Where does the recipe for 'Bakhlava' come from?!


Question: Where does the recipe for 'Bakhlava' come from!?
It is a sweet from the Middle East!.!.!.but from which exact country does it originate!?Www@FoodAQ@Com


Answers:
The Story of Baklava begins around the 8th Century B!.C!. in northern Mesopotamia, when the Assyrians layered very thin pieces of dough with nuts, baked their primitive pastry in wood-burning ovens, and added honey for sweetness!. As the area was frequented by Greek seamen, a baklava recipe made its way west to Athens!. There, Greek artisan bakers made a significant contribution – they mastered a method of rolling the pastry dough into paper thin sheets called fillo!. (“Fillo” or “phyllo” actually means “leaf” in the Greek language!.) As early as the 3rd Century B!.C!., baklava was served in wealthy Greek households for all kinds of special occasions!.

As often happens with regional cuisine, bordering areas adopted and sometimes altered the Greek baklava recipe to reflect the individual tastes of their respective peoples!. Armenians added cinnamon and cloves to their baklava, while Arabs added rosewater and cardamom!. The sweet also spread into the wealthy households of the ancient Persians and Romans, and then journeyed to what is now Turkey when the Roman Empire moved east to Byzantium/Constantinople in the 4th Century A!.D!.

When the Ottomans invaded Constantinople in the 15th Century, and then expanded their empire to include the entire Armenian Kingdom and the ancient Assyrian territory in Mesopotamia, they inadvertently consolidated the regional baklava recipes within their borders!. Ottoman Imperial palaces, mansions of Pashas and Viziers, and wealthy merchants employed Armenian, Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Serbian, and Hungarian chefs and bakers to create their regional delicacies!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

Baklava

A Greek favorite that makes everyone think you are a master chef and is sooo easy to make!! I taught a Greek friend how to make apple pie and she taught me this fabulous recipe!. The phyllo dough for this recipe is found in the freezer section of most grocery stores!. Add a little lemon zest to the sugar sauce, if desired

INGREDIENTS
1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
1 pound chopped nuts
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey



DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C)!. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan!.
Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon!. Set aside!. Unroll phyllo dough!. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan!. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work!. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly!. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered!. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top!. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go!. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep!.
Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan!. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts!. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp!.
Make sauce while baklava is baking!. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted!. Add vanilla and honey!. Simmer for about 20 minutes!.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it!. Let cool!. Serve in cupcake papers!. This freezes well!. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

Greek baklava - (Baklavas)
INGREDIENTS

Filling
* 500 gr!. walnuts, coarsely chopped
* 60 gr!. sugar
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pastry
* 500 gr!. fyllo pastry
* 180 gr!. unsalted butter, melted

Syrup
* 230 gr!. caster sugar
* 300 ml water
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 2 teaspoons lemon juice
* some lemon peel
* 2 tablespoons honey

METHOD

Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl!.
Liberally butter the base and sides of an elongated or round baking dish!. Measure the length of the fyllo against the baking dish roughly and, allowing 2 cm extra approximately for shrinkage, cut to length with a sharp knife!. Brush each layer of fyllo with melted butter and spread over the base of the container as evenly as possible!. Once you have used 5 layers of pastry, sprinkle a thin layer of filling all over the surface and add 3 more layers!. Sprinkle a thin layer of filling and place 2 more sheets of fyllo on top!. Sprinkle on all the remaining filling, spreading it evenly, and cover with 7-8 more layers of fyllo, brushing individually with butter!. Fold any excess pastry on either of the sides over the filling and brush it with butter!. Brush the top layer liberally with butter in order to get it crisp and golden!. Trim any excess pastry with a small sharp knife, keeping in mind that it will also shrink!. Cut the top layers of fyllo carefully, either diagonally into diamond shapes or straight, which will result in square or elongated pieces!. Be careful not to cut right down to the base, but only the top layers!. This is done in order to make cutting and lifting the pieces out, once it is cooked, much easier and efficient!. Using the tips of four fingers, sprinkle drops of water all over the surface and cook it in a preheated oven, gas no!.5/ 375 grades F / 190 grades C, for 15 minutes; lower the heat to gas no!.4/ 350 grades F/ l80 grades C and cook for a further 20 minutes!.
In the meantime, prepare the syrup!. Place all the syrup ingredients, apart from the honey, in a saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar!. Simmer for 6-8 minutes, add the honey and simmer for a further 5 minutes until it thickens slightly!. Let the baklava cool down then pour the hot but not boiling syrup slowly all over, through a strainer!. Let it stand and absorb the syrup!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

the only form of baklava I know of is of greek originationWww@FoodAQ@Com

I have friends from Greece who say it is Grecian!.Www@FoodAQ@Com





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