Pistachio Baklava
- Total Time
- 2½ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2¼cups/300 grams shelled pistachio nuts
- 4sticks/2 cups/454 grams unsalted butter
- 1pound phyllo dough, defrosted overnight in the refrigerator
- 3cups/600 grams sugar
- Juice of ½ lemon, more to taste
Nutritional analysis per serving (26 servings)
332 calories; 20 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 24 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 87 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a food processor, pulse the pistachios until coarsely ground (or you can chop them by hand until very finely chopped). Don’t overprocess the nuts. You want to maintain some texture.
- Step 2
Clarify the butter by melting it over low heat, then letting it cook until the foam rises to the top and the milk solids fall to the bottom of the pan. This will take about 5 to 15 minutes depending upon how high your heat is, but don’t rush it or the butter could burn.
- Step 3
Skim foam off the top of the melted butter. Line a fine-mesh sieve with a piece of cheesecloth, place it over a bowl and pour the melted butter through.
- Step 4
Heat oven to 400 degrees and brush the inside of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with a little of the clarified butter.
- Step 5
Prepare the phyllo dough by trimming the stack of it with scissors to fit the bottom of your baking dish. Packages of phyllo come in different sizes; some won't need any trimming, some may need an inch or two cut off a side, and some may need to be cut in half crosswise. Cover phyllo layers with a lightly damp kitchen towel, and keep covered.
- Step 6
Place 1 piece of phyllo on the bottom of the baking pan; brush lightly with clarified butter. Layer phyllo sheets on top, brushing each sheet with butter as you go, until half the phyllo is used.
- Step 7
Spread pistachios on phyllo in an even layer, then layer with remaining phyllo, brushing each sheet with butter as you go (rewarm butter if necessary).
- Step 8
Cut the pastry into 36 pieces, using clean up-and-down strokes and rotating the pan if necessary. Make sure to cut all the way through to bottom of pan. Pour any remaining butter evenly over pan.
- Step 9
Bake baklava until the top is golden brown, and the lower phyllo layers beneath the pistachios are thoroughly baked through. To test this, use a knife to lift up a corner of one of the pastry rectangles from the center of the pan so you can peek at the bottom layers. Start checking after 40 minutes, but it could take an hour or even 1 hour 10 minutes. If the top starts to get too brown before the pastry is cooked through, lay a piece of foil over the top.
- Step 10
Meanwhile, prepare sugar syrup: In a medium pot, combine sugar with 1⅔ cups/400 milliliters water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Stir in lemon juice.
- Step 11
When the baklava is baked through, reheat the syrup until it comes to a simmer. Remove pan from oven and place in the sink or on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drips of syrup. Slowly pour hot sugar syrup over the pastry; it will bubble up and some may overflow. When the syrup stops bubbling, move pan to wire rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
Private Notes
Comments
I learned to make baklava from 2 outstanding cooks, one Egyptian and one Turkish. Both agree that the syrup should be cold when added to the hot baklava. It results in the syrup being well absorbed into the pastry.
Additionally, get fresh, refrigerated fillo dough. It's much less likely to have those wet spots that result in torn sheets when the dough is defosted, and is easier to work with. I think the brand is Athens, and I find it in stores that sell Greek foods.
Cold syrup over hot pastry yields crunchy pastry. It doesn't get soggy as quickly.
Honey is not used in authentic Turkish baklava. I am Turkish. My mom and aunts always used sugar syrup.
The syrup is very cold and poured over the hot baklava. That is the trick for crisp baklava.
I’m Greek and have been making baklava for decades. As correctly noted, Greek baklava tends to be sweeter (honey) with more aromatics. I like the less overwhelming Lebanese style! A few comments about a life long struggle with baklava delamination, especially between the phyllo and the top of the nuts. This happened to me in my first attempt here. Next time I will try adding a little butter and granulated sugar to the nuts for adhesion and improve the nut “grain size” and uniformity. I believe the size of the pan is also important as it determines the thickness and integrity of the pie. The phyllo that has always been available to me is ~12”x17” (#4) which results in thinner baklava, my preference. I have always let the pan cool for a few minutes and then added the cooled syrup. Instead, I followed the given instructions to the letter and top layers were perfect (not soggy). This may be more about one’s skill in layering the phyllo and phyllo freshness than syrup temperature. My oven is an old gas Wolf which is well insulated and has a spatially uniform temperature profile and am familiar with having to adapt to other cooks temperature and time recommendations. In this case the phyllo was browning at 30 minutes when I covered it. It was a little over cooked around the edges at 40 minutes (aluminum 12”x17” pan, 2” height). Mellisa’s recipes are consistently enlightened as is this one, which adapted well in my kitchen and produced the promised result! Kudos Melissa.
I wonder if that benefit for this baklava if you add ground cardamon to syrup? Any thoughts??
Made exactly as directed. Have never left a comment because I usually assume there will be variation due to different ovens/pans/etc, but this was a disaster and I’m not sure how it could have been salvaged. Burned to a crisp after 40 minutes, couldn’t pour remaining butter because it already looked very wet and I had only used half of the melted butter, and the syrup turned the entire thing into soup. Use a different recipe.