The name of this unique dessert is, of course, feminine, and behind it probably hides a eastern beauty. Just imagine – all the best things gathered in one place: honey, rose petal syrup with coriander and cinnamon, walnuts, chocolate, thin puff pastry. Add a tender crispy crust, baked until rose-golden…
Despite this most delicate taste, or perhaps because of it, baklava has been a source of fierce controversy for centuries. The contenders for her supposed homeland are countless. If you ask any old Greek, he will rock a luxuriant moustache, furrow his bushy eyebrows and say that the Lebanese stole her recipe from the Greeks. However, the Lebanese think the same about the Greeks. The Turks claim that it is their invention and a national dish. Armenians are convinced that their ancestors invented baklava. But in terms of one thing, they are all united – their baklava is the most delicious! Regardless of all the controversy surrounding the world’s most stunning dessert, we must note that the first historical mention of it dates back to the 15th century. Historian Nuri Janla writes: “The tradition of making thin crusts of dough for baklava came from the Assyrians. In the cookbook of the Museum of the Ottoman Sultans in the Topkapı Palace, there is an entry from the time of Sultan Fatih, according to which the first baklava was prepared in the palace in August 1453. It is said that the Sultan was so pleased with the chef’s invention that he wished to perpetuate the recipe. Since then, baklava in Turkey has been prepared for every holiday.”
HOW IS IT PREPARED?
Baklava is a multi-layered dessert that is made from the finest phyllo dough. They are greased with butter and arranged in layers in a rectangular baking tray or shaped like cylinders. Finely ground walnuts, almonds or peanuts are placed between the layers of skins. After it is baked, the baklava is poured with sugar syrup, water, lemon juice or honey with rose water. The most important thing is that the temperature of the baklava and the syrup be different.
Products:
1 package of phyllo dough
1 butter (125 g)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp flour
4 eggs
1 baking powder
The butter melts. Arrange half of the phyllo dough in a tray, sprinkling a little oil between them. Add the filling made from beaten eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, walnuts. Again – the phyllo sprinkled with oil (half of the oil should remain). The baklava is cut into pieces and poured with the remaining oil and it should be baked.
Boil syrup from 2 tsp. sugar and 2 tsp. water. Add the grated lemon peel and a little of its juice. The cooled baklava is poured with the hot syrup and left to stand overnight.