Baklava

Baklava

Baklava or baklawa is a rich, sweet pastry featured in many cuisines of the former Ottoman countries. It is a pastry made of layers of phyllo dough filled with chopped walnuts or pistachios and sweetened with syrup or honey.

Gaziantep, a city in Turkey, is famous for its baklava and, in Turkey, is widely regarded as the native city of the dessert. In 2008, the Turkish patent office registered a geographical indication certificate for Antep Baklava.

Baklava was chosen to represent Cyprus in the presentation Sweet Europe of the cultural initiative Café Europe in 2006.

Preparation

Baklava is prepared on large trays and cut into a variety of shapes

In baklava, layers of crisp phyllo dough alternate with a sugary spiced nut mixture, and the whole thing is then soaked in fragrant sweet syrup made with honey, lemon and cinnamon. It's an exotic and decadent treat to be sure.

Ingredients: 1 pound phyllo dough 1 pound chopped walnuts 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 4 tablespoons sugar 1 pound solid vegetable shortening

Honey syrup: 2 cups water 4 cups sugar 2 tablespoons honey 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Bring water and sugar to boil in saucepan. Add honey and lemon juice.

Directions:

Prepare honey syrup and let cool. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18-by-12-inch heavy pan with high sides with shortening. Do not use a cookie sheet. Add half of dough. Combine nuts, cinnamon and sugar in bowl. Sprinkle over layer of dough. Top with remaining half of dough. Make diagonal crisscross cuts through dough, an inch apart, creating diamond-shaped pieces. Pour melted shortening over all and bake in preheated oven 45 minutes. Cover with cold syrup. Let baklava cool before serving.

History

Baklavas

The word baklava entered English from Turkish; it is sometimes connected with the Arabic word for "bean" (بقلة /baqlah/), but Wehr's dictionary lists them as unrelated. Akın and Lambraki state that the word baklava entered into Arabic from Turkish. Buell (1999) argues that the word "baklava" may come from the Mongolian root baγla- 'to tie, wrap up, pile up' composed with the Turkic verbal ending -v. Baklava is found in many cuisines, with minor phonetic variations on the name.

The history of baklava is not well-documented; but although it has been claimed by many ethnic groups, it is said to be Greek but the best evidence is that it is of Central Asian Turkic origin, with its current form being developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkapı Palace.

Vryonis (1971) identified the ancient Greek gastris, kopte, kopton, or koptoplakous, mentioned in the Deipnosophistae, as baklava, and calls it a "Byzantine favorite." However, Perry (1994) shows that though gastris contained a filling of nuts and honey, it did not include any dough; instead, it involved a honey and ground sesame mixture similar to modern pasteli or halva.

Perry then assembles evidence to show that layered breads were created by Turkic peoples in Central Asia and argues that the "missing link" between the Central Asian folded or layered breads (which did not include nuts) and modern phyllo-based pastries like baklava is the Azerbaijani dish Bakı pakhlavası, which involves layers of dough and nuts. The traditional Uzbek puskal or yupka and Tatar yoka, sweet and salty savories (boreks) prepared with 10-12 layers of dough, are other early examples of layered dough style in Turkic regions.

A typical baklava, sweetened with syrup.

The thin phyllo dough as used today was probably developed in the kitchens of the Topkapı Palace. Indeed, the sultan presented trays of baklava to the Janissaries every 15th of Ramadan in a ceremonial procession called the Baklava Alayı.

Other claims about its origins include: that it is of Assyrian origin, dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, and was mentioned in a Mesopotamian cookbook on walnut dishes; that al-Baghdadi describes it in his 13th-century cookbook; that it was a popular Byzantine dessert. But Claudia Roden and Andrew Dalby find no evidence for it in Arab, Greek, or Byzantine sources before the Ottoman period.

One of the oldest known recipes for a sort of proto-baklava is found in a Chinese cookbook written in 1330 under the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty under the name güllach (Buell, 1999). "Güllaç" is found in Turkish cuisine. Layers of phyllo dough are put one by one in warmed up milk with sugar. It is served with walnut and fresh pomegranate and generally eaten during Ramadan.

Variations

Several types of Baklava

Baklava is the most famous of the Greek pastries, and every area of Greece - and sometimes every family within a region - has a favorite recipe. Enjoy this favorite of mine, made with walnuts and almonds, olive oil, cinnamon, and cloves. The recipe is a modified version of a Cretan specialty from Roman times, Gastrin.

In Greek: γάστριν, pronounced GHAHS-treen

Sesame seeds, pepper, and poppy seeds are only some of the unusual ingredients in this ancient recipe. Petimezi (a sweetener made from grapes), used long before sugar arrived in Greece, adds to the unique taste. If you're hooked on the Ancients, give this recipe a try.

Balkava (from the Farsi for "many leaves"), a pastry perfected by royal bakers in the sultan's palace in Istanbul, consists of layers of phyllo filled with nuts and spices and drenched in a syrup. It has become a traditional Middle Eastern Rosh Hashannah and Purim treat but is enjoyed at celebrations throughout the year. There are numerous variations of baklava, many a closely guarded secret passed down within families. A walnut filling is more prevalent in the Levant, while pistachios and pistachio-almond fillings are preferred in Iran. Blanched almonds are traditional on Rosh Hashannah to produce a light color so that the year should be dulce y aclarada ("sweet and bright"). Sephardim refrain from serving dark-colored pastries such as those made from walnuts on Rosh Hashannah, which would portend a dark year. Although purists disdain anything except the classic nut filling, some cooks innovated by adding such items as dates and chocolate chips. Hungarians make an apricot version. This very rich treat is usually served in small portions.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Amitai-Preiss, Reuven and David O. Morgan, (eds.), The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy Brill, 1999. ISBN 9004119469
• Christian, David. Review of Amitai-Preiss, op.cit., in Journal of World History 12:2:476 (2001).
• Perry, Charles. "The Taste for Layered Bread among the Nomadic Turks and the Central Asian Origins of Baklava," in A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (ed. Sami Zubaida, Richard Tapper), 1994. ISBN 1-86064-603-4.
• Roden, Claudia. The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. Knopf, 2000. ISBN 978-0375405068
• Vryonis, Speros, The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor, 1971. Quoted in Perry (1994).
• Wasti, Syed Tanvir, "The Ottoman Ceremony of the Royal Purse," Middle Eastern Studies 41:2:193–200 (March 2005)
• Gaifyllia, Nancy. The Art of Baklava About.com. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
• Mark, Gil. The World Of Jewish Desserts. Simon & Schuster, 2000. ISBN 978-0684870038

External links

• The History of Baklava
• Baklava Recipe
• Baklavas: Basic Baklava
• Gastrin: Ancient Version of Baklava

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