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Light Flaky Nahas Baklawa! (no honey, less sugar and butter)
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Author:  salerino [ Sun Dec 13, 2009 ]
Post subject:  Light Flaky Nahas Baklawa! (no honey, less sugar and butter)

Light Flaky Nahas Baklawa! (no honey, less sugar and butter)


Ingredients
Please read the recipe throughly before beginning. These easy complete step by step directions will make you bake like a pro!

Syrup Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
1/2 Tablespoon of lemon juice

Filling Ingredients:

2 cups of chopped walnuts or pistachio nuts
3 Tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg*
1/2 teaspoon of cardamon*
1/2 Tablespoon of orange or rose water**

2 sticks of rendered butter (the yellow part of melted butter)***
1 pound of Athens Fillo Dough

Instructions
Combine Syrup ingredients Stir and boil on high for 4-5 minutes. It may seem thin but will thicken as it cools; it will be approximately 3/4 of a cup. I usually make my syrup the evening before or early in the morning so it will be cool at room temperature.

Thaw fillo as directed on the package. The way I thaw it is I take the fillo dough out of the freezer and thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Then before I start baking I take the fillo out of the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to get to room temperature.

Put two sticks of butter in a sauce pan on low. The yellow part you need will seperate from the white part or whey. You just may need to scrape a little of the white off the top and carefully dip your pastry brush only in the yellow part.

While the butter is melting, combine filling ingredients and set aside.

Set your work table so that your baking pan is on one side, pan of butter in the middle, and fillo dough unrolled and on the side ( until you get use to using fillo dough cover the unused dough with a dishtowel while layering and buttering the sheets in the pan; this will keep the unused fillo from drying out) Sometimes when you pick up the fillo dough it can rip apart. Have no fear! You can put the ripped pieces as a layer and just butter them. The fillo sheets out of the package easily fit a 13x9' baking dish. Two 13x9" baking dishes can be used for this recipe or 1 large baking sheet that has 1/2 to 1 inch sides. I used a 17" x 11" baking sheet and the fillo sheets did not fit evenly. I just cut the sheets to the size for my baking sheet and used the extra smaller pieces and made a layer with them. Put the bigger sheets on top and nobody knows but you about the smaller pieces. Ideally, the top sheet should be the bigger sheet.

With a pastry brush butter the bottom of the pan and place a fillo sheet on top. Butter each fillo sheet until the whole half pound is used. Add and spread the filling evenly. Cover the nut mixture with a fillo dough sheet and it hold to butter it. Butter each sheet until the whole pound is used. Butter the top sheet or two with a little more butter to cut it easier.

Before baking cut the baklawa lengthwise and width wise into little two or three inch squares/rectangles. Then cut these on a diagonal. You will have many triangles.

Bake at 275 degrees for one hour and 30 minutes or until golden brown****. Pour room temperature syrup over baklawa. When cool, cut completely through, and store in an airtight tin or container.

Fillo product
Fillo dough

Serving
Serves 7 or more

Prep Time
30-60 minutes

Cuisine
Middle Eastern

Occasion
Anytime

Meal
Any meal

Course
Dessert

Diet
Low sugar

Notes
It is important to pour room temperature syrup over the baklawa.

Orange or rose water can be purchased at Middle Eastern or Indian specialty stores; sometimes health food shops.

Good substitutions can be
*1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon for nutmeg or cardamon
**Instead of the orange or rose water you could use a teaspoon of almond or anise extract combined with two teaspoons of water.

***Ghee is rendered butter that can also be purchased at these specialty shops. Use about one cup.

****If I am in a rush I will preheat the oven to 300 degrees., bake the baklawa for 30 minutes and reduce the heat to 275 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes. However, the slower and longer it is baked the better the texture is and the filling does not taste burnt.

keywords: Baklawa is the Lebanese term for Baklava, what Greeks call it. It is a delicious sweet pastry. What makes my recipe unique is: I use less sugar for the syrup and less butter on the fillo dough that has traditionally been used in making baklawa. I also flavor the nuts with a few extra delicious spices.
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