Greek and Levantine · Ottoman Empire
Baklava
Baklava is layers of paper-thin phyllo pastry, brushed with clarified butter, filled with finely chopped pistachios or walnuts, baked golden, and immediately drenched in sugar syrup while still hot. The contrast of temperatures — hot pastry and cold syrup — is the defining technique: it creates crispiness at the pastry layers and ensures the syrup penetrates rather than pooling on the surface. Turkish baklava (pistachio, lighter syrup) and Greek baklava (walnut, honey, spiced syrup) represent the two primary traditions.
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I
The Market List
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16 sheets
phyllo dough (thawed if frozen)
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150g
unsalted butter
melted
Your own market
200g
raw shelled pistachios
roughly chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
80g
50g
caster sugar
Your own market
8g
ground cinnamon
Your own market
2g
ground cloves
Your own market
2g
sea salt
Your own market
For syrup
200g
caster sugar
Your own market
200ml
water
Your own market
15ml
fresh lemon juice
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
cinnamon stick (5cm)
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3
whole cloves
Your own market
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II
The Method
1
Prepare syrup first: combine sugar and water in saucepan, bring to boil, add lemon juice, cinnamon stick, and cloves; reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes until slightly thickened; cool completely.
2
Mix chopped pistachios, walnuts, caster sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and sea salt in bowl until evenly combined.
3
Lay one phyllo sheet on work surface, brush lightly with melted butter, layer second sheet on top and brush again; repeat until 4 sheets are stacked and buttered.
4
Scatter quarter of nut filling evenly across phyllo, roll tightly from shorter end into log, coil log into spiral, place seam-side down on parchment-lined baking tray.
5
Repeat step 3–4 with remaining phyllo and filling to make 4 baklava spirals total.
6
Brush each baklava generously with remaining melted butter, score decoratively with sharp knife, bake at 180°C for 25–30 minutes until deep golden brown.
7
Remove from oven, immediately pour cooled syrup evenly over hot baklava, allow to soak for 15 minutes before serving at room temperature.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Where it lives or dies. The moment where baklava lives or dies is the syrup temperature contrast — have one extreme hot and one extreme cold. The best professional technique is: bake the baklava completely, remove from the oven, immediately pour very cold syrup over it. The violent temperature shock forces the syrup to penetrate quickly into the hot, porous pastry before the outer layers re-harden. The result is crispy layers that are also fully saturated with syrup — not soggy at the surface, not dry inside.
Pillars V — VII
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