What happens when you’re a huge Bake Off fan and a member of the ITI Food and Drink Network? You run a sweepstake of course! A group of us have been allocated a contestant and when they leave the tent, we have to bake something from that week.
Week 6 was pastry week and saw the bakers tackle a chouxnut signature, a baklava technical and a terrine pie showstopper. It was Amanda’s pie that came crumbling down, and with it all her hopes and dreams. That meant it was my turn to bake.
I chose to bake the baklava, a sweet dessert with chopped nuts sandwiched between layers of crisp filo pastry, soaked in honey and syrup. I used Paul Hollywood’s recipe and had high expectations. Anything doused in 400g melted butter has got to be good! In the absence of a 30cm cake tin required by the recipe, I halved the quantities and used a 20cm tin instead.
When it comes to baking, especially pastry, a picture doesn’t always paint a thousand words. That’s why I created a video that no one asked for.
Revelations
This was the week I discovered that there is a dark underworld of people making their own filo pastry from scratch. What kind of sorcery is this? It takes a special kind of pastry enthusiast to do that and I’m actually quite proud to be able to join them. However, my real discovery was that filo could be laminated. The shop-bought kind comes as simple individual layers, whereas homemade has company. Each of my three layers either side of the filling multiplied into numerous more.
Filo time
First up was the dough. Another discovery: a concoction of flour, baking powder, eggs, Greek yoghurt, white wine vinegar, oil and salt. Who knew filo pastry was so rich? After some kneading and resting came the lamination. This was cornflour’s time to shine, with a sprinkling separating each of the folds. I rolled out each ball to the size of the tin, folded the left and right sides into the centre, then the top and bottom into the middle to form a rough square. I then folded the corners into the centre to make another square. This was repeated to make an even smaller one, which proved quite fiddly given that I had halved the recipe.
The filling
I have made baklava once before, with shop-bought pastry. Flashback to blitzing the nuts to sawdust, ruining the texture completely. So this time I resolved to painstakingly chop the nuts by hand, which I wouldn’t recommend if you have superior blending skills to myself! This recipe contains pistachios and walnuts, with cinnamon, cardamom and sugar also stirred in. Having ground cardamom was a bonus and spared me de-shelling and needed to use a pestle and mortar.
Syrup
The syrup was a simple mixture of sugar, honey and water brought to the boil on the hob with slices of lemon. A dash of rosewater was later added.
Time to assemble
I rolled out the dough to the size of a tin, trimmed round it, then placed the cut round in the bottom. The scraps went in too for extra layers. I actually used a larger 23cm tin for measuring, as the dough sprang back a little. After three layers of filo, I added the nuts, before topping with the final three.
Then came the tricky part: cutting the flower shape. I didn’t realise I’d signed up for a geometric design class. It was by far the hardest part of the entire process, especially copying from the finished picture. I feel some sort of colour-coded diagram would have helped highlight the lines. Credit to the bakers for doing it under pressure! I only made one rogue cut, but managed to stealthily steal a layer from another piece to cover my tracks. I poured in the obscene amount of melted butter and baked for one hour.
Crunch time
Upon removing from the oven, I added the syrup and left to cool before removing from the tin. It was tricky to remove from the base of the tin, especially as I’d cut all the way down to the bottom, but when it was completely cool it was safe to transfer. I decorated as the recipe described, with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals, and I really think the splashes of green and pink is what truly brought it to life.
Although not quite as crispy as shop-bought baklava, overall it was a success. The multiple layers of filo pastry were visible but getting them all properly baked through and crunchy is a mystery to me. It was still a real treat to enjoy.
Homemade filo, hand-chopped nuts…what a labour of love! I’m very pleased to now be officially filo certified and add it to my portfolio.
If you’re a Bake Off fan, you may be interested in my article comparing Bake Offs from different countries.