Turkey - Baklava

Another episode in guys and I decided to go the full hog and make Filo Pastry for these crisp, sweet & indulgent Pistachio Baklava. Not for the faint-hearted, you'll be hand rolling 28 large sheets of Filo for this. I love to put a film on to keep me company while I get going.

Ingredients (adapted from Joshua Weissman recipe)

Filo:

900g Plain Flour

370g Hot water

2 tsp. White vinegar

1 tbsp. Olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

Cornflour, to dust

Filling:

250g shelled pistachios, finely chopped

500g clarified butter, melted

Syrup:

470g sugar

95g soft dark brown sugar

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 pieces of lemon peel

415ml water

Method

Combine all of the Filo Pastry ingredients together and knead into a dough ball (I used an extra 2 tbsp of water as mine was a little dry.) Knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Clingfilm and rest at room temp for 1 hour. 

Portion the dough into 28 equal pieces & place to one side. Cover with a damp tea towel. Take 5 at a time and roll out to roughly the same size rectangle, using cornflour to dust liberally. Stack each layer on top of one another and roll out together. Separate the layers and re-dust with cornflour before stacking again and rolling once more. It should be thin enough that you can see your hand through it. Be careful as it will be very delicate.

Place baking parchment on top of the stack of Pastry and roll up. Clingfilm well and place in the fridge for up to 1 day. Can be used immediately. Repeat with remaining dough.

Preheat oven to 200C.

Brush your baking tray with melted clarified butter. Layer 14 sheets of Filo in the tray with a liberal brushing of butter between each. Next put all of the chopped Pistachios in a layer and drizzle more butter over them. Layer another 14 sheets of Filo on top of the Pistachio layer again, with butter between each.

Cut lengthways into four, then cut across to form diamonds(make sure to cut right to the bottom.) Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Put all syrup ingredients in a pan and boil for around 8 minutes until syrupy. Pour over baked Baklava as soon as they come out of the oven. Leave to cool completely before serving.