Greek baklava topcook.tomathouse.com
Ingredients:
Baklava
- 25 sheets of filo dough
- 700 g finely chopped walnuts
- 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp. ground mustard
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1.5 cups breadcrumbs
- 2 cups melted butter, plus more if needed
- 10-12 whole clove buds
Syrup
- 1.8 kg of sugar
- 7 tablespoons of honey
- 7 tbsp of water
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 tbsp (15 g) butter
- 1 cinnamon stick (2.5 cm long)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 200°C, then reduce heat to 150°C before adding the baklava.
In a large bowl, combine walnuts, cinnamon, ground cloves, sugar, and bread crumbs.
Grease a baking pan with melted butter. It should be the same size as the pastry sheets. Trim the pastry if necessary.
Brush 1 sheet of dough with melted butter and place it on the bottom of the pan. Repeat this process until you have about 5-6 sheets. Spread a small amount of nut filling on top of the dough. Top with 2 more buttered sheets and more nut filling. Continue alternating layers until you have used all the filling. Use the last 4-5 sheets of dough for the top layer.
- Using a sharp knife, make diamond-shaped cuts in the baklava, cutting through all the layers to the bottom of the pan. Stud the baklava with whole cloves.
Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 1.5 hours. For convection ovens, you may need to cover the baklava with aluminum foil to prevent it from burning on top.
When the baklava is baked, remove it and cool to room temperature.
To prepare the syrup: Place sugar, honey, water, cloves, butter, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Stir. Cook for 7-10 minutes, then remove the cloves and cinnamon with a slotted spoon and add lemon juice.
Pour the hot syrup over the baklava, which has cooled to room temperature. Let cool and serve.
If you use If you're using frozen phyllo dough, thaw it completely in the refrigerator before using it to prevent the sheets from sticking together. While working, store the sheets of dough between damp kitchen towels to prevent them from drying out.
|