Vegan Dan Bing (Egg Crepe)

Social Distancing Eats: Veggie Byrek

After buying a pack of phyllo dough for our baked feta, I whipped up some impromptu byrek with the remaining phyllo sheets. It was my first time making byrek (I’ve done phyllo triangles and spiral rolls), so I was keep my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t mess it up. Read more for the recipe!

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mirnr

3 years ago

EASY TURKISH BAKLAVA

Newly baked Turkish baklava dessert filled with walnuts and topped with pistachio in a baking sheet

ingredients:

1 package phyllo dough (mine has 25 sheets), thawed

¾ cup unsalted butter, melted (at room temperature not hot)

2 cups walnuts, chopped

2 tablespoons ground pistachio, for garnish

Syrup:

2 and ½ cup sugar

2 cups water

1 slice of lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

Thaw the phyllo dough overnight in the fridge and then let it sit on the counter for about half an hour. Put it aside.

Prepare the syrup. Put the syrup ingredients in a pot. Heat until it boils. Let it simmer over medium low heat for 15 minutes and cool completely.

Trim the phyllo sheets to fit your baking pan. I used 25 sheets in this recipe and trim them all together. Cover them with a damp cloth so that the sheets won’t dry out when you are working. Each time you place a phyllo sheet into the pan, make sure you cover the rest. They can easily dry out otherwise.

Preheat the oven to 390F.

Butter the bottom and the sides of a 9×13 baking pan.

Place one phyllo sheet in the pan and brush it with melted butter. Place the second phyllo over it and butter it too. Repeat this until you have 5 sheets in total.

Spread ½ cup walnuts over the 5th sheet evenly.

Repeat this until you have 4 layers of walnuts. Top the 4th layer of walnuts with 5 phyllo sheets, buttering each. Make sure you butter the top as well.

Using a sharp knife, cut the raw baklava into vertical strips and then cut diagonally. Make sure you cut it all the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake it at 390F for 30 minutes or until tops are golden.

Remove it from oven and using a ladle, pour cooled syrup over hot baklava. Let it sit uncovered for 4-5 hours so that the syrup spreads well into the layers.

Garnish with ground pistachio and serve.

What is in Baklava filling

Although Turkish baklava is well known with its pistachio filling, it’s definitely not limited to it. Maybe because pistachio is not a very cheap product around the country, homemade baklava is mostly made with walnuts. Plus, every region has its own filling. For example, because pistachio nuts are grown in the south east of Turkey, pistachio baklava is famous there whereas in central Anatolia, the filling is crumbled walnuts. In the west region of the country, it is possible to see baklava with almond filling and in the north, the filling is hazelnuts.

Here in this recipe, walnuts are used in the filling and ground pistachio as garnish on the top.

If you are not making phyllo sheets from scratch, it is really so easy to make baklava using packaged phyllo.

First, make the syrup with water, sugar and a slice of lemon. Let it cool until you prepare and bake your baklava.

Second, trim the phyllo sheets to fit your baking pan.

Third, place the phyllo sheets in the pan, brushing each with melted butter. Sprinkle walnuts after every 5 phyllo sheets. You don’t need to butter the phyllo on which you spread walnuts.

The order is as follows:

4 buttered phyllo sheets, 1 phyllo sheet with no butter, ½ cup walnuts (makes 5 phyllo sheets, 1 layer walnuts)

5 buttered phyllo sheets. Butter the top.

In total, we have 25 phyllo sheets with 4 layers of walnuts.

Fourth, brush the top with melted butter, cut it and bake until golden.

Finally, pour cooled syrup over hot baklava and let it sit until it absorbs the syrup, at least 4-5 hours.

Spreading butter on phyllo sheets for a classic baklava recipe

Pouring baklava syrup with a ladle over newly baked baklava

How to cut Baklava

Traditionally baklava is cut in diamond shapes. It might be a big deal if you have never tried it before, but it is not as hard as you think. First, cut the raw baklava into vertical strips. Use a sharp knife for this and cut it all the way to the bottom of the pan so that the syrup spreads evenly. Then cut it diagonally to make that diamond shape.

Alternatively, you can just cut it into squares or rectangles.

Turkish Baklava syrup

The ingredients for syrup are

water, sugar and a slice of lemon. Combine these in a pot. The ratio here is 2 and ½ cups sugar to 2 cups water. You can just put the lemon slice into the sugar and water combination and heat until it boils. Let it simmer over medium low heat for 15 minutes and cool completely. Lemon gives the consistency needed for the syrup. The best syrup is neither too thick nor too thin.

There is no additional flavourings in Turkish baklava syrup, but there are recipes with rosewater or orange blossom water. So if you want to enrich the syrup, go ahead and use them.

How long does Baklava last?

Keep it covered in a container at room temperature for 1-2 weeks. Don’t store it in the refrigerator, its texture might change as sugar crystalizes and the dessert will lose its moistness.

Can I freeze it?

Yes, you can freeze it. Bake it, pour the syrup over it and let it cool completely before placing it in the freezer. Keep it in small batches in freezer bags so that you don’t have to thaw all of them at once. Bring it out of the freezer in the refrigerator one day before you serve.

What to serve with it

We either serve it with Turkish Tea or Turkish coffee, preferably with no sugar added as the dessert itself is already sweet enough.

NOTES

The butter should be melted and at room temperature, not hot. And don’t try to cover the surface of each phyllo sheet with butter. Just gently brushing it with butter will be enough.

You can adjust the amount of the syrup you pour over baklava. You don’t have to use all the syrup for a less sweet baklava.

Don’t forget to cover the phyllo sheets with damp cloth when buttering one phyllo sheet in the pan. Otherwise, they dry out and tear.