Baklava looks like the work of a patisserie apprenticeship, but it is really an exercise in repetition: butter, filo, butter, filo, forty times, then nuts, syrup and patience. The result, shattering golden layers soaked in lemon-scented sweetness around a heart of pistachio, is one of the great desserts of the world, and it is absolutely makeable at home.
What goes in
- One packet of filo pastry, thawed overnight in the fridge
- A generous amount of melted butter, clarified if you want maximum crispness
- Finely chopped pistachios, the greener the better
- Syrup: sugar, water, honey, a strip of lemon peel and a squeeze of juice
Assembly, layer by layer
- Brush the tray with butter and lay half the filo, buttering every single sheet.
- Spread the pistachios in an even green blanket.
- Layer the remaining filo the same way, buttering to the top.
- Cut the diamonds BEFORE baking: it cannot be done after.
- Bake low and slow at 160°C until deeply golden, about 50 minutes.
The hot-and-cold syrup rule
The single most important rule in baklava: cool syrup over hot pastry. Pour warm syrup on warm filo and the layers collapse into sog: chilled syrup meeting oven-hot baklava hisses, soaks evenly and leaves the top layers crisp. Make the syrup first, refrigerate it, and pour it over the tray the minute it leaves the oven.
Resting and serving
Baklava improves for a full day as the syrup settles, so make it the day before you need it and resist covering it, a loose tea towel keeps dust off without steaming the crunch away. Serve with Turkish tea in tulip glasses or strong coffee: the bitterness is the traditional and correct counterweight to all that honeyed richness.
Save this golden tray for a special occasion, and sweeten your feed with more world recipes on Plumeo. Daily inspiration at @Plumeoblog.