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Thursday, June 30, 2011

THE DARING BAKERS’ JUNE 2011 CHALLENGE: FROM PHYLLO TO BAKLAVA!!

I was very excited when I saw this challenge.  It seems my grandmother, (Sadie's  mom), used to make Phyllo for a romanian type of strudel she often made.  Phyllo, which means, "leaf" in Greek, is tissue paper-thin. Homemade phyllo is a lot of work to roll out but is worth it, its delicious! With Phyllo so readily available, one rarely sees it homemade anymore. The video link at the bottom of the page is very good as you can actually watch the technique used in rolling the dough.  It becomes so thin...it is actually transparent!
Baklava is quite simple to make but is a little time consuming.

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Here is the  recipe for the dough
Phyllo Dough:

*Note 1: To have enough to fill a 9” x 9” baking dish with 18 layers of phyllo double this recipe.

*Note 2: Single recipe will fill a 8” x 5” baking dish.

*Note 3: Dough can be made a head of time and put in the freezer. Just remove from freezer and allow to thaw and continue making your baklava

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups (320 ml) (185 gm/6½ oz) unbleached all purpose (plain) flour

1/8 teaspoon (2/3 ml) (¾ gm) salt

1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon (105 ml) water, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough

1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) cider vinegar, (could substitute white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar, but could affect the taste)

Directions:

1.In the bowl of your stand mixer combine flour and salt
2. Mix with paddle attachment
3. Combine water, oil and vinegar in a small bowl.

4. Add water & oil mixture with mixer on low speed, mix until you get a soft dough, if it appears dry add a little more water (I had to add a tablespoon more)
5. Change to the dough hook and let knead approximately 10 minutes. You will end up with beautiful smooth dough. If you are kneading by hand, knead approx. 20 minutes.

6. Remove the dough from mixer and continue to knead for 2 more minutes. Pick up the dough and through it down hard on the counter a few times during the kneading process.
7. Shape the dough into a ball and lightly cover with oil.


8. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest 30-90 minutes, longer is best ( I let mine rest 3 hours and it was very good)

Rolling your Phyllo

** Remove all rings and jewelry so it does not snag the dough**

Use whatever means you have to get the dough as thin as you can. I have included a fantastic video at the end of the post on how to roll out your phyllo dough, using a wooden dowel, which worked perfectly for me. You may also use a pasta machine if you have one, or a normal rolling pin whatever works for you.

1. Unwrap your dough and cut off a chunk slightly larger then a golf ball. While you are rolling be sure to keep the other dough covered so it doesn’t dry out
2. Be sure to flour your hands, rolling pin and counter. As you roll you will need to keep adding, don’t worry, you can’t over-flour.
3. Roll out the dough a bit to flatten it out.

Penny
4. Wrap the dough around your rolling pin/dowel
5. Roll back and forth quickly with the dough remaining on the dowel (see attached video for a visual, its much easier then it sounds)
6. Remove; and you will see how much bigger it is!
7.Rotate and repeat until it is as thin as you can it. Don’t worry if you get rips in the dough, as long as you have one perfect one for the top you will never notice.
8. When you get it as thin as you can with the rolling pin, carefully pick it up with well floured hands and stretch it on the backs of your hands as you would a pizza dough, just helps make it that much thinner. Roll out your dough until it is transparent. NOTE: you will not get it as thin as the frozen phyllo dough you purchase at the store, it is made by machine

9. Set aside on a well-floured surface. Repeat the process until your dough is used up. Between each sheet again flour well. You will not need to cover your dough with a wet cloth, as you do with boxed dough, it is moist enough that it will not dry out.





Baklava Recipe - Adapted from Alton Brown, The Food Network

Ingredients for the Filling:

1 (5-inch/125 mm piece) cinnamon stick, broken into 2 to 3 pieces or 2 teaspoons (10 ml) (8 gm) ground cinnamon

15 to 20 whole allspice berries ( I just used a few pinches)

3/4 cup (180 ml) (170 gm/6 oz) blanched almonds

3/4 cup (180 ml) (155 gm/5½ oz) raw or roasted walnuts

3/4 cup (180 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) raw or roasted pistachios

2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm/ 5 1/3 oz) sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) (240 ml) (225g/8 oz) melted butter ** You do not need this much
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Combine nuts, sugar and spices in a food processor and pulse on high until finely chopped. If you do not have a food processor chop with a sharp knife as fine as you can. Set aside ( I forgot to put in the sugar and it was fine without it!)
3. Trim your phyllo sheets to fit in your pan.
4. Brush bottom of pan with butter and place first phyllo sheet



 
On the top layer, make sure you have a piece of phyllo with no holes if possible, just looks better.


7.Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
8. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
9. Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
10. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
11. Continue layering and buttering phyllo 5 more times. contimue on this manner. 


12. Once you have applied the top layer tuck in all the edges to give a nice appearance.

13. With a Sharp knife cut your baklava in desired shapes and number of pieces. If you can't cut all the ways through don’t worry you will cut again later.




 A 9x9 pan cuts nicely into 30 pieces. Then brush with a generous layer of butter making sure to cover every area and edge 12..
14. Bake for approximately 30 minutes; remove from oven and cut again this time all the way through. Continue baking for another 30 minutes. (Oven temperatures will vary, you are looking for the top to be a golden brown, take close watch yours may need more or less time in the oven)

When you put your baklava in the oven start making your syrup. When you combine the two, one of them needs to be hot, It is better when the baklava is hot and the syrup has cooled

For the syrup:
1 1/4 cups (300 ml) honey

1 1/4 cups (300ml) water

1 1/4 cups (300 ml) (280 gm/10 oz) sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 (2-inch/50 mm) piece fresh citrus peel (lemon or orange work best)

a few cloves or a pinch or ground clove

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium pot over medium high heat. Stir occasionally until sugar has dissolved
2. Boil for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.

 Freezing/Storage Instructions/Tips: There are a few ways to store your Baklava. It is recommended that you store your baklava at room temperature in an airtight container. Stored at room temperature your baklava will last for up to 2 weeks. You will notice as the days pass it will get a little juicier and chewier. You may choose to store it in the fridge; this will make it a little harder and chewy, but does increase the shelf life. You can also freeze your baklava and then just set it out at room temperature to thaw.


When baklava is cooked remove from oven and pour the cooled (will still be warmish) syrup evenly over the top, taking care to cover all surfaces when pouring. It looks like it is a lot but over night the syrup will soak into the baklava creating a beautifully sweet and wonderfully textured baklava!

Leave at room temperature and cover well.Next morning all syrup is absorbed.




I think the Phyllo turned out quite well...
Things I would have changed...I  should have doubled the recipe as I really needed more layers in between the layers with the  filling. 
Overall it was pretty good...and surprisingly not as difficult to make as I had thought.

Until we bake again...

3 comments:

veto said...

Sin duda un postre delicioso.

Saludos

Unknown said...

Making your own phylo? I can't believe it. I'd love to try that (as in eat it, not actually attempt it - I'd burn the house down).

Elliot said...

I request this for when I get back! :D

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