O.K. I know I have been missing for a long time from here but I do have some pretty good excuses. An operation, a house move, some house guests and an additional role at work have all kept me very, very busy the past few months. But now that I am recovered (almost) and settled in my new home (again, almost!) I have decided to pay more attention to my blog. This is a fantastic new dish that I tried, which is also the last thing that I baked in my old house (I love you my old kitchen, you will always be my first love!)
Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.
After missing the last two daring bakers challenges I was determined to at least attempt this one. I must say that I absolutely LOVE baklava. And I have eaten my fair share of it here in the middle east. Give me a box and I can polish it off entirely by myself (I have been known to have self control issues). So I was really excited to try making it myself. Because I could not stand on my feet for long after my operation, I knew rolling and kneading copious amounts of dough was out of the question. So I had to resort to store bought phyllo. Boy oh Boy! Did the dough give me a tough time! This was the first time I ever made Baklava or handled the store bought dough. The sheets just would not separate easily and I almost had a patchwork of sheets in my baking tray. But the end result was well worth the time and energy spent on it.
Most of this baklava was eaten by Latifs friends and one of them said that it was irresistible! Ah , music to a bakers ears! Before making the baklava I watched Alton Browns video from the Good Eats show and I I fell in love with that guy. He is so funny and explains so many things about the dish. As I did not make the phyllo from scratch I mixed and matched the given challenge recipe with Alton Browns recipe.
Switched On Baklava Part I
Switched On Baklava Part II
Happy Eating!!
wow, that looks super tempting and what a bit bite too :)
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