Baklava is more expensive than money

Baklava is more expensive than money

09/22/2016

Baklava - a sweet dessert made from honey, dough and nuts - is one of the most favorite sweets of people from different countries. As in the case of dolma, the authorship of the recipe is disputed by many peoples, and the Turks and Greeks have the most serious positions in this dispute. There is a legend according to which baklava (or baklava) was invented at the court of one of the Turkish sultans during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire. When baklava appeared among the Jews, history is silent. But there is no doubt that it was prepared by Jews who lived in Turkey, Greece and Azerbaijan.

You will need:

For the test:

½ kg puff pastry

⅔ cup olive oil or butter

For filling:

2 cups almonds

2 cups walnuts

2 teaspoons cinnamon

4 tbsp. spoons of honey

For the syrup:

1 glass of water

½ cup honey

1 cup of sugar

juice of half a lemon

Of course, each diaspora had its own original recipe. In Israel, baklava is perceived more as an Arab sweet, and this is understandable - for European Jews who moved to the Holy Land during the Turkish rule or the British Mandate, baklava was exotic, to which the Jews contrasted their European pastries, mainly the traditional Ashkenazi strudel.

Meanwhile, strudel and baklava actually have more similarities than it seems at first glance. Both are made from puff pastry, only in the first case the filling is fruit, and in the second - nuts and honey. So when Jews from Thessaloniki, Istanbul and Baku began to move to Israel, baklava already had a certain reputation.

Jewish, Turkish and Azerbaijani Jews very clearly divide baklava into Arabic and “their”, Jewish. Of course, the choice is usually made in favor of the latter. In Jewish families they prepare it “like grandma’s” - from dough made at home, with all the details observed. We present a recipe for baklava from Jews who once lived on the Greek islands. We wrote in detail about their culinary traditions in an article devoted to the preparation of stifado by Greek Jews.

Cooking method

Roast and grind the almonds, then grind the walnuts, mix them together and add cinnamon and honey to them.

Melt the butter and grease a baking sheet with it. Next, butter 4 sheets of puff pastry and place them on a baking sheet on top of each other, and spread ⅓ of the nut mixture on top, place two more buttered sheets of dough on it, then top with ⅓ more nuts, two more sheets and the remaining nuts. Place 6 buttered sheets of dough on top. Cut into pieces using a sharp knife, spread the remaining oil over and into the cuts. Bake at 180 degrees until golden brown.

While the baklava is in the oven, prepare the syrup. To do this, bring the mixed sugar and honey to a boil and add lemon juice. When the baklava is baked, remove it from the oven, cool slightly and pour honey syrup over it while still warm.

Anna Markova

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