melted butter for layering the dough
• 1/4c finely ground pistachios for garnish
• 1 cup simple syrup recipe for serving

Directions: 

1. Unroll filo dough, leaving it on the plastic sheet below it. Be careful if you bought it frozen: let it thaw outside for 30 minutes and unroll it carefully. 
• If it is still too frozen, wait and let it thaw more. Frozen dough will be more brittle and fall apart. 
• Keep the dough completely covered with a slightly damp paper towel or light towel so the dough doesn't dry out while you are cooking. Dry dough will also be brittle and difficult to work with. 
2. While the dough is being thawed, grind the walnuts and separately. Mix walnuts with 2/3c sugar and rose water and 1/4c melted butter.
3. Start layering dough in the pan: coat the pan lightly first with butter using the basting brush. 
4. Pick up 2-3 sheets of filo dough (whatever you can grab that is not horribly sticking to other sheets, and carefully lay it flat in the pan. Lightly brush the tops of those layers with butter. 
• It is easier to lay the dough flat if you have two people, one person holds two corners, and the other person holds the other two corners to lay the sheets flat on the tray like a blanket.
• If you don't have others to help you, you can carefully aim where you'll lay the dough, or use a rolling pin to assist you in holding the dough straight as in the picture.
5. Repeat step 5 until half of your filo dough is gone. 
6. After having half the filo dough laid out in the pan, add the nuts in a layer around 1/3 inch thick (around 0.75-1 cm).
7. Continue layering the rest of the dough, lightly buttering the sheets every 2-3 layers. Butter the top of the baklawa after you place the last layer of dough.
8. Cut parallel lines vertically down the pan approx 1 inch apart. Then cut diagonal lines around a 30 degree angle also around 1 inch apart to create the shape of a diamond. 
• Please do not skip this step to only cut after baking. The dough is very brittle after baking so if you try to cut it after baking only, your beautiful golden top layer shatters to bits. :-(
• Because of the butter on the top layer of dough, your knife might stick to the dough and pull off of the tray slightly. Apply slight pressure on the dough with your fingertips while cutting to prevent the dough from coming out of place. 
• Also, after every 2-3 lines I made, I rinsed the excess butter from the knife to reduce sticking.
9. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned.
10. Remove from the oven and retrace the lines you had cut before baking. 
11. Lightly sprinkle a little mound of ground pistachios in the center of each piece of baklawa.
12. Place 2-3 slices of cooled baklawa on a plate, and drizzle simple syrup over it before serving.