make baklava

How I did it:
Ingredients required are...

• 2 pounds phyllo dough (approx. 40 sheets)
• 6 ½ cups finely chopped walnuts
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ pound unsalted butter (melted)
• 2 ½ cups honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Supplies required are...

• a pastry brush
• a large bowl
• a saucepan
• a microwave safe bowl
• a grinder or big kitchen knife
• a sharp spatula
• two 13x9 pans

I purchased everything I needed from Publix. The phyllo dough is in the frozen food section and comes in 1 pound packages. I bought two of those. (NOTE: You are probably going to have LOTS of left over dough.)

BEFORE beginning make sure to thaw out the dough according to packaged instructions. DO NOT SPEED DEFROST. Also, make sure you prepare everything below WHILE the dough is defrosting. I made the mistake of waiting to start everything until the dough was thawed. This was a mistake as once it begins to warm to room temperature the dough sheets begin to stick together.

Take the your walnuts and either grind them or chop them using your big kitchen knife. Once done throw them into your large bowl along with your sugar and cinnamon.

Put your butter in your microwave safe bowl and heat it for a minute or so. Long enough so that it is melted. Set it near your 13x9 pan.

Once your dough sheets are thawed (about 2 hours from frozen) go ahead and start. (NOTE: You may need to cut off some excess dough as the inside of your pan may actually only be 12x8.)

Take your extra 13x9 pan and fill it with water. Pre-heat the over to 300 degrees and put that pan on the bottom rack. This will help keep your baklava moist while it bakes.

Grease your 13x9 pan very well (I just used more butter.) Take one sheet of the dough and lay it in the bottom of your pan. Take your pastry brush and apply the melted butter to the sheet of dough. Now lay another sheet on top of that. Again apply the melted butter to this new sheet with your pastry brush. Do this until you have laid down 10 sheets of dough PLUS the initial bottom sheet.

NOTE: When applying the melted butter to the sheets of phyllo dough be careful. The original instructions I read stated to liberally apply the butter. Which you should indeed do. However, make sure not to go overboard. I ended up having to use a full pound of butter for mine and still stopped short at the top. (Only applying about 8 sheets instead of 12-15 like I wanted.) So be generous but don't go overboard. You want to make sure you have enough to get the job done.

Take your nut mixture and sprinkle 2 cups of it all over the top sheet. Make sure it is pretty even all over as you don't want certain portions taller than others.

Now place a sheet of dough down and brush it with more melted butter. Do this until you have 6 sheets of dough down.

Repeat the process before with 2 cups of nut mixture. Do this until you have 4 layers of the nut mixture down.

When you have done this you will be laying down sheets of dough for the top of your baklava. So instead of stopping at 6 sheets (Like we did between each section of the nut mixture.) go ahead and apply about 12-15 sheets should do fine. (That will put you at approximately 40 total.)

Use your sharp spatula to score the baklava about half way down into whatever shape you desire. Most people do a diamond shape. I chose to just do "brownie squares". It turned out fine.

Take the pan now and throw it in the oven. Bake for about 2.5 to 3 hours. Keep an eye on it because obviously not all ovens are the same.

About 5-10 minutes before it's done take your honey and lemon juice and melt it together in your saucepan. You do NOT want it to boil. Just heat it until the consistantly is like water.

Pull out your pan of baklava and cover it in the honey mixture. (NOTE: 2.5 cups of honey was a little much for mine, but as I stated before I was too generous with the butter so I was missing a layer of the nut mixture and about 6-8 sheets of dough on the top too.) Use your sharp spatula to finish cutting all the way down into the baklava. Be VERY CAREFUL not to damage it at this point. It is possible to mess it up quite a bit.

Let it set for at least 4 hours. I threw mine in the fridge over night. (NOTE: I actually finished cutting mine with a kife after it sat in the fridge all night. Not what you are supposed to do but it turned out fine.) It came out kinda messy due to the overabundance of honey, but otherwise it was absolutely delicious.

Lessons & tips: Make sure your kitchen is 110% clean and you have plenty of space to work.

DO NOT speed defrost the dough. Let it set for the 2 hours it needs (assuming it was fully frozen).

DO NOT wait until the dough is thawed to start laying everything else out and prepping it all. Do this WHILE the dough is thawing.

You may need to cut off excess dough from the sheets. (Except your initial bottom one.) My pan, for instance, was 13x9 but the inside of it was actually 12x8.

Make sure to liberally apply the butter but don't go overboard. You have to make the 3/4 pound last for about 40 sheets of dough.

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Nov 23, 07:41AM PST | 0 comments | 1 cheer