How to Make Baklava: Perfectly Flaky Baklava Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 10, 2023 • 3 min read
Baklava is a Middle Eastern and Greek dessert famous for its sweet phyllo crust and various nuts and spices. Learn how to make baklava at home.
Learn From the Best
What Is Baklava?
Baklava is a pastry made from layers of thin, flaky phyllo dough brushed with clarified melted butter and baked, then soaked in hot sugar syrup (either simple syrup or honey syrup). Common fillings include chopped walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and almonds. Turkish baklava sometimes includes cheese or custard. Common flavorings include ground cinnamon in Greece and rosewater and cardamom in Iran. Baklava is associated with celebrations such as Ramadan, Rosh Hashanah, Purim, weddings, and Nowruz.
What Is the History of Baklava?
The first written mention of baklava comes from fifteenth-century Turkey, then part of the Ottoman Empire, but similar pastries made from layers of phyllo have existed in Turkey since the eleventh century. It's likely that Turkey's tradition of making pastries with phyllo dough (called yufka in Turkish and filo in Greek) merged with the Arab tradition of soaking pastries in syrup and the Iranian preference for nut fillings. Today, the pastry is common all over the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans, with each region putting its own spin on the treat.
What Does Baklava Taste Like?
Baklava has a unique flavor and texture. The butter-brushed phyllo dough becomes crispy in the oven, but the soaking in sugar syrup keeps it moist. For the best baklava, make it fresh and serve it with just enough sugar syrup to soak through the phyllo layers. Baklava should have a slight bitterness from the nuts, and you can fragrance it with orange blossom or rosewater and spices such as cinnamon and cloves.
5 Essential Baklava Ingredients
Baklava has four main components—phyllo dough, nuts, butter, and simple syrup—but there's plenty of room to play around with flavors.
- 1. Phyllo dough: Phyllo dough is made by stretching wheat-based dough into paper-thin layers.
- 2. Nuts: Baklava nut mixture can include walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, and even pecans (an American interpretation). When making the nut mixture, some bakers add spices like cinnamon, cloves, or cardamom.
- 3. Butter: Professional bakers prefer to use clarified butter for their baklava, but regular unsalted butter will do for most home cooks. If you happen to have clarified butter or ghee, you can use that.
- 4. Sweet syrup: Baklava was probably originally made with a honey-based syrup since refined sugar was not widely available. Today, the easiest option is to make a simple syrup, though you can add honey for flavor. Some bakers choose to add rosewater or orange blossom water to the syrup.
- 5. Lemon juice: Lemon juice in the sugar syrup keeps it from crystalizing at room temperature.
Perfectly Flaky Baklava Recipe
makes
about 24 piecesprep time
30 mintotal time
1 hr 10 mincook time
40 minIngredients
- 1
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In a food processor, pulse nuts with ¼ cup sugar and cardamom until finely chopped.
- 2
Melt the butter or ghee in a small saucepan over low heat.
- 3
Carefully unwrap the frozen phyllo dough, leaving the plastic sheets between the layers. Cover the dough with a slightly damp towel to prevent the sheets of phyllo from drying out.
- 4
Using a pastry brush, lightly brush a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with melted butter. Lay the first sheet of phyllo dough into the baking dish, trimming with scissors if needed. Use the pastry brush to gently coat with melted butter. Top with another layer and repeat the buttering process. Continue layering until you have 5 layers of phyllo dough.
- 5
Gently spread half the nut mixture over the top layer of buttered phyllo dough in an even layer, being careful not to press down too hard on the layers of phyllo dough. Repeat with 5 more phyllo and a second layer of nuts. Top with remaining phyllo sheets, buttering between each layer.
- 6
Using a sharp knife, score the baklava deeply in your preferred shapes, such as parallelograms or diamonds. This will make it easier to cut after baking. Lightly sprinkle with a little cold water to help the phyllo dough keep its shape.
- 7
Bake until golden brown and crispy, about 30–35 minutes.
- 8
Meanwhile, make the sweet syrup. In a small saucepan, combine honey, ¾ cup sugar, ¾ cup water, rosewater, and lemon juice over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture becomes syrupy, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
- 9
Drizzle the still-warm syrup all over the hot baklava, then return the baking pan to the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove from oven, cover with a tea towel, and let cool at room temperature for at least 4 hours.
Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by culinary masters, including Yotam Ottolenghi, Gabriela Cámara, Chef Thomas Keller, Massimo Bottura, Dominique Ansel, Gordon Ramsay, Alice Waters, and more.