December 24th, 2007
Years ago my grandmother taught me how to make baklava. It’s an old family recipe and I’ve made it every December since. I baked two pans this evening - the first since she died. Here’s her recipe, with a few stories along the way.
Lenore’s Baklava
1. Buy a box of phillo dough. You can get it in the freezer section at the grocery store. Look for the kind in a long thin box. Allow it to thaw at least a day in the fridge and then let it come to room temperature before using it. You’ll need a large baking pan with a lip all the way around.
My mother remembers her grandmother making her own phillo dough. She’d clear off the dining room table and tie a clean sheet tightly over it. The dough went in the middle and a long process of rolling and stretching culminated in a single, paper thin sheet of dough. The dough would then be buttered, filled, rolled and baked. A whole morning’s work would then be inhaled in a matter of minutes by the family.
As soon as machine-made phillo became available, no one ever bothered to make it again. I certainly wouldn’t.
2. Chop 1 pound of walnuts fairly fine. Mix in a bowl with 1/2 a cup of sugar and about a tablespoon of cinnamon. Set it aside but near at hand.
3. Melt 3/4 of a pound of butter. It’s important to have all the ingredients ready to go before opening the box of phillo because once it’s open, you have to work fast. The stuff dries out in no time and will stick and tear.
A couple years ago I had everything ready to go: the chopped nuts, the melted butter, the pan, the phillo. I opened the box and unrolled the dough, ready for the race to assemble the baklava before the dough became unusable. My cat chose that exact moment to leap onto the counter, where she encountered the bowl of nuts. The nuts hit the floor, scattering everywhere. I screamed. My husband dashed in to see what the commotion was. His sleeve caught the bowl of melted butter and sent it flying. There may still be traces of nuts, butter and broken glass under the fridge. We did the best we could. The phillo was a total loss. The cat hasn’t jumped on the counter since.
Assembly:
1. Spread the pan with melted butter. Don’t be prissy about it. Use you hand. There’s really no better way.
2. Lay a single sheet of phillo in the pan. If the dough is larger than the pan, trim the stack to fit. If the pan is larger than the dough, get a smaller pan.
3. Spread the dough with more butter. Repeat until you have 10 buttered sheets.
4. Dump the nuts on and spread evenly over the pan.
5. Continue adding layers of phillo and butter until you’ve used up the whole box. The first layer or two after the nuts are irritating because they want to move around. Don’t let them boss you around.
6. Cut into pieces. Using a sharp knife, cut lengthwise across the pan into 8 strips. Then cut diagonally to create diamond-shaped pieces. This is a bit tricky, since it will tend to want to come apart, but it’s doable with a little practice. And a lot of cursing.
7. Pop the pan into a preheated 350-degree oven for 20 minutes, or until light golden brown.
Making the syrup. Start after the baklava’s been in the oven about 9-10 minutes.
1. Put 3 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup of water and 3 tbsp of lemon juice into a sauce pan
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until it foams up to the top of the pan. Take the pan off the heat and let it stop boiling for a minute.
3. Put the pan over the heat and let it foam up a second time. Remove from heat. Option: add in a splash of rose oil if you can get it.
The final act.
My family always has to come watch this part. It’s part of the theater of baking. They’ll come running to see it and it’s become a required holiday entertainment. If I didn’t call them, I’d hear about it for days, I’m sure.
4. Remove the baklava from the oven.
5. Pour the syrup gently all over the pan. Use it all. You can see the baklava fluffing up as the syrup soaks in and it makes a lovely sizzling sound. Let it cool.
Because of the diamond cut, there are always little triangle pieces at the edges of the pan. These belong to the children, who get to eat them as soon as they are cool enough not to burn.
It sounds more complicated than it is. It really goes very quickly once you get the hang of it. The results are to die for.
I will mail a box of baklava to the first two people who reply to this post.
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Eva Moon's main website is here.
December 24th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Well, for once there’s a reward for getting up before sunrise and reading your blog! I eagerly await the box of treasure!
~Dreah
December 24th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Though I’m sure Eva Moon’s bakalava is picture perfect, i hear it on good authority the baklava pictured above is *not* the actual creation of the author. You can probably guess that anyway by the absense of cat hair, and the fact it remained long around long enough to be artistically lit and snapped. Unlikely in a house full of ravenous family (does snark still win a prize?)
December 26th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Looks and sounds delicious…
Although I saw no disclaimer, I’m assuming your family members are ineligible for the prize. If not, they should be, especially the snarky ones.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Okay, not early enough for a box of the delicious goodies…but thanks for the recipe and the tips on preparation.
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