Calling all Greek Cooks, how do you

Dear Wendy!

I think you got it! YES! You should add the hot syrup when the backlava has rest for two hours after baking it !

This is the golden rule with all the pastries that need syrup
" One of them must be cold!" Either the pastry or the syrup!

I agree that you should cut the backlava before baking it but not deep cut! The last fyllo , the one that covers the pan should stay uncut!

As for freezing, you can freeze backlava before you bake it NOT after!
Storing backlava? I don't know because it never lasts more than 2 days... It can stay long enough in a box out of the fridge, even for a month!

The quantity of syrup? I cannot help you with this one I am afraid.
I have inherited my grandma's little casserole who used exclusively for making syrups! This can hold 5 cups.
Two cups doesn't sound enough.
Another tip that if you serve this to Greeks they will appreciate it : In the centre of each piece of your backlava, after additing the syrup, nail a clove!



Let me ask you something

Do you make your own Fyllo??
Do you scent your syrup with lemon when you make galaktompoureko?

Good luck with backlava!

:chef:

 

Well Wendy, I have to take my time to answer all these, I have answers because as people say, I am not bad in pastries with syrop.
In Greece our grandmothers used to say that you cannot find a proper husband if you don't know how to make backlava and galaktompoureko...



Where is Papa BTW, I am sure that he has some theories of his own.

I will be back!

 

Oh, YUM! Please, pretty please, W., could you post the recipe for the galaktoboureko filling? You probably don't remember my pastry-cream dilemma -- but that sounds like just EXACTLY what I'm looking for!!!

Mmm, phyllo pastries. There's a Middle Eastern restaurant just round the corner from me, too.

 

W., thanks for the tip! I never knew that brushing water on before baking will hold the top layers together.

I don't get why you'd want to mix butter and oil, though.

For the spillage of nuts, it could be due to not pressing down enough, but maybe there's not enough syrup getting around the edges, too. That was my first thought.

I never had a problem with soggy baklava; it definitely has to be cold syrup on HOT baklava. I use 1 1/2 cups of liquid in the syrup to a pound of phyllo. They stay crispy.

 

A couple of years ago, I had a similar problem to yours, W.; not with the nuts spilling out, but with the layers separating between the nuts and phyllo. The solution was to add melted butter to the nut and sugar mixture. Now it holds together well.

I cut mine all the way through before baking, and never had any problems. Athenaeus, why do you suggest not to do this?

 

You see Wendy,

Momoreg and I we are talking about the same thing!

As I said the backlava OR the syrup must be hot , NOT BOTH of them!
I prefer to leave the backlava rest for a while and put the hot syrup afterwards.
I think chemicaly speaking, this sounds to me more correct!
If I remember my chemistry class from school I mean!

Yes of course I brush it with cold water, sorry for not mentioning before!

I agree with Momoreg, using butter between the layers of phyllo is the sollution! I do not use sugar it gets too sweet!

Try to use butter and not margarine, I wouldn't suggest olive oil because there is a fatal attraction between wallnuts and olive oil! Too heavy !

Well I am very very very surprised that they freeze baked backlava! I am going to try it! Sorry for insisting but are you sure about that?

My backlava stays pale when I use almonds or not very good quality of butter or when it's not well baked! In Greece, we bake it a lot!

As for the syrop , for backlava you don't need a scent
But for galaktompourekjo, I use the peel of a lemon and a couple of drops of lemon juice!
I do not like cinnamon in syrup for pastries but you can use it if you prefer the flavour.I also flavor the cream filling with lemon.

The most surprising of all was to read that you consider galaktompoureko an easy pastry...
I know that you are a pro but still...

Do you know Revani ?? Made of semolina? It's so good and I think it's so easy for a pro.
Do you want me to post you the recipe in order to realize what is all about.
let's say a semolina cakje with syrop. We have it with ice-cream or creme fraiche or chocolate!

And Wendy! Don't forget the clove! You will mekae the difference!

 

Well W.D. I will defer to the delightful Athenaeus for the most part. I will only speak of my experience. In fact I made a 9"x13' one last week.
My walnuts were fine chopped to the size of say rice krispies. I added about 1/3 cup sugar to 4 cups of nuts to help bing them a little.
I added my syrup while the pastry was hot and the syrup warm. Neither seemed to suffer. The pastry remained crisp in the 3-4 days it took me to finish it off. I scored the top of the phyllo before cooking but did not cut through, though that doesn't sound like a half bad idea to cut part way into it.

