Hello TFLers! Long time no read! It's that time of the year again for my mandatory year-end post.

2023 has been a very challenging year for me but there were many successes to celebrate too. Work schedule has been insane so I have no time to spare to make bread (It usually takes 2-3 days with planning included) so I have not made bread for a year which this site is for. I learned to cook various food from different cuisines (lot of food I've cooked but no time to post) that many might not find interesting especially in a bread site. Anyhow, Im still posting some of them, in case someone like me might be interested.

This year, I learned how to make baklava and even the phyllo dough (yufka) from scratch. Baklava is a pastry that has mystified me  since I was young until the advent of e-commerce, that I learned to shop online. I tasted various baklavas this year but my favorite was the Turkish Baklava. I like it for its "simple and clean" flavor. Don't get me wrong, all baklavas are good, it just depends on your preference.

It's the making of phyllo froms scratched that has thrilled me the most, I thought it would be impossible to make it at home without a machine (guess what, how did they make it in ancient times?). There are various methods on how you can achieve that almost transparent dough.

In Greece, it is commonly stretched by hand from what I've seen (I've tried this method but it is time consuming and your have to be extra careful not to pierce and that it is even); in Türkiye, they usually roll it one by one using a thin rolling pin called oklava (I've tried it too but it is not easy with an ordinary rolling pin which the only thing I have). I decided to follow the method of professional baklava masters where they they stack the dough with starch in between them and rolling them as thinly as possible then peeling the layers one by one, it was faster and easier.

My first baklava, walnut baklava. 16 layers of phyllo, walnuts, ghee, baked until crispy then soaked in a simple sugar syrup.

I was so lucky, the phyllo came out so thin, you can read a newspaper underneath it, which is a common test to see if it is thin enough.

 I still can't believe that such gorgeousness and deliciousness came out for my own kitchen!

Chocolate Baklava. 24 layers of chocolate phyllo, still far from traditional baklava, but definitely an improvement. Chocolate phyllo, walnuts, ghee, and sugar syrup.













I cannot find a recipe for a "chocolate" phyllo but I knew the one I ate has chocolate in the phyllo and not just in the nut filling.




Sütlü Nuriye is baklava's milky cousin. Layers of phyllo and nuts are soaked in a milky syrup.

 
So?uk Baklava. Cold Baklava. 32+ layers of phyllo and nuts soaked in a milk-based syrup, chilled, then topped with grated chocolate. Not as sweet and crispy but lighter than traditional baklava. 

Pardon the messy fork, but look at all those layers! 

 One of the best decisions I've ever made, Cold Baklava with Ice Cream!

 
A 50+ layer Cold Baklava. I think this is a case of too much of a good thing, I find some parts doughy or maybe this was not just as well-made as my other ones.

 
Havuç Dilimi Baklava. Carrot-siice baklava. 40 layers of phyllo, pistachios, ghee, and sugar syrup. This is the most "Turkish" baklava that I have made (even though I have to spend a fortune as pistachios cost an arm and a leg here) as Turkish baklava almost always uses pistachios. Also traditional baklava is usually made with 40-50 layers of phyllo. I even managed to make it super cripsy even for days, far from perfect but this is as close as it gets to a traditional baklava from a real Turkish baklava shop.

 WIth some mikly ice cream (wish it was some dondurma), it was otherworldly!

 
I hope you enjoyed this post and may we have a happier, heathier, and more blessed 2024!