The Fresh Loaf

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Baklava with Handmade Phyllo from Scratch

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Baklava with Handmade Phyllo from Scratch

Hello TFLers! Long time no read! It's that time of the year again for my mandatory year-end post.

2023 has been a very challenging year for me but there were many successes to celebrate too. Work schedule has been insane so I have no time to spare to make bread (it usually takes 2-3 days with planning included) so I have not made bread for a year which this site is for. I learned to cook various food from different cuisines (lots of food I've cooked but no time to post) that many might not find interesting especially in a bread site. Anyhow, I'm still posting some of them, in case someone like me might be interested.

This year, I learned how to make baklava and even the phyllo dough (yufka) from scratch. Baklava is a pastry that has mystified me  since I was young until the advent of e-commerce, that I learned to shop online. I tasted various baklavas this year but my favorite was the Turkish Baklava. I like it for its "simple and clean" flavor. Don't get me wrong, all baklavas are good, it just depends on your preference.

It's the making of phyllo from scratch that has thrilled me the most, I thought it would be impossible to make it at home without a machine (guess what, how did they make it in ancient times?). There are various methods on how you can achieve that almost transparent dough. There are various thicknesses for different applications but phyllo for baklava HAS TO BE especially thin.

In Greece, it is commonly stretched by hand from what I've seen (I've tried this method but it is time consuming and you have to be extra careful not to pierce it and that it is even); in Türkiye, they usually roll it one by one using a thin rolling pin called oklava (I've tried it too but it is not easy with an ordinary rolling pin which is the only thing I have). I decided to follow the method of professional baklava masters where they stack the dough with starch in between them and roll them as thinly as possible, then peel the layers one by one, it was faster and easier.

My first baklava, Walnut Baklava. 16 layers of phyllo, walnuts, ghee, baked until crispy then soaked in a simple sugar syrup.







I was so lucky, the phyllo came out so thin, you can read a newspaper underneath it, which is a common test to see if it is thin enough.

 

 I still can't believe that such gorgeousness and deliciousness emerged from my own kitchen!

 

Chocolate Baklava. 24 layers of chocolate phyllo, walnuts, ghee, and sugar syrup. Still far from traditional baklava, but definitely an improvement.  













I cannot find a recipe for a chocolate baklava with "chocolate" phyllo but I knew the one I ate has chocolate IN the phyllo and not just in the nut filling.




Sütlü Nuriye. Baklava's milky cousin. Layers of phyllo and nuts soaked in a milky syrup, traditionally would use hazelnuts.

 

 

 

 

 
Soğuk Baklava. Cold Baklava. 32+ layers of phyllo and nuts soaked in a milk-based syrup, chilled, then topped with grated chocolate. Not as sweet and crispy but lighter than traditional baklava. 

 



 



Pardon the messy fork, but look at all those layers! 


One of the best decisions I've ever made, Cold Baklava with Ice Cream!

 
A 50+ layer Cold Baklava. I think this is a case of too much of a good thing, I find some parts doughy or maybe this was just not as well-made as my other ones.

 

 
Havuç Dilimi Baklava. Carrot-slice baklava. 40 layers of phyllo, pistachios, ghee, and sugar syrup. This is the most "Turkish" baklava that I have made (even though I have to spend a fortune as pistachios cost an arm and a leg here) as Turkish baklava almost always uses pistachios. Also traditional baklava is usually made with 40-50 layers of phyllo. I even managed to make it super crispy even for days, far from perfect but this is as close as it gets to a traditional baklava from a real Turkish baklava shop. My best baklava!

 

 



 

 

 

 WIth some milky ice cream (wish it was some dondurma), it was otherworldly!

 
I hope you enjoyed this post and may we have a happier, heathier, and more blessed 2024! 

Comments

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Well done. Big baklava fan here. 

Good that you included the "cold" and "milk" versions.  I had Soğuk baklava in Izmir two months ago and it was great.   Quite surprising, and quite delicious. 

Baklava is a top tier pastry in the world, with wonderful history and degustation!

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

It is a dream to taste baklava in Turkey, maybe some day. The cold baklava is really good but my favorite has to be the pistachio! I agree that it is some of the best pastry in the world and as a history teacher, it doubles the happiness  in my heart!

pmccool's picture
pmccool

You are worlds ahead of me.  The only time I made baklava, I used purchased phyllo dough.  Just as well, I suppose.  If it was easy, I’d probably be 25 pounds heavier. 

