Fındık Baklavası

the hazelnut baklava of the Turkish Black Sea coast: paper-thin yufka layered with the ground hazelnuts of Giresun, baked golden and drenched in lemon-sharpened syrup

Origin: Turkey

From the journey of Hazelnut.

Baklava is the great sweet of the Ottoman world, layers of paper-thin pastry and ground nuts baked crisp and steeped in syrup, and though the palace baklava of Istanbul and Gaziantep is made with pistachios or walnuts, the Black Sea coast makes its own with the nut that grows on its own steep slopes: the hazelnut. Giresun and Ordu and Trabzon, the ancient Pontus, produce the majority of the world's hazelnuts, and the fındık baklavası of the region is the local expression of a national art, the toasted, ground hazelnut lending a deeper, rounder, more buttery flavour than the classic nuts. The technique is the same everywhere and demands patience above all: the yufka must be rolled and stretched until it is thin enough to read through, each sheet brushed with clarified butter, the nuts strewn between, and the whole cut into diamonds before it bakes so the syrup can find its way into every layer. The defining moment is the meeting of hot and cold: cool syrup is poured over hot baklava, or hot syrup over cool, but never hot on hot, or the pastry loses its crispness and turns to a sodden paste. The result is shattering, buttery, sweet, and fragrant with the Black Sea nut.

Ingredients

Pastry

400 g yufka or filo pastry sheets, thawed if frozen
300 g clarified butter (or ghee), melted

Filling

350 g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and finely ground
2 tbsp caster sugar

Syrup

500 g granulated sugar
400 ml water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

First make the syrup so it has time to cool: dissolve the granulated sugar in the water over a medium heat, bring to the boil, add the lemon juice, and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly syrupy. Take off the heat and leave to cool completely.
Mix the ground hazelnuts with the 2 tbsp caster sugar. Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan). Brush a deep baking tin, about 30 x 20 cm, with clarified butter.
Lay a sheet of yufka in the tin, brush it all over with clarified butter, and repeat until you have layered about half the sheets, buttering each one. Trim or fold the sheets to fit the tin.
Scatter the hazelnut mixture in an even layer over the pastry. Then layer the remaining buttered yufka sheets on top, brushing each with butter, and brush the top generously.
With a sharp knife, cut all the way through the baklava into diamonds or squares. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until deep golden and crisp throughout.
As soon as the baklava comes out of the oven, pour the cold syrup evenly all over the hot pastry, along the cut lines. Leave to stand, uncovered, for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving, so the syrup is fully absorbed.

Notes

Yufka, the Turkish leaf pastry, is traditional; good-quality filo is an acceptable substitute. The balance of syrup to pastry is a matter of taste, but Black Sea baklava tends to be a little less drenched and more nut-forward than the palace styles. A pinch of ground cinnamon can be mixed with the nuts, though the pure hazelnut version is the most typical of the region. Baklava keeps for several days at room temperature, well covered, and should never be refrigerated, which turns the pastry hard and greasy.

The Gastrographer

Name: Fındık Baklavası
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 24
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 400 g yufka or filo pastry sheets, thawed if frozen; 300 g clarified butter (or ghee), melted; 350 g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and finely ground; 2 tbsp caster sugar; 500 g granulated sugar; 400 ml water; 1 tbsp lemon juice

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control