Greek Festive baklavas with Aegina pistachios

I don't think that Baklavas needs a lot of introduction to most of you. Those who have not tried it in Greece probably have in Turkey or Lebanon or other Middle East or Balkan countries. The name is almost the same everywhere with minor phonetic variations. It's history is not well documented but it's current form is believed to have developed in the kitchens of the Topkapi Palace during the Ottoman years.... although, it seems, there is evidence of mentioning Baklava in Arab, Greek, even Byzantine sources before the Ottoman period. It is a very popular (and very sweet) dessert which can be found all over Greece with small variations from region to region. In many areas of the country it is considered as the main Christmas dessert and a lot of people prefer the home made phyllo pastry than the store-bought one. Here we have the delicate version with pistachios which, in my opinion, makes the Baklava lighter in taste (but probably not in calories I'm afraid...:-) *** Don't neglect to read the two important notes at the end of the recipe

Recipe of Stelios Parliaros
a prominent Head Confectioner
photo from "BHMAgourmet" magazine of "TO BHMA" newspaper (2009)

Ingredients (for 30 pieces):
40 thin phyllo pastry sheets
500gr of butter
300gr unsalted pistachios

For the syrup:
650gr sugar
400ml water
80gr liquid glucose (it helps the syrup to sustain its syrupy consistency and not to get crystalised)

Method:
In a small frying pan melt the butter in low heat. You don't want it to get brown or burnt.

Put the pistachios in a blender and whizz until they turn into powder or into very fine crumbs, otherwise the phyllo sheets will not stick on.

Brush with some butter the bottom and the sides of an oven pan of 30 x 45cm.

Start laying in the pan half of the phyllo sheets (20 of them), one on top of the other -brushing each one with some butter.

Spread evenly the ground pistachios on the phyllo sheets and then cover on top with the rest of the pastry, after you have brushed each phyllo sheet with butter. *** Alternatively, you can scatter a small quantity of the pistachios separately on each phyllo sheet (again after brushing with butter each one of them).

Put the pan in the fridge for half an hour to get cold, so to be easier to score the top phyllo sheet before baking.

Preheat the oven to 130°C-140^οC (depending how strong the oven is).

Get the pan out of the fridge and using a pointy knife score the surface carefully into small square or diamond shaped pieces (with this size of pan you'll get about 30 pieces). Drizzle on top with a bit of water so to prevent the phyllo sheets from "turning" over while baking and also to become crunchier.

Put in the oven and bake in this low heat for about 1 ½ - 2 hours.

About 20-30 minutes before the baklava is ready prepare the syrup. In a small pan put together the sugar, the water and the glucose and from the moment they get to the boiling point count 3 minutes. Take off the heat and leave the syrup aside to rest, you need it warm (not piping hot or cold).

Take the baklava out of the oven and cut the scored pieces with a sharp knife all the way through. While it is still piping hot slowly pour the warm syrup over using a ladle, making sure that the syrup covers the whole surface and the corners of the pan.

Leave the baklava to stand for a few hours so to absorb the syrup nicely before you serve. In my opinion and from my experience baklavas tastes better if served the next day.

Note 1:
The moment you pour the syrup is very crucial for baked desserts with phyllo pastry (like galaktoboureko, baklavas, kataifi etc). One method is the one I described above. The other way of doing it is when both syrup and dessert are very hot. What you never do is to pour a piping hot syrup on a cold dessert, otherwise you'll end up with soggy and torn phyllo sheets!!!

Note 2:
To keep the phyllo sheets crunchy you never cover the baklava. And, also, you never store it in the fridge