How to make Baklava Recipe from Scratch

Instructions

1. Make the dough

   • In a large bowl, mix together 2 egg yolks, 1 whole egg and the milk.
   • Combine them really well until we get a homogeneous consistency.
   • Add the olive oil together with the flour, baking powder and the salt.
   • This time we are going to use our hands to mix it until a play dough consistency is formed.
   • We are going to move the dough onto a flat surface and continue to work on it for about 10 minutes to activate the gluten.
   • This process is very important because it’s gonna help us to open the phyllo sheets.

   • You need
   • 2 egg yolks
   • 1 whole egg
   • 1 cup milk
   • ½ cup olive oil
   • 4 cups all-purpose flour
   • 2 tsp baking powder
   • salt

   New to this? How to Separate Egg Yolks from Egg Whites

   Start a 10 min timer

2. Let it rest

   • After we are done working with the dough, we are going to put it back in the bowl, cover it up and let it rest for about an hour.

   Start a 1 hr timer

3. Starch and pistachios

   • While the dough is resting, let’s combine together the cornstarch with 3 tbsp of flour.
   • We are going to use this mixture to open the phyllo sheets.
   • To crush the pistachios I am going to use the rolling pin.
   • The pistachios should be very fine.

   • You need
   • 2 cups cornstarch
   • 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
   • 250 g raw pistachios

4. Clarify the butter

   • Also it is very important to clarify the butter until it gets this golden brownish color.
   • To do so, put the butter on medium heat for about 15 minutes.

   • You need
   • 2 cups butter

   Start a 15 min timer

5. Divide the dough

   • Right after one hour, let’s take the dough and cut it into three equal pieces.
   • We are going to roll each piece, cut it into four, roll it again and then cut them into fours, so that we make 16 pieces out of each one.
   • If you think you have too much dough you can also make smaller pieces.
   • I had to make about 20 to 30 small balls of dough from each piece, which makes it a total of 80 sheets of phyllo dough.
   • We are going to take each of the doughs and roll them into spheres.

6. Roll small circles

   • Next, we are going to start rolling each of the small doughs into small circles.
   • Make sure to use lots of starch because that’s what’s going to separate each of the sheets from each other.
   • When our phyllo sheet is ready, we are gonna start rolling the second, the third and on and on until we have a big pile.

   Lots of starch.

7. Roll the sheets together

   • Put together 10 to 15 of them and start rolling to your desired size.
   • Every 8 to 10 rolls, make sure you flip the sheets so that they open up evenly.
   • Once we get to the desired size, we start rolling the next one.
   • And now for the hardest part, we need to separate each of those sheets from each other.
   • To test how thin our phyllo sheets are, they usually use a newspaper, but in my scenario I’m just going to use the bag of pistachios.

   

8. Layer the baklava

   • Oil up the baking tray and start placing your phyllo sheets.
   • Usually, people spray each of the sheets with butter, but we’re not going to do that for the bottom layer.
   • Separating the sheets is going to be hard.
   • On my YouTube video, you can see I failed so many.
   • I tried again and I still failed, but don’t worry though, because not every sheet has to be perfect.
   • When we are about halfway through, we are going to add 2/3 of the pistachios.
   • Then, we are going to add more layers, but this time we are going to add butter on the fourth or fifth sheet.
   • Right after about 10 layers, let’s add our leftover pistachios.
   • Then layer the rest of the sheets on top.

   Turn the oven on now, so it’s at 300°F (150°C) by the time the pan goes in.

   • You need
   • 250 g raw pistachios
   • 2 cups butter

   Not every sheet has to be perfect.

9. Cut the baklava

   • As soon as we have added all the layers, we are going to cut out the imperfections and then cut the baklava.
   • Cutting before cooking is very important because it’s going to absorb all the butter that we are going to add later.
   • I am going to cut into 8 pieces first, just like a pizza, and then cut each of those pieces into smaller triangles.
   • I know it sounds confusing but trust me it’s very easy once you get the hang of it.

   

   Cut before baking.

10. Pour on the butter

    • When we are done cutting the baklava, make sure to add the butter that we melted earlier.
    • Do not forget to tilt the pan sideways so that the butter is distributed evenly.

    • You need
    • 2 cups butter

11. Bake

    • We are going to bake the baklava at 300°F (150°C) for about an hour.

    For a softer baklava, bake it at 350°F (175°C) for 50 minutes instead.

    Start a 1 hr timer

12. Lower the heat

    • Then lower the temperature to 260°F (125°C) and bake it for another two to three hours, depending on how big your baking pan is.
    • This long baking process will make sure that each of the phyllo sheets is cooked perfectly.
    • And this is how baklava should look right after it’s baked.

    

    Start a 2 hr timer

13. Make the syrup

    • 15 minutes before the baklava is done, we are going to start preparing the syrup.
    • Different from the traditional recipe, I am going to caramelize the sugar a little bit to elevate the flavor.
    • To caramelize the sugar, add all the sugar and just ½ cup of water.
    • Put it on high heat and continuously stir until the sugar becomes brownish.
    • As soon as the sugar is caramelized, make sure to add the rest of the water, but be really careful because it’s going to start boiling right away.
    • We are going to let it boil for five more minutes and then squeeze in ½ lemon.
    • The lemon is going to stop the sugar from crystallizing.

    • You need
    • 3 cups sugar
    • ½ cup water
    • 1 ½ cups water
    • ½ lemon

    Start a 5 min timer

    Careful, it boils right away.

14. The secret to the best baklava

    • The secret to getting the crispiest baklava is to pour the hot syrup as soon as the baklava is done baking.
    • On the contrary, if you’d like it softer, you can let it rest first and then pour in the hot syrup.
    • When we pour in the syrup, we will let the baklava rest overnight so that it absorbs all of it and then it will be ready for consumption.