For this recipe I have to thank sincerely a very special person – Petya Argirova, the creator of the culinary blog “Smells like…” (https://uhaena.blogspot.com/).
It’s been a few months after I took a baking course (my the way my second one over, don’t think I go to many culinary courses…) and it was there where Petya showed us how to roll the sheets of the baklava. It had amazing taste – juicy, smelling butter, sweet, but not too much to leave bad taste. I was afraid to prepare it myself and the other day the inspiration came. It should have happened right now exactly because I found out that the Muslim Bairam was celebrated these days.
Well, here it is my baklava. I strictly followed Petya’s recipe and I believe it worked. We haven’t tried it yet. We wait patiently for at least one day to get its better real taste.
Thank you very much, Petya, for this and all the other recipes that you so tirelessly make, describe and show everyone!
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
Start with the baklava syrup, as on the hot baklava should be poured the cold sugar syrup. In a saucepan pour the sugar and place on the stove.
Add the cold water to the sugar.
Add the lemon juice.
Let the syrup to boil. Then reduce the heat and leave the sugar syrup to simmer for about 15 minutes. It will thicken slightly. Remove from the stove and let the syrup cool.
Start preparing the dough. Put the eggs in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs.
Add the vegetable oil and stir.
Add the vinegar.
Add the milk and stir again.
Finally add the salt.
Start adding the flour with the previously added baking powder. Since I didn't know how much flour the dough will absorb, I first weighed 4 wine glasses of flour and put the baking powder in it just to be sure I will add the whole quantity of the baking powder.
Add the flour to the baklava dough gradually, because depending on many factors, the dough may need more or less flour. When I was preparing the baklava, the dough took exactly 6 wine cups of flour as stated in the recipe. The original recipe of Petya Argirova that I used, required the same amount of flour. Still I recommend adding the flour gradually. In fact, almost every time I make bread, I add the flour gradually to the wet ingredients, because you can add more flour to the sticky dough. But when you add wet ingredients to a certain amount of flour and it becomes firm, you can't make it softer and rarer. Or there are ways, but I don't know them 🙂
Keep adding flour and stirring. It is becoming more and more dense.
When the baklava dough begins to form as a ball, it is ready to knead.
Transfer the baklava dough to a counter or a table whose surface has been sprinkled with flour from the pre-measured 6 wine glasses. Knead and add flour. The baklava dough as an obedient child absorbs the flour and becomes easier to process.
After absorbing all the flour, the dough for the baklava becomes very soft and pleasant for processing and does not stick to the hands.
Divide the dough into 3 equal balls. Cover with foil to prevent them from drying out.
Take one ball and divide it into 10 approximately equal small balls. They are about the size of an egg.
Now is the time to start using cornstarch instead of flour. Sprinkle generously over the baklava dough balls with starch to prevent them from drying out.
Now the serious work begins. Start rolling the sheets for the baklava. Sprinkle the surface, the rolling-pin and the ball you are about to roll with plenty of starch. Roll each ball until it gets about 15 cm in size.
This is how Petya Argirova measures the size of the rolled sheets with the thumb and index finger. So did I.
Roll out all the baklava sheets. Stack them on top of each other in a pile of 10. Don't forget to sprinkle starch between them!
While rolling the sheets, leave the other piles aside and cover with foil.
Now the magic begins! The baklava sheets are rolled all 10 at a time! And if you have so far used the thick rolling-pin, as I did, you should now take the thinner one.
Take a pile of 10 sheets. Grab all of them at a time from one side and carefully tart rolling on the rolling-pin. Roll carefully and unfold.
Turn on the other side, bend and roll again carefully.
The sheets are rolled out without a problem, and because of the starch between them, they do not stick together.
Petya Argirova uses a 36 cm diameter tray. My biggest tray was 31 cm. At that moment I thought of some of my grandmother's old baking pans that I do not use. But it was larger (about 33 cm) in diameter and so the grandmother's old baking pans came into use. When the baklava sheets reach the diameter of the tray, roll them around the roller and transfer them to the pan, which you have to greased before that with some vegetable oil.
Blend the wallnuts. I blended them almost not very finely so that the nuts can taste better. Sprinkle half of the nuts on the sheets.
Then roll out the second pile of 10 sheets and spread the nuts.
Finish the baklava with the last 10 rolls rolled out. You get layers - nuts - layers - nuts - layers.
Next comes the other thing that makes the baklava beautiful, the cuts. It seems complicated, but when you follow the instructions, it is not difficult. First, start by cutting the baklava into 4.
Cut each quarter further by half. Start making parallel cuts as shown in the pictures.
Follow the instructions and you will see it is not difficult.
Here it is our beauty!
Melt the butter in a frying pan on a stove or in a non-metallic bowl in the microwave.
Pour the butter into the cuts of the baklava with a spoon.
When you pour the butter, the baklava is ready for the oven.
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Bake the baklava for about 1 hour or until golden brown crust.
