Baklava

Baklava [ bakla ʋa ː ] (Arabic بقلاوة, DMG baqlāwa, Armenian փախլավա ( paḫlawa ), Albanian Bakllava, paxlava Azerbaijani, Bulgarian Баклава, Greek Μπακλαβάς, Persian باقلوا, DMG bāqlavā, Turkish baklava ) is a pastry made of leaves or filo pastry filled with chopped walnuts, almonds or pistachios. As long as it is still hot, it is inserted into syrup from eingekochtem sugar water and then cut into diamond shape. Classic companion of a baklava dessert is a strong, black mocha since its bitterness contrasts with the sweetness of the baklava.

Origin

Baklava and other sweets include the entire Middle East and the Balkans to the traditional pastry, even if the own version is considered the original in many countries.

The Armenians say that their baklava go back to the 10th century and thus were the creators of the original version. The word would therefore derive from bakh, the Armenian word for Lent and of halva, which stands for " sweet " in some languages. During the Byzantine era Armenians completed the recipe with cinnamon and clove, Arabs later with rose water and cardamom.

Another theory states that the Assyrians have already baked in the 8th century BC, baklava and Greek merchants brought them to Greece, where the Greeks with a technique for wafer-thin dough have a share. The Greek Byzantinists Speros Vryonis and Phaidon Koukoules want to have BC identified in the Deipnosophistai of Athenaeus in the 2nd century the description of which can be regarded as baklava precursor layered dessert called gastrin.

Most theories assume that baklava must have been made on the basis of preparation in the oven in a sedentary and advanced culture. However, a different approach of the American Arabist Charles Perry, who considered the nomadic Turkic peoples as the inventor of baklava. Nomadic way of life was, according to Perry to the baking of bread only in a thin form in a pan, so that thicker breads were prepared by layering a thinner dough.

Common theories assume an origin in the Late Middle Ages in Persia or Asia Minor. In the cookbook of Muhammad Hasan al - Baghdadi am from 1226 a dessert called Lauzinaq is listed, which consists of a coated with batter almond paste and topped with syrup, so the baklava is very similar. The now well-known model with multiple layers of very thin filo pastry was probably invented in the Topkapi Palace after the 16th century.

Preparation

A real recipe for baklava does not exist, since the preparation varies regionally. There is only one basic method of preparation.

Variants

The large spatial distribution of the pastry has led to a variety of specific methods of preparation and ingredients, the spatial features can be approximately as follows play.

• In Iran, almonds and pistachios are the most common nuts for the filling.
• In Turkey, the Balkans and the Levant walnuts are used.
• In the Arab world and in Iran, the syrup is mixed with rose water.
• In Greece, the syrup of honey, lemon juice and cinnamon contain.