BAKLAVA

Ingredients 

YOU WILL NEED

• Roasting pan 16” x 12” x 2.5” deep - 1
• Fresh phyllo dough from an authentic Greek deli, non of that frozen BS from the grocery store - 2 packages

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

• unsalted (butter) melted - 3-4 sticks
• A shit ton of walnuts - 3 cups
• 1 part blanched almonds to every shit ton of walnuts - 1(ish) cups
• sugar - 1/4 cup
• cinnamon - at least a few teaspoons

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SYRUP

• sugar - 4 cups
• water - 2 cups
• Lemon - 1 thick slice
• cinnamon stick - 1
• honey - 1/2 cup

Directions

• The first rule in making traditional Greek baklava is to let someone else do the tedious work for you....it’s well worth a trip to the Greek market and $4 for freshly made phyllo.
• Preheat the oven to 350°
• Melt butter in a small saucepan. While that shit is melting, put a small Greek kid to work at chopping the nuts.
• Grind the walnuts nuts until they appear evenly coarse. Toss them into a big mixing bowl and repeat with the almonds. Then add the sugar and add few punches of cinnamon into the mix. If you have a trained Greek nose like Yiorgi, you will know when the mix is right by the scent of the bowl, basically it should give off a nice nutty aroma with a spicy kick of cinnamon.
• Mix it all up with a wooden spoon and set aside. Lightly grease the pan. Roll out the phyllo dough.
• Lay down 1 sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Repeat 6 more times so you have a base of 7 sheets, no more, no less. Sprinkle a houfta (handful) of the nut mix over the phyllo dough. If you have small and delicate American hands like me, you may need two houftas.
• Now cover with another sheet of phyllo and butter it up. Add a second sheet and butter that poutana up too. Sprinkle with your houfta and repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat...You will do this for what feels like 3000 years but, really only until you’ve made it through 2 of the phyllo packages.
• Once you have filled your pan nearly 3/4 of the way to the top you will stop with the houfta nonsense and add 8-10 layers of only phyllo painted with butter. It’s almost oven time but NEVER forget to cut the baklava before baking or it will be like cutting through Kevlar. Gently score the top layer every 2 inches, then cut into squares along your lines.
• Once you’re square, you will cut each square in half forming little Greek deltas.
• Take a shot of ouzo.
• Bake the batch for 45-50 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 20-30 minutes until it is the warm golden color of an Ancient Greek Goddess’ skin.
• While the baklava is baking, make the syrup. In this case, we will actually measure. Pour the sugar and water into a saucepan. Boil until clear, like ouzo. Also, take a shot of ouzo now....you’ve earned it, koukla!
• Once the syrup is clarified, remove from heat and and add the lemon, honey and cinnamon stick. Allow to cool.
• Once the baklava is baked to perfection, remove from the oven and evenly pour the syrup over the HOT baklava. The sweet sizzling sound lets your know that all of those crispy thin layers are soaking up the syrup.
• It is important that you let the baklava set for at least 8 hours before serving.