new at cooking, have a question about this recipe

[bethie_alane]

Okay, here's the recipe, it's for 'baklava' which i've heard is a yummy sinful full of calories dessert!

ingredients:
1 pound filo leaves --- what the heck is that? and where do you get it????
1.5 pound claried butter --- what is this? i used i can't believe it's not butter, is that the same?

stuffing: 3c walnuts, 1/2c sugar, 1tsp cinamon, 1tsp nutmeg, 1/2c coconut

syrup: 1/2 c honey, 1/2 c sugar, 2 c water, juice of 1/2 lemon AND 1 tsp rose water---
what the heck is rose water? where do yo uget it? and since it's such a small amount is it neccesary for the recipe

syrup prep: in a saucepan add water, suga, lemon juice, and honey; sitr. bring to boil and cook for 20 min until slightly thickened. add rose water and set aside
again what is the signifigance of the rose water?

directions:
open filo package and unfold on tabletop. immeadiately cover w/ dampened cloth. butter backing sheet and take filo leaves out 1 at a time and place on sheet, buttering thoroughly between eac layer of leaves. do first six sheets.
(what does 'do first 6 sheets mean?)

continuing.... sprinkle 1/3 stuffing all over. continue to add next 6-8 leaves and sprinkle with stuffing again
( am i adding 6-8 leaves per baklava or am i only making 6-8 baklava???)

continuing..... continue until all leaves have been used. using the tip of a heavy knife, score the composition through and through, into square or diamond shapes
(am i putting the leaves sooooo close together that i need to cut them into individual pieces???????)

continuing...... place in mid rack of preheated 400 degree oven for 35min, or until golden brown, pour cold syrup all over hot baklava and serve.

other direction questions.....
butter baking sheet 18*12, does it need to have raised edges????? how much do you think this makes/yields?????

i need y'alls help!!!!

[Edited by bethie_alane on 02-08-2001 at 11:30 AM]

[critterluver]

i do not know what the filo leaves are
but rose water you can get at the supermarket , all it really is , i think i am not 100% sure , is sweetened water
claried butter , is when you melt the butter real slow and then scoop of the fat on the top, you will see it when it divides , and use the bottom part of that , that is claried butter
the best thing for you todo is goto
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ask ,how do i make blklava

[KAZMAN]

Ok I am no Chef.. Or Cook :P

Here is what I found out about Filo..

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Here are other recipe links...

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this one has pics
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there are more but I figured I won't paste the internet in here :P



[Edited by KAZMAN on 02-08-2001 at 12:39 PM]

[AndersonGal]

Filo - frozen pastry you could find at Krogers
(when I lived back in civilization)
they come in little perfed sheets
2 sheets per piece of baklava (sandwich all the goodies inside)

sounds like this recipe will make a cookie sheets worth??

as for the rose water: well, it IS a Greek recipe.

Taste great but it is one of the things I order out.

[KAZMAN]

Oh yes baklava is VERRRRY RICH!

Usually you get a square somewhere like 2x2 inches

I love IT.. DAGUM.. You got me craving it now

[cata5]

This may be helpful for future cooking projects.
I recently bought this book for my teens to use. It has great pictures that are very helpful and step by step instructions. No baklava however.

The Encyclopedia of Cooking skills and techniques-Norma MacMillan

[sweetcindy]

A very ambitious recipe if you are new at cooking! It is hard to make for anyone! Anyhow, when a recipe says butter, use butter, not any of the spreads or substitutes, I have some recipes that only come out right if you use pure butter. Clarified butter is, I think, when you melt it and then pour in a strainer to just have the yellow butter and not the white foam? Not sure but I think so. Baking sheet should have edges, like a jelly roll pan. Rose water?? I have no idea??

I can't emphasize enough to use real butter! I bake only with real butter and it makes a huge difference, have never used margarine or Crisco, yuck! Real butter is the best for your baking. Also, real vanilla extracts, and other extracts, it is so worth the extra cost.

Cindy

[elf64]

i have made this before it is yummy and rich
filo dough you can buy in the freezer sec. of some food store you can also find it at some smaller stores.
you can make it your self but that is a lot of work.
a leaf is a sheet of dough,the dought is paper thin.
when working with it keep a moist(not drippy wet)towel over the dough you are not useing yet to keep it from drying out.
the clairifed butter is butter that has been filtered.
the rose water makes the baklava smell better and some notice the change in taste.
have you ever made lasagna? baklava is layered in the same way.you put a sheet of filo/phyllo(strudel leaves)in the pan butter it then put the next in butter it do this for 6 sheets then add a layer of filling.then more buttered layers of phyllo and filling.after you have filled the pan
before bakeing cut the top layers into the size pieces you want to serve in a 9 by 13 pan i cut it for 24 servings
bake till goldern brown.while it is in the oven make the syrup on the stove that way when you take the pan out of the oven the syrup is cool enough to spoon over the baklava
cool for at least an hour then cut through the rest of the layers to serve.

[elf64]

i forgot to say you need a pan woth sides

[hootieman]

Gee I'm getting old.
I actually remember seeing rosewater in the grocery store. Its a solution of water and some of the more fragrant parts of the rose. I dont know if you can substitute for it in what your making. If you can find it, use it in this one dish.
Clarified butter is strained butter that has had all the solids and foam removed.

[hannahsmom]

sweey cindy's right! this is a tough one! i wouldn't dream of tackling baklava, though i consider myself pretty accomplished. i think most of your questions have been answered. rose water's hard to find, and i'd bet you can substitute vanilla (or some kind of liquor - i always use bourbon instead of vanilla) for it. phyllo (filo) is great stuff, and once you learn how to work it, you'll find a myriad of uses for it. (really dresses anything up to wrap it in phyllo dough.) did you get everything else answered? the dough comes in sheets, so that's what oit means by the 1st 6 to 8 sheets. and this'll make quite a bit, i'm guessing. especially since a serving pc. is so small.

[hannahsmom]

i just noticed you posted this in february. guess it's all over and done w/ now! how'd it turn out?