Baklava

Ingredients

for the dough:

Flour 250 g

Egg 1

Sour cream 80 g

Milk 80 ml

Butter 30 g

Dry yeast 1/2 tsp

Pinch of salt

Sugar 1/2 tsp

For the filling:

Walnuts 130 g

Icing sugar 125 g

Vanillin 1/4 tsp

Cinnamon 1/4 tsp

Nutmeg 1/4 tsp

Cardamom 1/4 tsp

Butter 125 g

For the syrup:

Honey 75 g

Water 50 ml

Egg 1

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in warm milk and set aside for 10 minutes. Sift the flour into a bowl, add the salt, egg, sour cream, and butter, and mix well. Pour in the milk and yeast mixture. Mix well. The dough will still be sticky at this point. Transfer it to a generously floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a bowl greased with vegetable oil, cover, and let rise for 1-1.5 hours. Lightly toast the nuts in a dry frying pan, then crush them with a rolling pin (it's important to release the juices, so a coffee grinder won't work). Add the vanilla, spices, and powdered sugar, and mix well.

Grease a 28 x 19 cm rectangular baking pan with butter. You can use a smaller pan, but then create more layers. Divide the dough into 9 pieces, each half twice the size of the others. Roll out the largest piece thinly and place it in the pan, allowing the edges to hang over.

The dough will be very elastic and pliable, easily rolled out and stretched. It should be rolled out very thinly, like for strudel; it should be almost translucent. If the dough isn't rolled out thinly, the baklava will be hard and dry.

Place the largest piece of thinly rolled dough in the pan, brush it with a thin layer of melted butter. Then roll out the second piece of dough very thinly, place it on top of the greased dough, brush it with butter again, sprinkle with some of the nut filling (enough for 6 layers), top with another thin layer of dough, brush with butter, then add nuts, and repeat for 6 layers.

 Then roll out a piece of dough, cover the final layer of nuts with it, brush with melted butter, trim the overhanging edges of the dough to 1-2 cm, fold them over, and brush with beaten egg.

Roll out the last piece of dough, place it on top, brush with beaten egg, then carefully cut the baklava with a sharp knife into diamonds or squares. Don't cut all the way through, and don't press too hard, otherwise the filling will leak out onto the bottom of the pan and burn. Place a nut or almond half in the center of each square, pressing lightly in.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cover the baklava with a towel, let it rest for 15 minutes, then return to the oven for another 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the baklava, brush with the remaining butter (melt if necessary if it has hardened), and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

 Mix the honey with hot water. When the baklava turns pale golden, remove it from the oven, go over the cuts again with a knife, then pour syrup over the cuts (this should use about a third of the syrup). Bake the baklava until it's a beautiful golden brown.

Cool the finished baklava in the pan until it's slightly warm, cut it all the way through with a knife, then dip each piece thoroughly in the remaining syrup on all sides (cut sides).

Enjoy!