Nice to see that you are still baking in one form or another. 

Paul

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Though baklava is much more physically demanding than making bread, it is something that I can squeeze in a day. 8 hours, and you have a good baklava starting from zero. If store bought phyllo was available locally, then I would not have dared to make it from scratch. Also, if you are the one making baklava from scratch, all of it becomes negative calories. A win-win for me!

albacore's picture
albacore

I really enjoy a good baklava and I've made it a few times. It is quite a lot of work, so to actually make your own filo as well is quite something. Well done!

I find I'm quite sensitive to the cornstarch used to stop the layers sticking together (not an allergy, just in flavour terms - a floury taste). The local brands in the UK are prone to it, so I now always buy imported brands from France or, better, the middle east, eg Lebanon.

Lance

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

It is the brushing of each sheet with butter that is so tedious (imagine doing it 30-40 times) but with homemade phyllo, you just pour the ghee once you made your cuts and it distributes itself withing each layer, maybe it's fine doing too with store-bought phyllo.

It is a skill too of the masters to use just enough starch within the layers that I, myself am planning to acquire over the years. For now, I err on the side of using too much than too little starch becase phyllo sheets that got stuck with one another means a disaster and a waste of hard work. 

Benito's picture
Benito

I’m super impressed with your huge achievement of making phyllo pastry by hand without any gadgets.  All the treats you baked with your phyllo look so tempting.

Happy New Year all the best in happiness and health 

Benny

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Always good hearing from you. Learning to make phyllo opened up a world of possibilities for me. I'm so excited to try other "phyllo-based" recipes!

Happy New Year!

clazar123's picture
clazar123

Thank you for sharing this beautiful post! The pictures are wonderful! It is so inspiring to see what can be created with a baker's 2 hands, a brain and a good heart. 

Wishes for an inspiring New Year to come.

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Your kind words mean a lot to me! To many more bakes in the future. Cheers!

Isand66's picture
Isand66

So nice to see a post from you.  Your adventures in phyllo are inspiring and all look fantastic.  It’s quite an accomplishment to create these by hand and have them look so authentic. 
Here’s wishing you a happy and healthy New Year!

Best regards,

Ian

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

It's very nice to hear from you again! I was striving for them to be as authentic as possible, fortunately they came close. I really wish to visit here more often in the future.

Happy New Year! 

Another Girl's picture
Another Girl

Love those photos of the rolled out phyllo dough, so perfectly even and translucent. Congratulations on learning this impressive skill!. The treats you made all look wonderful.

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

I was also pleasantly surprised by how thin it was. My hard work did not go to waste. :) 

Ilya Flyamer's picture
Ilya Flyamer

Wow. Stunning, I love the pistachio one, so beautiful.

I wonder if using a pasta machine the phyllo would get thin enough? Pretty sure it's fine for the more rustic phyllo used for pies, not sure sure about the baklava that requires extra thin sheets...

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

The thinnest setting in most pasta machines used for ravioli is still not transluscent enough for baklava but might be fine for more rustic pastries as you have said. 

Maybe, folding the dough with starch in between, then rolling it again to the thinnest setting will yield the translucent phyllo for baklava when you "open" the dough. 

I'm curious too. Actually, I have a pasta machine for 2 years but have not yet fiddled with its parts. I have been rolling pasta and other stuff manually with only a rolling pin. But the next major issue is phyllo dough is much softer than pasta or say, sfogliatelle dough; it might stick more readily to the machine. Some commercial baklava shops use a sheeter though but l don't know if they roll it further manually. 

jo_en's picture
jo_en

They are all tremendous  --  I love the pistachio one- the picture really pops off your background.

I had it in Israel but I can'l imagine its crunch topping that of your flaky top.

Do bakeries in the Philippines offer it much?

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Just finished the pistachio one today and it was still crisp. 10 long days of crispiness! 

Unfortunately, it is practically unheard of in most places here. Those in the know go to "Middle Eastern" or "Mediterranean" restaurants, but even those are made with premade phyllo. I have found only one bakery that makes their own phyllo, a baklava specialty shop by a Turkish owner in the capital. 

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Well done, Pal! If you can do this by hand, I think you can make Chef Bigot's panettone by hand without any issue! He did it by hand too!

Yippee

 

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

I have to try making panettone by hand sometime.

JonJ's picture
JonJ

Inspiring, love the photography and exceptional looking baklava.

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Thank you for your kind words always.