This Baklava Recipe will leave your guests asking for more! And while it SEEMS intimidating it’s actually fairly straightforward and not hard to make. If you have the time, that is!

Layers of homemade filo, stuffed with ground pecans (use walnuts if you like), more layers of filo, laminated with melted butter, and baked to perfection. Drizzle on a lemon honey syrup, decorate as desired, and be ready to dazzle guests.

If you’re looking for a different kind of Baklava have you ever tried a Greek Baklava? This recipe for Greek Baklava Rolls is gorgeous and unique!

YES, this Baklava Recipe WAS the Technical for Pastry Week!

And it’s ALSO our bake for the Bake-Along this week!

The bakes for Pastry Week 20210 Were:

Signature Bake: Choux Pastry Doughnuts or Chouxnuts
Technical Bake: Baklava
Showstopper: Terrine Pie

Since we’ve done raised doughnuts already, like these Lemon Raspberry Cream Filled. AND last year we learned How to Make Churros, which are almost a choux dough we chose the TECHNICAL BAKE for the Bake-Along.

This is an interesting take on laminating, and you have to take it on faith that it will work because it feels 100% wrong. But you get Lamination

and LAYERS!

Here are your directions to make Baklava fo the Technical Bake:

make filo dough
make syrup
make filling
roll out filo dough
assemble in the pan
add melted butter
bake
pour over with syrup
decorate
serve

HA! Obviously, you can charge ahead with those directions OR you can choose to follow the recipe below which fits a 10-inch springform pan. OR you might want to go grab the recipe I adapted this recipe from over the Great British Bake Off Site.

Why I adapted this Baklava Recipe

To START with the pan called for was a drop bottom 30 cm sandwich tin. Don’t have one, not going to buy one, so I had to substitute some kind of pan.

I did some figuring and realized that the 30 cm was ALMOST a 12-inch pan. And also realized that my Springform Pan is 10 inches. So it made sense that I could reduce the recipe fairly easily. Dividing EACH ingredient amount by 6, then subtracting that from the original amount gave me a recipe reduced by 1/6.

I reduced the WHOLE recipe by 1/6 so it would work in my 10-inch springform pan. Actually, my husband did that math for me while I panicked about this technical bake!

Serve the baklava right on the bottom of the springform pan.

PLUS it’s the ONLY round pan in MY house that the bottom comes out of so it HAD to work. And I think it came out JUST FINE!

thoughts on this baklava Recipe

I am not a fan of lemon and honey together. If I were to make it again I would 100% NOT use lemon in the syrup. Everyone else who tried it loved it, it’s a personal preference for me.

Maybe if I’d had rose water it would have changed the flavor for me? But I didn’t have it. And honey lemon just tasted like a melted cough drop.

The Star Pattern is a hard one to replicate especially on a smaller scale. I did a very basic snowflake style design, it looks like a quilt square and I think it looks nice.

Undecorated and still in the springform pan.

My pistachios were not as green as the ones on the show. I think I should have warmed them and rubbed the husk off? I don’t know I don’t usually bake with them!

I also wish I’d had the dried edible rose petals. The baklava is decorated with dried mint leaves and some of the last of my calendula petals from the garden! I tried dried cherries, and I tried ONLY ground nuts but I like the look of the mint leaves and the pop of yellow best!

Decorate it how you like though!

Fresh out of the oven, with the foil still on it.

One more thought, I don’t know how the bakers did this whole project in under 3 hours. I barely pulled it in under 4 hours! But to reiterate this isn’t a HARD bake it’s simply time-consuming.

Layers and lamination in the filo dough.

What do you need to make This GBBO Baklava?

10 inch Springform pan
corn starch
rolling pin
pastry brush
food processor
stand mixer
foil to cover the bottom of the spring form to keep it from leaking
large baking sheet

Yield: 40 servings

Baklava

This party-sized round baklava is sure to satisfy every guest at your next gathering!

Prep Time 3 hours

Cook Time 1 hour

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 5 hours

Ingredients

Filo Dough

417 grams all-purpose flour
1 2/3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 medium eggs
142 grams Full Fat Greek Yogurt
42 grams butter, melted
75 ml oil
2 1/2 tsp white vinegar
166 grams corn starch

Syrup

167 ml water
112 grams granulated sugar
250 grams honey
1 medium lemon
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling

292 gram pecans, finely chopped
292 grams pistachios, finely chopped
42 grams granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
333 grams salted butter

Instructions

make the filo dough by mixing the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer
make a hole in the center
mix the liquid ingredients together and pour in the hour, run with the dough hook on until the dough comes together
knead on low for 5 minutes or until a soft dough is formed
weigh the dough and divide into 6 parts
roll each into a dough ball, set on a plate, cover lightly, and let them rest
while the filo rests make the syrup
combine the water, sugar, and honey in a small saucepan
bring to a boil
if you're using the lemon, see the blog post for more information on why you may NOT want to use the lemon, while it comes to a boil wash the lemon in hot water to get off any wax
then slice the lemon and add it to the pan too
once it boils reduce the heat and let it simmer for five minutes
when it's done, remove it from the heat, add the vanilla, set aside to cool
sprinkle the counter with corn starch
take one dough ball and roll it out to be about the size of your springform pan, 10 inches
dust the whole thing with corn starch
dust again
fold the top and bottom sides in
dust again
fold the corners in
dust
fold the corners in, when it's finished it's a small square
set aside to rest and repeat with the remaining dough balls
make the filling by mixing the finely nuts together with the sugar and spices
make the baklava
preheat the oven to 325˚
roll out a dough ball to be slightly bigger than the springform pan
pick up the dough and lay it back down to spring back a little bit, then roll it bigger than the pan, this helps ensure the dough is big enough to cover the pan, if you don't lift it up and just trim it chances are it won't be big enough
trim the dough to fit the pan and then lay it in the bottom of the pan, lay any scraps on top of it OR use them to patch where the dough shrunk just a bit and doesn't quite fit
repeat with two more layers, adding the trimmings to the top of the dough OR the edges where it doesn't fit
spoon the filling over the 3 layers, spread it out evenly
repeat with the dough layer EXCEPT on the final layer lay any trimmings on the fifth layer before laying it to cover the top
cut a snowflake or star pattern, be sure to use a sharp knife, and cut all the way to the bottom, use a measure tape if you need to be sure your cuts are where you want them to be
use foil to completely cover the bottom of your springform to keep anything from dripping out, AND place it on a large baking sheet
melt the butter and pour it slowly over the baklava, allow it to sit for 10 minutes
then bake it in the oven for an hour until the top is nicely browned
remove it from the oven
strain the syrup through a sieve
and then pour it gently over the baked baklava
allow it to soak up the syrup for 15 minutes, then take away the sides of the springform
let it rest on the baking sheet until cool
keep it ON the bottom of the springform and move it to a serving platter
serve with a set of tings for people to choose their pieces

1 thought on “Baklava: a GBBO Technical Bake”

Judee

October 29, 2021 at 9:55 am

Your baklava looks absolutely beautiful and sounds delicious. I have made baklava a few times and it is way too much work for me. I love the idea the you make your own filo dough. I will save the recipe. Visiting from Gluten-Free A-Z Blog.

Baklava: a GBBO Technical Bake

YES, this Baklava Recipe WAS the Technical for Pastry Week!

Why I adapted this Baklava Recipe

thoughts on this baklava Recipe

What do you need to make This GBBO Baklava?