This
semester we are featuring recipes from cookbooks located in the UW-Stout
Archives Special Collections. The Special Collections are older, more rare, or
Stout related books that were originally located in the UW-Stout Library’s main
stacks collection. This past year we added a wealth of cookbooks to the special
collections, and I scoured the shelves for recipes to bring the world of baking
to your home during this time.
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| Recipes: Middle Eastern Cooking, 1976 cookbook |
Let’s travel to Greece to create multi-layered Baklava, via
Recipes: Middle Eastern Cooking, Foods of the World, Time-Life Books,
TX725.M628N52 1976. We have a variety of the Food of the World cookbooks that
feature recipes from a certain country or region. Discover more information
about these cookbooks here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foods_of_the_World
I had the chance to travel to Italy and Greece over the
2007-2008 New Year’s Holiday as part of the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Marching
Band. We traveled for 10 days and performed in Rome and Florence, Italy, and
Athens, Greece. It was a great experience and besides trying new foods, such as
gelato and baklava, and touring the cities, my favorite part was performing in
St. Peter’s Square for the Pope on New Year’s Day.
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| Julie on top of Hotel Stanley, with Parthenon in background |
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Blugold Marching Band performing in Athens, Greece
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| Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece |
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| Greek Islands |
Baklava (Layered Pastry with Walnuts and Honey Syrup), p. 98
To make one 9 x 13 inch pastry
¾ lb. butter, cut into ¼ in. bits
½ cup vegetable oil
40 sheets filo pastry, each about 16 in. long and 12 in. wide
4 cups shelled walnuts pulverized in a blender, nut grinder,
or mortar and pestle
Clarify the butter in a heavy saucepan or skillet: Melt the
butter slowly over low heat without letting it brown, skimming off the foam as
it rises to the surface. Remove the pan from the heat, let it rest for 2 or 3
minutes, then spoon off the clear butter and discard the milky solids at the
bottom of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 350* and stir the vegetable oil into the
clarified butter. Using a pastry brush coat the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 x
2 ½ in. baking dish with about 1 tbsp. of the mixture.
Fold a sheet of filo in half crosswise, lift it up gently and
unfold it into the prepared dish. Press the pastry flat, fold down the excess
around the sides and flatten it against the bottom. Brush the entire surface of
the pastry lightly with the butter and oil mixture, and lay another sheet of
filo on top, folding it down and buttering it in similar fashion. Sprinkle the
pastry evenly with about 3 tbsp. of walnuts. Repeat to make 19 layers total.
Spread the 2 remaining sheets of filo on top and brush the baklava with the
rest of the remaining butter and oil mixture.
With a small, sharp knife score the top of the pastry with
parallel diagonal lines about ½ inch deep and 2 inches apart, then cross them
diagonally to form diamond shapes. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30
minutes. Reduce the heat to 300* and bake for 45 minutes longer, or until the
top is crisp and golden brown.
SYRUP
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup water
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. honey
While baklava is baking, make the syrup. Combine the sugar,
water and lemon juice in a small saucepan and, stirring constantly, cook over
moderate heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high and, timing
it from the moment the syrup boils, cook briskly, uncovered, for about 5
minutes, or until the syrup reaches a temperature of 220* on a candy thermometer.
Remove pan from heat and stir in honey. Pour syrup into a bowl or pitcher and
set aside.
When the baklava is done baking, remove from oven and pour
syrup over it. Cool to room temperature and cut into diamond shaped pieces to
serve.
If this
venture seems daunting, like it did to me at first, here is a tutorial video to
help you get started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewjl_ZJ8onk
I have seen
different variations of ingredients used for baklava, but the process for preparing
it is essentially the same. This recipe calls for melting 3 sticks of butter
and combining vegetable oil to it, which I think is extra work than is
necessary. I have seen recipes where they just melt butter or spray cooking spray
for in between the filo sheet layers. My butter did not have foam rise to the
surface as it melted, it just melted. My butter and oil mixture got thick as it
cooled, while I was assembling the layers. This recipe only has walnuts for the
filling, but other recipes use seasonings, chocolate spread, hazelnuts and pistachios
with the walnuts. I did not find filo pastry sheets at the grocery store, so I
used four puff pastry sheets to layer, which are thicker, but worked just as
well. It was in the oven about 15 minutes less than the recipe said (probably
because of using puff pastry sheets, and my oven was preheating for a long
time). I suggest using a large vs. a small saucepan to boil the syrup. My syrup
boiled over and made a big, sticky mess on my stovetop. The baklava does taste
good, with a sweet, nutty flavor. It tastes like I remember from Greece, but I
ate one with chocolate filling before. Baklava is messy to make, so prepare for
clean-up duty! Bon Appetit!
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| Baklava ingredients |
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| Chopping the walnuts - I started with my Magic Bullet and moved to my Pampered Chef chopper |
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| Melting butter to brush on the pastry layers |
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| Prepping work area for pastry layer assembly |
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| Assembled and cut layers before baking in the oven |
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| Baklava out of the oven with syrup poured on top |
By: Julie
Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives
