The Show Down

Today I begin my final alteration on baklava starting with the making of the dough. Using a recipe from another blog I found (http://makinglifedelicious.com/2011/06/27/make-your-own-phyllo-dough-baklava-traditional-less-so/) it seemed pretty simple... hmmm...sounds fishy already. 

The phyllo dough recipe on the blog reads as. 

• 2 2/3 cups (270 g/13 oz) unbleached all purpose flour: (I used whole wheat instead) 
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 1/2 g) table salt
• 1 cup less 2 tablespoons water (210 ml), plus more if needed
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (60 ml), plus additional for coating the dough
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) cider vinegar

I first mixed my ingredients starting with sifting the salt into the flour. 

Then I combined the water, vegetable oil (I used olive oil) and cider vinegar together in a separate container. Me being me did not have a table spoon or tsp measurer so I just winged it, this may or may not end well, (apologies in advance if you find yourself eating oily dough tonight). 

The recipe called for a paddle mixer, well, I don't have one of those but I do have two hands. After flouring the counter a little I got to work kneading the dough. 

Hugh? and ok... was my impression of the instructions when it said "throw the dough hard onto the counter a bunch of times" Whaao, and then the fun really began. I felt like I was making some kind of experimental music, pick up and throw thud, pick up and throw thud... repeat. After getting way to carried away making music I finally had to stop, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 2 hours before I could began the next step. 

Now the rolling. After getting a table brought in from outside and covering it with a sheet of plastic (which I cleaned) I was ready to start. 

The dough was quite sticky but by making sure there was enough flour being distributed it turned out pretty good. Also I was unable to get it super thin. 

Mmm. For this rendition of baklava I put pistachios mixed with almonds and cooked up dates. 

Here is the recipe I worked off of. 

-Syrup Recipe is 

•  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 (or just ground cinnamon)

• 1 (2-inch/50 mm) piece fresh orange peel (I used a lemon)

• a pinch or ground clove (I also added Nutmeg). 

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

The filling recipe I based my rendition on is from this blog site
(http://thegreekfork.com/2012/01/all-time-classic-baklava/)

-Filling

-125gr coarsely chopped almonds  (I did not have very many almonds so I cooked up a cup of dates over the stove with some nutmeg and cinnamon thrown in for good measure.) 

-250gr coarsely chopped walnuts (I used Pistachios instead)

-2 full tsp ground cinnamon (just add lots of it!!) 

-150gr sugar  (again, I don't know if I used this amount of sugar, I tend to cut back on whatever amount of sugar recipes call for.)

-1/8 tsp ground cloves

-¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Preparation

Start the syrup by combining water, sugar and honey, and bring to boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat and add cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, lemon and orange slices, and let simmer uncovered for about 8-10 minutes (or more, I think this allows it to really get good.)  Set aside to cool.

I also (on a really good suggestion by Marlee) rolled the baklava instead of stacking it which turned out pretty good other then not looking as tidy as layering it (but it smells good!) 

So last alteration complete. The baklava looks a little like cinnamon buns or something like that,  whooo !!!!!