EatSen · Recipes
Classic Turkish baklava made with paper-thin yufka pastry sheets brushed with melted butter and filled with ground pistachios. After baking, the golden-brown syrup pastry cake is soaked with warm lemon sugar syrup, which seeps into the crisp layers. A timeless dessert from Gaziantep.
Explore recipes and cook for free.
per serving
For the syrup, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the lemon juice and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, until the syrup thickens slightly. Remove from heat and set aside.
Melt the butter slowly in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and skim off the whey that rises to the surface, leaving clarified butter.
Grease a rectangular baking pan (30×40 cm) with a little melted butter. Lay the first 10 yufka pastry sheets in the pan one at a time, brushing each sheet evenly with melted butter. Overlap the sheets slightly.
Spread the ground pistachios evenly over the bottom pastry layer and press down lightly.
Layer the remaining 10 yufka pastry sheets on top of the pistachio layer one at a time, brushing each sheet with melted butter. Brush the top layer generously with the remaining butter.
Using a sharp knife, cut into diamonds: first make diagonal cuts from one corner to the other at even intervals of about 3 cm, then cut in the opposite direction. The cuts must go all the way to the bottom of the pan without cutting through the bottom pastry layer.
Place the baking pan in the preheated oven and bake at 170 °C conventional oven for 45 minutes, until the top is evenly golden brown and crisp.
Immediately after removing from the oven, pour the warm syrup evenly over the top. Drizzle the syrup in a thin stream over the entire surface so it seeps into the cut diamonds.
Let the baklava cool at room temperature for at least 60 minutes so the syrup is fully absorbed. Before serving, gently separate the diamonds.
Save and cook for free