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Greek Baklava....My Favorite Treat!
So growing up in New Orleans we had a kinda shady, small, chain of Greek Restaurants. Very good food. My mother-in-law lived in Vineland, NJ. another source for very good Greek food. I hit the restaurants every chance I had. One of the downfalls of having the food available is once you get a taste for it you just got to eat it frequently.
Baklava has to be hands down the favorite Greek food across the country. I made it my first Greek food quest to master. This recipe is very easy to make it's the assembly that takes practice.
First is the syrup since it has to cool. The boiling for 4 minutes is important so don't skip the step. In the pictures here you can see by the bubbles how much thicker the syrup is at the end of the 4 minute boil.
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The phyllo Dough is usually frozen, Pepridge Farms is the best locally, Wal-mart sells one, it is what I used here, Athens I think the brand is, you got to watch it after about 50 minutes so it doesn't over brown. I don't think it has as much shortening as the other. Thaw your dough in the fridge at least a day, I go 2 days. Also let it warm up on the counter (in the bag) for an hour. Don't cut the bag till ready to assemble. Melt the butter in the microwave, chop your nuts for the filling in a food processor. I like to give it a good chop but leaving some chunky pieces. You can see the size in the assembly pictures.
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For the filling I use 2 cups walnuts and 2 cups almonds. After chopping add 1/3 Cup Turbanado Sugar, 2 Tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 Tsp ground cloves. Butter your 9x13 Pyrex first then cut you dough and unroll in front of the baking dish. Take 6 layers of dough and place in the bottom but no pressing it down. Be gentle. Sprinkle some filling over the dough then drizzle melted butter over the top. Add 3-4 sheets of dough and repeat till you have 6 sheets or so left. It works out to about 3 layers. The last 6 sheets go on top, pour the rest of the butter on top and brush lightly all the top. Use a sharp knife to score the top of the dish before baking. It is difficult to cut, take your time, it doesn't need to be all the way through.
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Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for 1 hour. Remember to start checking at 50 minutes. As soon as your dessert is out of the oven drizzle the cooled syrup all over and let it soak in. I finish cutting all the way through at this point. It's a pain to cut and not mess it up, take your time. Wait 4-6 hours to serve. I've attached the recipe I worked up to this post. It is in Notepad so almost anything can read it. Enjoy.
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