Get ready to make this beauty at home. We are making famous Pistachio Fill Turkish Baklava "Havuç Baklava" with an easy method. This recipe will probably be the best one to try with a basic skill to compete with the baklava masters, who need more than five years to become a master.
So let's make it. I'm going to use half of the amount on my baklava dough. So I have 1/4 cup of each water, milk and vegetable oil. Going to add half egg. I whisked it lightly. Just eye balling adding half of the mixture. And to that, I'm adding close to 2 cups of flour. We have baklava flour special. That has a high protein amount. But it is also possible to make it with all purpose flour.
Add it 1 tsp baking powder. And going to kneed my dough until I have a nice smooth nonstick dough. If it needs, you can always add a little bit flour if need. My dough is ready. as you can see It's very less. We didn't use much ingredient. And this time, I'm going to make only one layer with pistachio. And for that, I'm going to cut my dough first into half. And each half into 10 pieces.
And with help of the countertop, that doesn't have any starch. So it can stick a little bit.
Make a nice round with the pieces. To separate the batches, this time I use plate that I sprinkled wheat starch. And continue to shape the other pieces. It is always better to cover it to prevent them drying out. Since we gonna work with the starch, you can also dip them to the starch.
And wait for 15 minutes to rest. And beginning from the first batch. I'm gonna roll out my dough's. It is very easy my friends. Don't be scared of the steps. I'm giving all the details for you for to make it successful. But believe me, It's not that hard. Just roll it out into a salad plate size about 20 cm. And cover it with a nice thick starch. And continue with the other 9 pieces. My first batch is done.
And I'm gonna do the same thing with the second one. But I realized when I made this recipe, It is better to work right away with the rolled out dough batches. And then continue with the second batch. Because when it waits, the starch layers between the each sheet can dampen. And lose his powderness.
I'm gonna show you in a moment what happened at the second batch. So that's way, it is better to work one by one. So I'm roll it out my first batch. All the layers together. You can flip some of the layers from time to time to check if they stick or not. I need to make it bigger than the size of my pan. I have little bit more to go.
And as I talk about in the previous episode with the walnut baklava recipe, if you don't have this thin oklava, you can do it only with rolling pin. It's very easy. But to make it a little bit closer to the ones that the baklava masters make, I wanted to use some oklava also to show you. Because when you roll it with the oklava, it creates some air between the sheets rather than pressing only with the rolling pin.
And it than it is easier to take out the sheets one by one. And here it is. It is big enough. Just cut out the excess dough. We going to use it for the inner layers. I have nice round set of sheets here. And going to separate couple of pieces. And begin to place them to my baking pan. When you separate the sheets again, since it creates some air, your baklava will be more lighter.
But if you cannot, just don't worry. You will still end up with a nice baklava that is homemade by you. And it's still going to be delicious. So after I roll out to make it a thinner side ones, and places on top of the sheets, I continue to work with the other ones. Separating them as much as I can.
You see how thin it is. You can see the towel. It's really fun to make. And if there is excess, starch in the sheets, you can pat them to get rid of them. Because we don't want the excess starch. Just enough. So it tastes crunchy. And sprinkle good amount of pistachio layer. I used about 200 grams. And here is what I am talking about.
My second batch, the starch was very dam and it wasn't powdery anymore. So I shake them out.
And sprinkle another layer of starch. And continue with the other steps. So I would recommend layer the starch, after you make the bottom layer the first batch. Here I want to show you another technique that the baklava masters make.
You roll out each sheet one by one to the oklava. And this way you separate the layers even easier. And you can always sprinkle a little bit more starch between the layers. When you first look at it, it seems more detailed work. But actually it is not. It is kind of easier than separating them one by one by hands. So to give you an idea, if you want to try it one day, I wanted show you.
And it really worked. This is my probably the first time making it too this way. As you can see, you roll out one by one and then open them again after rolling out a little bit to make it bigger. And this way, you are making sure that all layers are separated. I wanted to work with five of them. And continue to make my top layers.
I would suggest at least, try to separate couple of layers for the final top to create that traditional dome layered baklava look. Before I cut my baklava, I'm securing from the sides. And to give the "havuç baklava" look, which means carrot, I cut the baklava first in to
4. And each section in to 4 again. Use a sharp knife.
So you don't press the layers. And pour hot melted butter over the baklava. Make sure you get rid of the fall part after melting the butter. I gave more details about these steps on my previous baklava recipe. Her is another small but powerful hint for the look. After cutting and pouring the butter, separate each pieces.
And try to band them a little bit from the sides to create dome on each piece. And this helps to graze the phyllo sheets more evenly with a nice dome in the center. And baking the pre-heated 170 Celsius degree oven for 30 minutes lower the temperature to 160. And continue to bake until it is golden color on top and the bottom.
For the syrup, I'm boiling 2 cups of sugar and 1 plus 1/4 cup water along with small lemon wedges and half tsp lemon juice. Cover until it is boiled on medium high. And continue to cook on medium low until it thickens. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes depends on the heat.
And you check the last drops. As you can see it should be heavy oozing drops. This is how we understand. After this point you can turn off the heat. But we will pre-heat before pouring it to our baklava. I check my baklava after I had some colors on top. The bottom was still more whiter than the top. So I put it to a lower rack.
I lower the temperature to 160 and continue to bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes in total until I have a nice golden color. This time to pour our hot syrup over hot baklava. At least give it a rest for 1 hour and then it will be ready to enjoy. As a final touch I wanted to sprinkle some more pistachios on top. And now I wanted to show you closer.
The crunchy layers and the sound of it. So my friends, I hope you give it a try. Don't think that it's a lot of work compare to the traditional one. It is really easier alternative to make at home.
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