Midye Baklava Recipe
I decided that the dessert of this bayram should be midye baklava. Midye baklava means mussel baklava. As you can imagine, it takes its name after its shape. Although Midye baklava tastes exactly like classic home-baked baklava, it is a practical baklava type that takes much less time to make than classic baklava. One of the details that makes midye baklava attractive is that it offers a stylish and different visual.
When making baklava, many people's goal is to make it crispy. For this purpose, ingredients such as yoghurt and cornstarch are added to the baklava dough, which are thought to increase the crispness of the dough. If you were making cookies, these ingredients will definitely work and make the dough crisp. But if you are making the baklava dough crisp, the dough will not be elastic and will not be able to be rolled out easily.
If you want to make a crunchy baklava, what you need to do is to roll out the dough as thin as possible. What you should do for making this is to get an elastic dough, not a crisp one. Things that increase the elasticity of the dough are using a hard/high protein flour, preparing the dough with water and flour, and supporting the elasticity with eggs.
For years, I have been making my baklavas with home made baklava recipe or slightly modified versions of it, and my baklavas are never like home baklava. I mean they never become a type of baklava that has thick and hard dough which has absorbed too much syrup. I make thin, crispy baklavas like store bought ones.
I made a very similar dough for the midye baklava recipe and the result was again amazing.
I used pistachios for the filling, but as I mentioned in the recipe, you can also use walnuts if you want.
Do not forget to make the butter clear by straining it with a very fine strainer or cheesecloth. Otherwise, black spots will appear on your baklava.
Baklava will thicken its syrup in about a few hours, but it will reach its best consistency the next day. Therefore, if it is not a matter of life or death, I recommend that you do not serve it on the same day.
Enjoy the recipe...
Midye Baklava Recipe with Video
Ingredients
- 1 egg,
- 3/4 cups of water at room temperature,
- 1/2 cup of oil,
- 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar,
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder,
- Salt with the tip of a teaspoon,
- 3 cups of high protein flour,
- Plenty of cornstarch to roll the dough.
For greasing;
- 100 g of butter,
- 1/4 cup of sunflower oil.
For the filling;
- 1 cup of ground pistachios or walnuts.
For the syrup;
- 2.5 cups of water,
- 2.5 cups of sugar,
- 1 slice of lemon.
Preparation
- For the syrup, take water, sugar and lemon slice (do not squeeze, use whole) into a pot,
- Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves,
- After it starts to boil, let it simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from heat,
- For the dough mix eggs, water, oil, vinegar, salt and baking powder in a deep bowl,
- Add the flour gradually and knead until you get a soft dough,
- Make a ball, cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes,
- Knead the dough again, tear it into 15 walnut-sized pieces, place them on a tray, cover them and let them rest for 10 minutes,
- Coat the meringue separately in starch and roll them out with a rolling pin into approximately 20 cm squares,
- Place the rolled out dough leaves on top of each other, cover them and let them rest for 10 minutes,
- Press it from the middle to the edges with a rolling pin and roll it out into a rectangle about 35*60 cm,
- Roll the rectangle from its long side to make a log and slice it into finger-thick slices,
- Expand each slice by rolling it out with a rolling pin,
- Put pistachios in the middle, close them in a half-moon shape without pressing too much and place them on the baking tray,
- Melt the butter,
- Strain through a very fine strainer/cheesecloth, add oil and mix,
- Pour the oil mixture over the baklavas with a spoon,
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C degrees until they turn slightly pink,
- When you see that they start to turn pink, reduce the heat to 160 C degrees and bake until every one of them is browned evenly,
- Remove the pan out of the oven and wait 2-3 minutes for the first heat to come off and then pour the cooled syrup over it,
- Cover the tray with another tray and let it rest overnight.
Enjoy your dessert...