Heather:
Does anyone have an authentic greek recipe for baklava? I've never made it but am really craving some.
Hi. Baklava is made in several different Mediterranean and middle eastern countries. I've had it from lots of different cultures, but my personal favorite (which is surprisingly easy to make) comes from my Afghan friend who makes it for his restaurant.
Baklava Ingredients:
- 2 packages of frozen Phylo dough (from the frozen section of your grocery store), thawed
- Melted butter (about one stick)
- Chopped walnuts (do it to taste, but for the best tasting baklava, use a nice thick layer.)
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios to garnish the top
Syrup Ingredients:
- Simple syrup using sugar and water (many people use a honey based syrup, but this is the best I've had and he uses simple syrup flavored with lemon juice and cardamom)
- Lemon juice
- A few crushed cardamom pods
To assemble the baklava, simply brush a little melted butter in a shallow pan roughly the size of your package of unrolled phyllo dough (shallow sheet cake sized pans work best for this. If you use the large full sized pans, you'll be using 4 packages of dough, 2 for the top and 2 for the bottom; however that makes about 50 whole pieces and 20 half pieces of baklava, so I'd recommend starting with the 1/2 sized pan for your first time!) Then unroll one of the packages of phyllo dough right into the pan. Don't bother with brushing each layer with butter like many recipes say (that's what makes this the easiest baklava recipe ever, although surprisingly it's also the best. 
) Brush the top of the package of phyllo dough with lots of the melted butter. Brush it on there really good. Then put your finely chopped walnuts all over the butter covered phyllo dough, making sure to get walnuts all the way out to the edges. Next, unroll the second package of phyllo dough right on top of the walnuts in the pan. Again brush the butter all over the top of the dough, making sure to get it on the edges. Pour any remaining butter right into the pan.
Cut the baklava into pieces before baking. Traditional baklava is cut into diamonds, although in some cultures, squares, triangles, or rectangles are also common.
Bake at about 375 until golden. To ensure even baking, cover the baklava with foil for the first half of baking, then remove the foil to brown the top.
After removing from teh oven, garnish with the pistachios. Then pour the simple syrup over the top. It's very important that the temperature of your baklava and your syrup contrast. For instance, if youmade the baklava earlier and are now adding the syrup, the syrup needs to be hot when pouring over cold baklava. If you are pouring it while the baklava is still hot, then you should use cold syrup (make it in advance). Finally, for this recipe, it is definitely better after the first day. If you need it for a party on Friday night, I'd recommend making it on Thursday morning, pouring the hot syrup over it on Thursday evening, and letting it set for 24 hours. Do not put it into the fridge until after the event. It will keep for quite some time in the fridge, and tastes just as good, but will get a bit soggy if you put it in the fridge.
I hope you like this recipe. :-)