When you remove the baklava from the oven, start pouring the syrup. It is best to do this in several portions. For example, pour 1/3 of the syrup, waiting for it to soak. Do that several times until final absorption.
Here it is the ready baklava. You can be proud of yourself!
Let the baklava stay for at least 1 day before serving. We haven't tried it yet, but in the original recipe Petya Argirova advises that the baklava becomes more juicy and tasty if it stays for at least one night. Bon appetit!
If I can do it, so can you!
Bon appetit!
Ingredients
Directions
Start with the baklava syrup, as on the hot baklava should be poured the cold sugar syrup. In a saucepan pour the sugar and place on the stove.
Add the cold water to the sugar.
Add the lemon juice.
Let the syrup to boil. Then reduce the heat and leave the sugar syrup to simmer for about 15 minutes. It will thicken slightly. Remove from the stove and let the syrup cool.
Start preparing the dough. Put the eggs in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs.
Add the vegetable oil and stir.
Add the vinegar.
Add the milk and stir again.
Finally add the salt.
Start adding the flour with the previously added baking powder. Since I didn't know how much flour the dough will absorb, I first weighed 4 wine glasses of flour and put the baking powder in it just to be sure I will add the whole quantity of the baking powder.
Add the flour to the baklava dough gradually, because depending on many factors, the dough may need more or less flour. When I was preparing the baklava, the dough took exactly 6 wine cups of flour as stated in the recipe. The original recipe of Petya Argirova that I used, required the same amount of flour. Still I recommend adding the flour gradually. In fact, almost every time I make bread, I add the flour gradually to the wet ingredients, because you can add more flour to the sticky dough. But when you add wet ingredients to a certain amount of flour and it becomes firm, you can't make it softer and rarer. Or there are ways, but I don't know them 🙂
Keep adding flour and stirring. It is becoming more and more dense.
When the baklava dough begins to form as a ball, it is ready to knead.
Transfer the baklava dough to a counter or a table whose surface has been sprinkled with flour from the pre-measured 6 wine glasses. Knead and add flour. The baklava dough as an obedient child absorbs the flour and becomes easier to process.
After absorbing all the flour, the dough for the baklava becomes very soft and pleasant for processing and does not stick to the hands.
Divide the dough into 3 equal balls. Cover with foil to prevent them from drying out.
Take one ball and divide it into 10 approximately equal small balls. They are about the size of an egg.
Now is the time to start using cornstarch instead of flour. Sprinkle generously over the baklava dough balls with starch to prevent them from drying out.
Now the serious work begins. Start rolling the sheets for the baklava. Sprinkle the surface, the rolling-pin and the ball you are about to roll with plenty of starch. Roll each ball until it gets about 15 cm in size.
This is how Petya Argirova measures the size of the rolled sheets with the thumb and index finger. So did I.
Roll out all the baklava sheets. Stack them on top of each other in a pile of 10. Don't forget to sprinkle starch between them!
While rolling the sheets, leave the other piles aside and cover with foil.
Now the magic begins! The baklava sheets are rolled all 10 at a time! And if you have so far used the thick rolling-pin, as I did, you should now take the thinner one.
Take a pile of 10 sheets. Grab all of them at a time from one side and carefully tart rolling on the rolling-pin. Roll carefully and unfold.
Turn on the other side, bend and roll again carefully.
The sheets are rolled out without a problem, and because of the starch between them, they do not stick together.
Petya Argirova uses a 36 cm diameter tray. My biggest tray was 31 cm. At that moment I thought of some of my grandmother's old baking pans that I do not use. But it was larger (about 33 cm) in diameter and so the grandmother's old baking pans came into use. When the baklava sheets reach the diameter of the tray, roll them around the roller and transfer them to the pan, which you have to greased before that with some vegetable oil.
Blend the wallnuts. I blended them almost not very finely so that the nuts can taste better. Sprinkle half of the nuts on the sheets.
Then roll out the second pile of 10 sheets and spread the nuts.
Finish the baklava with the last 10 rolls rolled out. You get layers - nuts - layers - nuts - layers.
Next comes the other thing that makes the baklava beautiful, the cuts. It seems complicated, but when you follow the instructions, it is not difficult. First, start by cutting the baklava into 4.
Cut each quarter further by half. Start making parallel cuts as shown in the pictures.
Follow the instructions and you will see it is not difficult.
Here it is our beauty!
Melt the butter in a frying pan on a stove or in a non-metallic bowl in the microwave.
Pour the butter into the cuts of the baklava with a spoon.
When you pour the butter, the baklava is ready for the oven.
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Bake the baklava for about 1 hour or until golden brown crust.
When you remove the baklava from the oven, start pouring the syrup. It is best to do this in several portions. For example, pour 1/3 of the syrup, waiting for it to soak. Do that several times until final absorption.
Here it is the ready baklava. You can be proud of yourself!
Let the baklava stay for at least 1 day before serving. We haven't tried it yet, but in the original recipe Petya Argirova advises that the baklava becomes more juicy and tasty if it stays for at least one night. Bon appetit!
