Daring Bakers June 2011 – Home made Phyllo and Baklava Rolls

This month’s challenge was to make baklava from scratch. Meaning the phyllo dough itself. Can’t say I’ve ever done this before. Since I made baklava a couple months ago I decided to make baklava rolls this time, instead of the traditional layers sheets cut into squares. I did have quite the adventure making the dough though. A little while ago my friend E gave me her stand mixer to use (she doesn’t bake much) so I was really excited, hoping to use it for the first time when making the phyllo dough. Well having never used the stand mixer before, I didn’t know how to adjust the bowl. Without taking a minute to figure anything out I threw in the flour, all the other ingredients and turned on the paddle. And it didn’t even scrape the bowl. That was ok – I didn’t get upset yet – I just decided to double the recipe, and threw in more flour and liquid ingredients, and turned on the paddle. Still no luck. In my defense I did spend some time thoroughly examining the paddle attachment to see if it could somehow be adjusted to come down lower into the bowl. Nope – it couldn’t. Terribly discouraged, I figured the stand mixer could only be used by hard core bakers making recipe in industrial sized quantities. So I threw out all that flour and liquid mix and started again, from scratch, doing everything by hand. Let me tell you – having to knead dough for 20 minutes straight when you thought you’d have a nifty device to do it for you is simply annoying. To say the least. O and this is the best part – later that night after talking to D (who was away on business at the time) who suggested conducting a thorough inspection of the mixer, I found a handle — apparently its not the paddle that comes down — its the bowl that can be lifted up. Unluckily for me – this revelation came after all the kneading and mixing had been completed (by hand) : / Anyhow, the baklava rolls were delicious. The dough itself was not that difficult to roll out and although it did rip in pieces, because I was making the rolls it really didn’t matter. I’m not sure that I’ll be making the phyllo dough itself again (and certainly not entirely by hand) but this was an interesting challenge, and at least, now, I know how to adjust the stand mixer.

Baklava Rolls

Recipe from Kaffeehaus and The Food Network

Start to Finish: 3 hours

Serves: 12-16

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 inch orange peel

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/8 cup blanched almonds

3/8 cup walnuts

3/8 cup pistachios

1/3 cup sugar

 1 stick butter

Directions:

1. Phyllo Dough – In bowl combine flour and salt. Add 1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon water, oil, and vinegar. Combine using wooden spoons and your hands until you have a soft dough (add water 1 teaspoon at a time if it appears too dry).

2. Knead by hand for 20 minutes (10 if using a stand mixer). Throw the dough down hard on the counter a few times in the process. Shape dough into a ball and lightly coat with vegetable oil. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let sit 60-90 minutes.

3. To roll the dough : unwrap the dough and cut off a golf ball sized amount. Wrap the dough up again.  Flour the counter, your hands and the rolling pin. Continue to roll the dough until you get it as thin as you can- don’t worry if it rips in places. Set the rolled dough sheet aside and continue with each golf ball sized amount, making sure to sprinkle flour in between each sheet (this way you can put all the sheets on top of each other).

4. For the nut mixture: combine the nuts, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Set aside.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the stick of butter in the microwave and grease a baking dish with the butter. Take 1 phyllo sheet and sprinkle some of the nut mixture in a thin line at the top. Start to roll the sheet up, making sure to brush melted butter on the top edge as you go. When you have rolled up half the sheet, sprinkle some more of the nut mixture and continue to roll and brush butter on the top edge. Once the sheet is rolled up place is in the baking dish. Continue with the remaining sheets.

6. Once all the sheets are rolled up and in the baking dish, brush the melted butter over the top. Using a sharp knife cut across the rolled up sheets to make little baklava rolls.

7. Bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven and using a sharp knife make the same cuts as before. Continue baking for another 15-30 minutes — until golden on top.

8. To make the syrup combine 1 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a 2 inch piece of orange peel in a pot. Stir over medium-high heat until sugar has dissolved. Bring the mix to a boil and continue to boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, remove orange peel and allow to cool while the baklava rolls cook.

9. When baklava rolls are ready pour the cooled syrup over the rolls. Once it cools to room temperature cover the baklava and leave the baklava rolls over night. Serve at room temperature.

**Store baklava at room temperature or freeze it and let sit overnight at room temperature to defrost.