Greek Baklava Recipe

This Greek Baklava recipe features a crispy, golden pastry, dripping with sweet honey syrup, and an aromatic filling of ground almonds and walnuts lightly spiced with cinnamon and cloves.

An Authentic Greek Baklava is a crunchy phyllo pastry dessert soaked in syrup. It's very crispy and flaky on top, with softer, syrup-drenched middle layers filled with crunchy chopped nuts.

Table Of Contents

• Greek Baklava vs Turkish Baklava
• Greek Baklava Types
• Baklava Ingredients
• How To Make
• Baking
• Adding Syrup
• TIPS
• Serve With
• Recipe

Greek Baklava vs Turkish Baklava

There are a few minor differences between Greek and Turkish Baklava. For one, it's the nuts used in the filling. For Greeks, it's usually walnuts or almonds (or a mixture of both), while for Turks, their traditional Baklava is made with pistachios.

The second difference is in the syrup: Greek Baklava syrup usually contains honey and cinnamon, or even cloves. While the Turkish version is plain sugar syrup with some lemon.

Thirdly, for brushing the phyllo, Greeks use melted butter, often mixed with olive oil, while Turks traditionally use clarified butter. And lastly, a Greek Baklava is always flavoured with spices like cinnamon and cloves, while Turkish Baklava doesn't contain any spices.

Greek Baklava Types

In addition to the traditional Greek Baklava recipe, there are many versions of this favourite dessert in Greece. Some of which adapt elements from Eastern countries, like the Turkish Baklava mentioned above.

So you can find pistachio Baklava or Walnut Baklava, or other modern variations such as Cheesecake Baklava, Mini Baklavas, Chocolate Baklava, or Baklava Rolls.

Baklava Ingredients

• Phyllo dough: phyllo or filo pastry dough that comes in 1-pound (450-gram packages). You need about 1½ packages for this recipe. The number of phyllo sheets each package contains may vary depending on the label, so it's better to calculate the phyllo you need by weight.
• Raw Nuts: I use a mixture of half walnuts and half almonds. You can use just walnuts, just almonds, or other nuts if you prefer, such as pistachios, pecans, or even hazelnuts.
• Butter: melted butter, you can also use clarified butter if you prefer.
• Olive Oil: mixed with melted butter to brush the phyllo. You can use a lighter vegetable oil instead, such as sunflower or corn oil, or skip oil altogether and use only butter.
• Spices: ground cinnamon and ground cloves.
• Breadcrumbs: a small amount is added to the filling. This is done a lot in old-fashioned Greek Baklava recipes to add body to the filling and hold the syrup better in between the layers.
• Sugar: white sugar to make the syrup.
• Honey: to make the syrup and drizzle over the Baklava when serving.
• Cinnamon Stick: to flavour the syrup. You may also use a lemon or orange peel for an extra citrusy aroma.
• Lemon Juice: We add this to the syrup to prevent crystallisation.
• Cloves: traditional Greek Baklava is decorated with a piece of clove in the centre of each piece. Of course, you can always skip this!

How To Make

To make Greek Baklava, first cut the phyllo in half to fit the pan. For this recipe, I'm using a 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) pan (affiliate link).

Prepare the filling by combining finely chopped nuts, sugar, breadcrumbs, and ground spices (cinnamon and cloves). Also, combine the melted butter with olive oil for brushing the phyllo.

And now it's time to start making layers. For the bottom, add 6 phyllo sheets to the pan. Brushing with plenty of the butter-oil mixture every second phyllo you add. Then add a layer of the filling. About 3-4 tablespoons.

For the middle layers of the Baklava, add 2 phyllo sheets and one layer of filling. Repeat until you use all of the filling, and you're left with 8-10 sheets of phyllo to use for the top.

The top of the Baklava is just like the bottom, without layers of nuts in between, just layers of phyllo. Add the phyllo sheets 2 by 2 with plenty of butter in between.

Finally, cut and divide the Baklava pastry into pieces, pour the remaining butter on top, and decorate each piece with a clove.

Baking

Baklava bakes low and slow at 150°C / 300°F for about an hour and a half. In order to become perfectly golden and crispy. It's also best to cook it on a lower rack, so it won't colour on top too soon.

Adding Syrup

To add syrup to Baklava, both the Baklava and the syrup need to be hot. So, prepare the syrup 20 minutes before you finish baking the pastry.

And add the syrup to the Baklava as soon as you take it out of the oven. Use a ladle and add a spoonful at a time, waiting a few seconds for each spoonful to absorb.

TIPS

• Finely chop the nuts, but don't powder them; they should have a bite.
• Cover the phyllo with a tea towel as you work because it air-dries.
• Don't stir the syrup from the moment it starts to boil because it might crystallise.
• Always boil a syrup in a narrower, taller cooking pot than a wide one. This gives space at the top for the syrup to bubble without spilling out of the pot. Also, sugar dissolves better. Ideally, the syrup should fill the pot to half its height.
• Bake the Baklava on a lower oven rack so it won't colour too soon on top. In the final minutes of baking, if it's not honey-browned on top, you can transfer it to one of the top racks.

Serve With

Serve this classic Baklava pastry with a drizzle of raw honey on top. Thyme honey or flower honey is best. Another favourite way of serving Baklava is with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

If you want something more traditional Greek, try serving Baklava with Kaimaki ice cream with Mastiha (it's such a tasty combination that I can't find words to describe it!).

Recipe