How to make baklava, the delicious Ottoman cuisine, at home?

Making homemade baklava for the first time? You can consistently produce the best honey baklava with the aid of this simple step-by-step guide and professional advice.

What is Baklava?

Baklava is a layered pastry dish consisting of filo pastry, stuffed with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey.

Ingredients for baklava

Let’s begin by breaking down the ingredient list for this baklava and nut filling and honey syrup separately:

Nut Filling and Baklava

• 6 ounces of chopped, roughly shelled pistachios
• 6 ounces of roughly chopped walnuts
• Hazelnuts, roughly chopped, 6 oz.
• Sugar, 1/4 cup
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• a hefty pinch of crushed cloves
• Thawed 16-ounce box of phyllo dough
• Melted unsalted butter from 1 1/2 to 2 sticks (up to 16 tbsp)

Honey syrup

• Sugar, 1/4 cup
• 1 cup of iced water
• 1 cup of honey
• 5 complete cloves
• lemon juice for one

Important: Phyllo pastry can be found in the freezer department of the store, near to items like pie crust. Pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, sugar, cinnamon powder, and a dash of minced cloves make up the nut combination. Depending on what you have on hand, you can modify the nut mixture. You might, for instance, use only walnuts or pistachios, but make sure you have enough of the chosen nut.

Step-by-Step Baklava Making Instructions

1. Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Instructions to prepare the honey syrup.

Until the sugar dissolves, boil the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring periodically. Now add honey and whole cloves. Stir to combine. After bringing to a boil, turn down the heat and let the mixture simmer for about 25 minutes. Take syrup from the heat and let it cool down. Thereafter, add lemon juice. Take out the whole cloves and keep the syrup aside.

3. Instructions to Prepare the nut mixture.

Prepare the nut mixture by placing the pistachios, walnuts, and hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor equipped with a blade. For chopping, pulse a few times. Add sugar, cinnamon, and ground cloves to a large mixing bowl. Blend well.

4. Instructions to prepare the phyllo pastry.

To prepare the phyllo pastry, unroll the thawed sheets and sandwich them between two fresh dish towels. By doing this, you may prevent the phyllo from breaking as you work.

5. Instructions to prepare baklava

–Place the base layer.

Get a 9”x 12”x 2” baking pan. Start by a little coating of butter using the pastry brush to the baking pan’s bottom. One sheet of phyllo dough should then be removed gently and laid on the pan’s bottom. Lightly butter the phyllo’s top, being careful to reach the edges as well. Butter the top of each sheet of phyllo before adding the next, then repeat with 6 more sheets for a total of 7 sheets.

–Add the first layer of nuts

Spread the nuts carefully with your hand to create a reasonably equal layer after sprinkling half of them over the phyllo. Make certain to spread them out to the edges.

–Add a second phyllo layer.

Then, delicately coat a sheet of phyllo with melted butter before placing it on top of the nuts. Repeat, placing butter between each layer as you stack a total of four additional sheets.

–Add the second layer of nuts

Over the phyllo, sprinkle the final layer of nuts. Push them all the way to the edges after spreading them out once more into an equal layer.

–Place the upper layer.

Brush some butter lightly over the phyllo layer before placing it on top of the nuts. To make a total of 7 sheets, repeat the process, adding a layer of butter between each phyllo sheet.

–Slice the baklava.

Cut the baklava diagonally into about 28 pieces with a fairly sharp knife (can be more if you make smaller pieces).

-Bake.

Bake the baklava in the pan for approximately 45 minutes. For even browning, check halfway through and turn the pan.

-Take the baklava out of the oven.

Remove the pan from the oven after the phyllo is equally golden brown all over and place it on a cooling rack.

-Add honey syrup.

Gently pour the honey syrup over the baklava, making sure to cover every piece.

-Serve after garnishing.

On top of each piece of baklava, sprinkle some chopped pistachios. Before serving, cover the baklava and leave it to set for a few hours or overnight.