Turkish Pistachio Baklava Recipe - Chefjar (2024)

Flaky, crisp, tender, honey-sweet Turkish pistachio baklava is a classic dessert. The trick to this recipe is the beautifully balanced sweetness and crispiness.

How to Make the Best Baklava

You’ll need a few key ingredients for your baklava.

Firstly, nice, thin phyllo dough is critical. You don’t want thick phyllo sheets. The thinner, the better, at least when it comes to making a perfect baklava. You’ll also want to thaw your phyllo before cooking.

Do not skimp on any of your ingredients! Baklava is something of a more-is-more dessert. This is particularly crucial for your syrup. Use our recommended amounts of sugar, lemon juice, water and honey. This allows the baklava to moisten, soaking up the syrup into your phyllo sheets. Dry baklava layers don’t stick together as well so it’s really important that you get the amount of syrup right.

How To Make Turkish Pistachio Baklava

• First, you need to thaw out your phyllo dough. Do this according to the package instructions. Usually, this means thawing out your dough in the fridge overnight, then leaving it on the counter for an hour to bring it to room temperature.
• Next you need to trim the dough! Every baking sheet is different so you’ll want to trim your phyllo dough to fit the sheet. When trimming, trim one stack at a time, and cover with a damp towel or cloth to prevent the dough from drying out.
• Now you’re going to butter your pan on the bottom and sides. We recommend a 13x9 non stick baking pan.
• The next step is to start making your syrup! Take a saucepan and combine 1 cup sugar, ½ cup honey, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, and ¾ cup water. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Be sure to stir as you go until the sugar has dissolved, and then reduce your heat. Medium low should do the trick. Remove the syrup from heat and allow it to cool.

How To Assemble Turkish Pistachio Baklava

• First, preheat your oven to 350°F|175°C.
• Now, pulse, grind, or process pistachios in a food processor. About 10 pulses ought to be enough. You want the pistachios to be finely chopped, or coarsely ground.
• Next, place ten phyllo sheets in the baking pan, one at a time. Brush each sheet with butter once you’ve placed it in the pan, before adding the next one. To be clear, that means:

1. Place phyllo sheet in the pan.
2. Brush phyllo sheet with butter.
3. Place next phyllo sheet in pan.
4. Brush next phyllo sheet with butter.

And so on.

The remaining phyllo should be covered with a damp towel at all times.

• Now, spread about ⅕ of your nuts (which should measure around a ¾ cup) over the stacked phyllo dough.
• The next thing to do is add five buttered sheets of phyllo, followed by another layer of nuts. Repeat this four times, and finish the baklava with 6-10 layers of buttered phyllo sheets. The last thing to do in this stage is to brush the very top of the assembled baklava with butter.

The baklava layering should be as follows:

• 10 buttered phyllo sheets, ¾ cup nut mixture,
• 5 buttered phyllo sheets, ¾ cup nut mixture,
• 5 buttered phyllo sheets, ¾ cup nut mixture,
• 5 buttered phyllo sheets, ¾ cup nut mixture,
• 5 buttered phyllo sheets, ¾ cup nut mixture
• 6-10 buttered phyllo sheets with buttered top.

• Now, you’re going to cut your pastry into strips an inch and a half wide. Then you’ll cut these strips diagonally, forming some cute little diamond shapes. Bake the cut baklava in the oven at 350°F|175°C for an hour and fifteen minutes, or until the top is a lovely golden brown color.

Baklava Syrup

Once your baklava is done in the oven, remove immediately and spoon your cooled syrup over the freshly baked baklava. It will probably sizzle, which is what you want.

Pouring cooled syrup on hot baklava will ensure that the baklava stays crisp instead of getting soggy as it soaks up the syrup. You should allow the baklava to cool to room temperature once all the syrup has soaked into the baklava by leaving it uncovered on your kitchen bench.

Turkish Pistachio Baklava Tips

• You should let your baklava sit for four to six hours, or overnight, for best results. This allows the syrup to penetrate all the way through the baklava and reach the bottom layers, softening each layer of phyllo as it goes.
• Baklava does very well with a well-chosen garnish. Some chopped nuts, like walnuts or pistachios, are a great topping. You could also drizzle the top of the baklava with melted chocolate.
• When applying the syrup to the baklava, you don’t have to empty all your syrup on top at once. Drizzle the baklava one cup at a time, allowing each cup to soak in fully before adding the next one.
• You can store baklava at room temperature, if covered with a tea towel, for one to two weeks.

Although baklava is time-consuming to make, the results really are worth it. Patience is a virtue well-spent making this delicious dessert. Be sure to be patient with your pistachio baklava. Gentle, deliberate brushing with butter for all the pastry layers, and patience waiting for the syrup drizzle to penetrate all the way through the baklava are how you get the perfect dessert every time.

Love Pistachios? Try These!!!

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