Friday, November 29, 2013

DBall Baklava - Baking with Dad

Remember 6th grade when all you needed to get an "A" on a project was to bring food? I had one such project on Greece and being the "A" student I was, I took baklava (or rather my wonderful mom bought some for me from the local Greek restaurant). No surprise - I got an A.

family makes baklava in the USA
Lets make these cookies!


Little did we know that years later my dad's skills as a baker would include some of the tastiest baklava I've ever had. He even sent some across the ocean to us in Berlin. On our visit home we were eager to learn this magic.

In case you are intimidated and think this recipe might be too hard, listen to the wise words of DBall:
Well Erin I was just sitting thinking about making something sweet and remembered you asked for the Baklava recipe. I love making it and really enjoyed showing you two how to put them together. It wasn’t too hard, just having all the ingredients and following the steps. Besides it was fun watching you and Ian put together such a fine batch. I think they came out pretty good.


Baklava Recipe

Makes 30

Ingredients

  • 3 cups ground pistachio (you can use walnuts)
  • 1 1/4 cup confectioner sugar 
  • 1 tbsp ground cardamon
  • 1 1/3 cup butter (melted)
  • 1 lb phyllo dough (frozen is fine, just defrost)
baklava recipe

Syrup ingredients

  • 2 cups granulates sugar
  • 1 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tbsp rose water (vital ingredient for right smell & flavor, but don't overdue it)

Don't stress too much about making the recipe "right". Each time dad does it he says they come out different, but delicious.



baklava recipeInstructions

  1. Start by making the syrup. This is done by placing the water and sugar in a saucepan and bringing to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes until it reaches the consistency of syrup and stir in rose water. Remove from heat.
  2. Mix nuts, confectioner sugar & cardamon in a bowl. 
  3. Pre-heat oven to 325 F and brush baking pan with butter. 
  4. Lay a damp towel (not wet) below and between the layers of phyllo dough so it doesn’t start to dry and tear. Separate one layer, lay in pan and brush gently with butter. Continue until you have 6 layers of phyllo sheets. There will be some ripping, but the butter mill mend minor tears so just keep going.
  5. Spread nut mixture over the top.
  6. Repeat 6 phyllo layers and then nuts until out of materials, ending with a phyllo layer on top. (2 sections of nuts works great).
  7. Cut the pastry into diamond shapes which is not nearly as hard as it looks. First cut the dough on the diagonal, then make straight vertical cuts. Viola! Diamonds. Pour remaining butter over the baklava.

Baking with dad

baklava recipe
Cat Supervision encouraged


8. Bake the baklava for 20 minutes, then increase the temperature to 400 F and bake 15 more minutes. Baklava should be golden brown and puffy.


baklava recipe


9. Drizzle syrup over the baklava, allow to seep in, and enjoy! If you are DBall, stick a candle in it cuz it's your birthday. 


retired baking dad


Hommade baklava


More sage advice from DBall:
Ok that’s it for advise have fun with it. Enjoy making them or go down the street to the bakery.
Wise words sir. I will cherish them forever.

 

More Baking with Ball


1 comment:

~ cheryl said...

Thanksgiving batch is wonderfully yummy -- sweet but not too much and not sticky. Finger-lickin' great!!

We're Back in Berlin Ja!

We're Back in Berlin Ja!
ebe & ian at Yak-toberfest 2008