All about Baku baklava

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Only a photo of Baku baklava will not leave indifferent any sweet tooth. The most delicate multi-layered dessert with a lot of nuts has long been considered a delicacy of kings and sultans. Today we will teach you how to cook this oriental sweet right at home.

Dessert story

Baku baklava came to us from Turkey in the 8th century BC. Initially, the dessert was baked from rough dough and was called "baklava". Only after the dessert came to the territory of European countries, the Greeks managed to achieve a delicate and crumbly delicacy. They not only rolled the layers of dough much thinner, but also made some changes to its composition.

According to other sources, Assyrians are considered the creators of Baku baklava. Moreover, the recipe for this delicacy is immortalized in a book from the time of Fatih, which is now in the museum of the Ottoman sultans. The entry in this book states that the first preparation of baklava took place in 1453. The court chef of the Sultan, who ruled in those years, almost accidentally created an amazing dessert.

Ingredients

The process of making Baku baklava is quite laborious andrequires a lot of food. But, having made such a long and rather costly journey to oriental sweetness, you will be rewarded with an amazingly tasty and fragrant dessert. So, for the test you will need:

• milk - one and a half glasses;
• sugar - 1 teaspoon;
• dry yeast - 7 grams;
• wheat flour - 0.5 kilograms;
• s alt - 0.5 tsp;
• chicken egg - 1 piece;
• ghee butter - enough to lubricate the dough and form.

The filling for Baku baklava consists of more nuts and spices:

• 200 grams of walnuts;
• 50 grams each of hazelnuts and almonds;
• 2, 5 cups sugar;
• 1 teaspoon each of vanilla and ground cardamom.

For lubrication use: a pinch of saffron, an egg and 2 tablespoons of hot water. The finished dessert is smeared with a sauce of 2 tablespoons of honey, 100 grams of melted butter, 2.5 cups of sugar and half a glass of water. In the following sections, we will tell you a step-by-step recipe for Baku baklava with a photo.

Preparation of dough and toppings

Dough kneading begins with a combination of warm milk, yeast and sugar. The mixture is covered with a film and cleaned in a warm place for 20 minutes until a "cap" appears. At this time, s alt and flour are mixed in a separate bowl, into which the yeast mixture and a slightly beaten egg are then gradually poured. The dough is kneaded until a homogeneous soft state for several minutes. The finished dough should not stick tohands.

The dishes in which the dough will fit are smeared with ghee. The dough is laid out in a greased container and left in a warm place for an hour and a half. During this period, the dough is kneaded twice and doubled in size.

Preparing the filling is probably one of the easiest steps. For the filling, grind the nuts in a blender to a state of very fine crumbs. After that, add sugar and spices to the nuts, mix thoroughly - the filling is ready.

The process of collecting and baking baklava

The finished dough must be divided into eight parts so that one part is slightly larger than the rest - it will be needed to form the top layer. The form for baking Baku baklava must be high enough and have dimensions not less than 2020 centimeters for the specified amount of ingredients. Lightly grease the mold with ghee and preheat the oven to 200°C.

The most important step in the preparation of Baku baklava is rolling out the thinnest dough possible. The structure of the dough is quite pleasant and obedient, therefore it does not require more flour for dusting. The first layer of rolled dough is placed on the bottom of the mold and immediately smeared with melted butter, after which it is covered with a second layer of dough. Then the dough is again smeared with oil and sprinkled with a layer of filling.

Subsequent layers alternate according to the scheme: dough-butter-nuts. The last layer is rolled out a little thicker than the rest and slightly pressed, after which it is smeared with saffron impregnation. After that, the Bakubaklava is cut into diamonds, and half a walnut is laid out on each of them.

After 10 minutes of baking, baklava is smeared with melted butter and sent to the oven for another 40 minutes. The finished dessert is poured over with honey sauce and left for 8-10 hours until completely cooled and better soaked.

Baku lazy baklava recipe

This method is much lighter than the original and differs from it in taste. However, the taste of such a dessert is very pleasant, and therefore be sure to try cooking it.

A pack of butter is chopped and mixed with three glasses of sifted wheat flour, after which a glass of sour cream (at least 20% fat) is added and the dough is kneaded until a homogeneous texture. After kneading, the dough is sent for an hour to the refrigerator chamber. At this time, the preparation of the filling and sauce begins. For this, 200 grams of ground walnuts, half a glass of sugar, an egg and a couple of cardamom boxes are thoroughly mixed. Honey sauce is made from a glass of honey and 50 grams of water.

The chilled dough is divided into two parts and rolled out thinly. The first layer is laid out on a greased baking sheet, after which it is covered with a layer of filling and covered with a second layer of dough. The cake is cut into diamonds and baked at a temperature of 180 ° C for 40 minutes. After baking, the finished cake is poured with honey sauce and allowed to cool.

In closing

Today we shared with you two recipes for making Baku baklava - traditional andlightened. Be sure to try both of these desserts to compare the tastes and choose your favorite variation.