Turkish Baklava Recipe

With sweet and nutty bites, Turkish baklava completes your meal. The baklava has its own place in the list of Turkish desserts recipes and makes sure it remains at the top of it. The look and the taste of baklava will make you want to eat every inch of it. If you visit Turkey, you should try the famous baklava. Every Turkish restaurant serves this as a dessert after meals and you can also find it being freshly baked in the sweet shops. You can take the Turkish baklava recipe back to your country and try making it yourself at your home so that you would not miss the delicious dessert. This article will guide you through the ingredients and steps required to make the baklava at home.

Turkish Baklava vs Greek Baklava:

Most people assume that the traditional baklava recipe only belongs to Turkey but to our surprise, no one really knows who is the real owner of this dessert’s recipe. Baklava originated from many countries and is a historical dessert. One of the countries is Greece and the Greeks staunchly believed that the baklava is their traditional dessert and the same was with the Turks. Greece, being a neighbor of Turkey, was at war with them for a long time but after the issues cooled down, the locals from both countries began settling in each other’s land, and hence baklava originated out of the two. 

The Turkish people will tell you that baklava is their tradition but there is a difference between the Turkish baklava vs Greek baklava. The Greek baklava has a different recipe and the ingredients include walnuts, cinnamon, honey syrup. On the other hand, the Turkish baklava has pistachios, sugar syrup, and lemon juice included in the ingredients. Other differences also include the way the baklavas are cut and presented. 

Other countries that make and serve baklava as a traditional dessert are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Romania, Iran, and Algeria. All these countries have their own unique taste and style of serving.

Turkish Baklava Recipe, Step and Instructions:

Baklava has a lot of types as it originated from many countries, but when someone speaks of this dessert, the first name that comes to mind is Turkish Baklava. The Turkish pistachio baklava recipe will be discussed in this article because most of them are made up of pistachio nuts. Additional flavor is added to it by pouring a tasty syrup made up of sugar and lemon juice. The dessert is made up of thin phyllo dough sheets layered on top of each other. Melted butter is spread between the layers to build a flaky surface.

8 phyllo sheets are used to build the base, and then some delicious nuts are sprinkled over to give it a nutty feel starting from the bottom. The same number of sheets are stacked over the nutty base and more nuts and butter is added on top of that following another layer of dough sheets on the top. The syrup is poured over it to give it a sweet flavor and your ultimate baklava is ready for serving. Turkish baklava calories are low and with nuts added, it becomes very healthy. 

But how can we prepare the dough sheets and syrup for the dessert? Let’s find out.

Turkish Baklava Ingredients:

The Turkish baklava ingredients are very simple and easily available in the market. Most of them are already available at your home beforehand except the phyllo dough. The ingredients are divided into two parts, Baklava and Syrup.

For Baklava:

• Phyllo Dough, thawed and softened (1 packet)
• ¾ cup of butter (unsalted) and melted at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons of grounded pistachio used for garnish
• 2 cups of chopped walnuts ( can use any other nut if you like)

For Syrup:

• 2 cups of water
• 2 ½  cups of sugar
• 1 slice of lemon

Steps for Making Baklava:

When all the ingredients are gathered it is time to make the baklava. Here are some simple steps to make it.

1. First, you will need to thaw the dough overnight so that it gets defrosted. You can do that by putting the pack in the refrigerator.
2. Take out the pack at the time of preparation and put it aside somewhere on the countertop.
3. Start preparing the syrup. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat it until it boils. Then reduce the heat level to medium and let it simmer over it for at least 15 minutes. Then leave it to cool completely.
4. Until the syrup cools down, you can start cutting and trimming the phyllo sheets to a size that fits your baking pan. Make sure to cover the sheets with a damp cloth so they may not dry up completely. 
5. Turn on the oven and preheat it to 200°C.
6. Until the oven gets heated up to the optimal temperature, butter the bottom of the pan.
7. Place one phyllo dough sheet in the pan. Brush it with melted butter, and repeat the process until you have the required amount of sheets stacked up for making the base.
8. When the base is ready evenly spread the walnuts over it. You can also use other types of nuts if you do not wish to add walnuts.
9. Repeat this to get a thick layer of walnuts and then put the other phyllo sheets over it. Make sure you butter the top as well so that it would not get dry.
10. Now the raw baklava is ready for baking. Cut it equally into strips all the from the top to the bottom and put it in the oven. Let it be in there for half an hour.
11. When you see that the baklava’s top is golden, take it out and pour the syrup over it. Put it aside for a few hours so that the syrup is coated well over each piece.
12. When done, garnish the baklava with grounded pistachio and your ultimate baklava dessert will be ready for serving.

Notes:

1. There are other recipes for making the syrup for the baklava. Turkish baklava recipe with honey is one of them and you can replace the lemon juice with honey.
2. If you do not like nuts then the Turkish baklava recipe without nuts is for you. Although this dessert is incomplete without them, still you can replace them with anything else you prefer.
3. The amount of syrup to be poured can be adjusted. Make the syrup accordingly, but if you make more, save it for later use.