I used about 1 cup of syrup and it was great. Truthfully it probably could have used 1-1/2 cups, but personally I wouldn't use any more than that. Anymore than that and you get soaking not moistening and that could detract from the crispness.

Can't get enough of that Baklava!!!

 

Athenaeus,
I had to freeze many things as a caterer, including baklava. It's much better fresh, but if you thaw it correctly, it's passable. Just don't unwrap it until it's at room temp.

 

I have frozen baklava without problems. The one time I made baklava. I defrosted them in the fridge and then brought them to room temperature.


My favourite are the pistachio baklava.:lips:

 

"SO it does makes sense to cut all the way threw (when it's easy uncooked) then put your last few layer on top".

Wendy, I'm having trouble visualizing what you mean by t his.

Yes, you do use very little sugar in the filling. Have you tried increasing it?

 

Oh, I don't know. I know Mediterranean desserts are stereotypically supposed to be so sweet that, as MFK Fischer quotes her then-husband, "it makes every tooth in my head quiver like a startled doe," but I think if you're pouring sugar syrup over the whole, it would be far more appealing to have a less-sweet sort of a filling to counter the general stickiness. Speaking purely as a pastry-eater, of course.

 

Thanks for letting me now that I can freeze baked backlava. This can make my life much easier because this month we have a lot of name-celebrations in Greece and .
(Michele , if you were Greek Orthodox, I should have made a pan of backlava for you with home made phyllo yesterday when all the Greek Micheles were celebrating their name day )!

I was wondering about the backlava filling. Buttering the phyllo is one point and the use of sugar is another, since you uses very small amount of syrup...
You now in Greek the whole point is not to use sugar but syrup...
That's why we call them "Syropiasta" that means soaking in syrup.
A common mistake that "home chefs" make is that they put enormous amounts of filling between the phyllo...
This is wrong, you have just to sprinkle the walnuts!

The galaktompoureko recipe is great!

BTW do you know why in the Middle East they use so much syrup?
I hope that none of our friends that comes from Middle east gets insulted by that, I just mention it for historical reasons.
In fact I have citizenship of a Middle eastern country as well and I have spent great parts of my life there, so please no offense!

In Middle East they have this habbit of smoking hashish. it's not a habbit really , it's just that it is more acceptable than in the western countries.
They say that after smoking a "joint" you need something very very sweet , and this is the reason that the pastries in Middle East are soaking into syrup.
With the exception of Israel that such habbits are not acceptable, unless you go to the beloved eastern part of Jerusalem ,if you go let's say in Lebanon in Beyrut to a coffee shop ...they serve you the cigarette and after a while ...there is your backlava!
There is always a reason behind a culinary habbit!! This is my theory

Backlava was invented in Constantinople (Instabul) during the Middle Ages , in fact backlava was the favourite pastry of Emperess Theodora who lived in the 6th century AD , one of the most weird,and powerfull figures of History and I have read in a manuscript that the original recipe had a substitute of sugar in the feeling!!
I can post the original 6th century recipe if you wish!

So, dear friends, the american version is more close to the original one!



PS
Adam, I can live with idea that you may make a better backlava than I do, but I just cannot stand te fact that you have a better collection of gifs than me

 

Athenaeus, I never knew any of that. My family is Syrian, so as a child, I ate a lot of Syrian pastries (including pistachio baklava, and kataifi). It was always sickeningly sweet, and sometimes had a hint of rosewater.

Also, I have seen and used both techniques that you describe, Wendy, and they both work fine for me. I think that melted butter in with the nuts is the key.

I'm going to check some of my Syrian cookbooks, and see what they say.

 

Wendy, I only use the 1/2 butter 1/2 oil when using phyllo for strudels. For baklava, I use all butter---better flavor. The only problem I've encountered with baklava is some of the top leaves being blown in the convection oven. For the syrup I use sugar, honey water and orange zest. For the nut filling pistachios, sugar,small amount of cinnamon. Hot baklava, cold syrup is usually the method I use. And I pre-score the top layers but don't cut all the way down to the pan.
I think I will try the water tip you gave. It really is aggravating to see all your phyllo getting blown around in the oven.