Recipe for "baklava"

NAME

     BAKLAVA - An incredibly sweet and wonderful Balkan dessert
     Baklava is claimed by almost every Balkan state as  its  own
     invention;  most people in the United States first encounter
     it in Greek restaurants.  If  the  truth  were  known,  it's
     probably  the  Turkish  who  invented it, as is the case for
     many other ``typically Greek'' dishes.   This  recipe  comes
     from  my Bulgarian grandmother, and follows Bulgarian tradi-
     tion, in that the filling is very simple.

INGREDIENTS (Makes two small pans)

          DOUGH
     500 g     strudel dough (or fillo leaves)
     500 g     unsalted butter, well  melted.  Salted  butter  or
               margarine are not acceptable.
          FILLING
     500 g     walnut meat, chopped medium fine
     50 g      sugar
     5 ml      vanilla (or use vanilla sugar)
          SYRUP
     1 l       sugar
     500 ml    water
     5 ml      lemon juice

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Heat oven to 150 deg. C to 160 deg. C.
          (2)  Make the syrup first. Boil the water and sugar for
               15 minutes. Add lemon juice, boil 10 more minutes,
               set aside to cool.
          (3)  Make the filling: Mix  all  ingredients  well.   I
               prefer the walnuts fairly coarse; some people like
               them quite fine.
          (4)  Cut the dough with scissors to  the  size  of  the
               tray.   Handle  the  dough  very carefully; do not
               press hard on it at  any  time.   Cover  with  wax
               paper and damp towel.
          (5)  Take out one sheet of dough at a time and place it
               in  the  pan.   Brush the dough with melted butter
               between each layer.  Continue until you have about
               12  sheets  buttered.   Small and broken pieces of
               dough can be used in the center, but there must be
               butter between every two layers.
          (6)  Spread walnut filling across the tray.
          (7)  Put on a sheet of  dough,  brush  on  butter,  and
               continue until all the dough is used up.
          (8)  Cut into diamond shapes: cut  into  quarters  with
               cuts  parallel  to  the long axis, then cut diago-
               nally across.  Don't press hard!
          (9)  Bake for about 11/2 hour, until golden brown.   Be
               careful  not  to  burn  the bottom or the walnuts,
               especially with a glass pan.
          (10) Let cool on rack for 5 minutes.  Add  syrup  which
               should  have cooled to room temperature.  Let cool
               for at least two hours before eating.

NOTES

     Probably the hardest thing  about  this  recipe  is  waiting
     those last two hours!
     Depending on where you go, you'll hear the name of this dish
     pronounced  different  ways.   I pronounce the name with all
     /ah/ sounds, with accents of equal  intensity  on  both  the
     first  and  third  syllable.  The  second  syllable is quite
     faint.  Greek-speaking persons typically put a heavy  accent
     on the second syllable.
     Many variations on the filling are to be found. A simple one
     was  mentioned  above,  regarding the coarseness of grind of
     the walnuts in  the  filling.   They  may  even  be  ground.
     Spices  such as chopped cloves or cinnamon may be added, and
     the filling may be included in  several  layers  instead  of
     just one.
     A large (33x22 cm) pan is almost too big to handle. I  typi-
     cally  make  this recipe in two 20x28 cm pans, which is just
     about the size of a half sheet of the dough I buy.   By  the
     way, if you can make your own strudel dough, it will be even
     better ... but much more effort.
     It is best to have a partner help you prepare the pans.  One
     person handles the dough and places it in the pan, while the
     other applies the butter.  It is very important that  suffi-
     cient  butter  be  placed  between layers so that each layer
     gets flaky, rather than having  them  stick  together.   Pay
     particular attention to the edges and corners.
     In case you haven't noticed, this is very sweet  stuff.   It
     goes  great  with a fine cup of coffee, espresso, or Turkish
     coffee, even with sugar.  Two pieces will probably fill any-
     one up; it refrigerates and freezes quite well.  This recipe
     requires a lot of effort, but it's well worth it.

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate to hard.  Time: 11/2 hours preparation,
     11/2 hours cooking, 2 hours cooling.  Precision: measure the
     ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Chris Kent
     DEC Western Research Lab, Palo Alto, California
     kent@decwrl.dec.com {ihnp4,decvax,ucbvax}!decwrl!kent