Baklava – Layered Pastry with Nuts and Syrup
Baklava is the emblem of Middle Eastern pastry: twenty-odd sheets of paper-thin filo, each one brushed with butter, a generous nut filling and a sugar syrup poured over at the end — which is where the shine and the sweetness come from.
The one rule everything hangs on sounds incidental and is not: cold syrup onto hot pastry. Two things at the same temperature give you soggy baklava; the difference in temperature lets the syrup soak in while the layers stay crisp.
Filo pastry (also sold as yufka) is in Turkish and Middle Eastern shops and in the freezer aisle of most large supermarkets. It dries out in minutes — keep the stack under a damp tea towel the whole time you are working.
🔎 What is filo pastry? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 1 packet of filo pastry (400-500 g, at room temperature)
- 300 g nuts (walnuts, pistachios or a mixture), finely chopped
- 200 g clarified butter (ghee), melted
- 200 g sugar (1 cup)
- 125 ml water (1/2 cup)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp orange blossom water or honey (optional)
- Ground cinnamon and a little extra sugar for the filling, to taste
Method
- 1
The syrup: mix the sugar, the water and the lemon juice in a small pot. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, until it thickens slightly. Take it off the heat, add the orange blossom water and let it cool completely — it is vital that it is cold when you use it.
- 2
The filling: mix the chopped nuts with a pinch of cinnamon and, if you like, two tablespoons of sugar to lift the flavour.
- 3
Building the base: brush a baking dish with the clarified butter. Lay in the first sheet of filo and brush it with butter. Repeat until you have a base of 10 to 12 layers.
- 4
The middle layer: spread the nut mixture evenly and generously over the filo base.
- 5
The top: lay another 10 to 12 sheets of filo over the filling, brushing every single one with melted butter.
- 6
Scoring: before baking, use a very sharp knife to cut the baklava into diamonds or squares, right down to the bottom of the dish. Cut after baking, the pastry shatters.
- 7
Baking: bake in an oven preheated to 170 °C for 40 to 50 minutes, until the surface is deep golden and audibly crisp.
- 8
Finishing: immediately after taking it out of the oven, pour the cold syrup over the hot baklava. Leave it for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, so the layers absorb the syrup and develop their final texture.