Baklava
Baklava [ ˈba.klaː.ʋa ] ( ) ( Arabic بقلاوة, DMG baqlāwa , Armenian փախլավա pʼaḫlawa , Kurdish بهقلاوه beqlawe / peqlewe, Turkish baklava , Albanian bakllavë , Azerbaijani Paxlava , Bulgarian баклава baklawa , Greek μπακλαβάς [ baklavˈas ], Persian باقلوا, DMG bāqlavā , Russian пахлава pachlawa or Russian баклава baklawa , Bosnia baklava ) is an in honey - or sugar syrup pickled pastries from puff pastry or filo pastry filled with chopped walnuts , almonds or pistachio .
origin
Baklava and similar sweets are traditional pastries throughout the Middle East and the Balkan Peninsula, and many of these countries claim the origin for their national cuisine.
The first baklava recipes already existed in antiquity, they were known in the Byzantine Empire under the names κοπτοπλακούς (koptoplakous) and κοπτοπλακόν (koptoplakon), which means “sliced plate cake”. The oldest known recipe of this cake comes from late ancient Greece and is mentioned by Athenaios in his book Δειπνοσοφιστών (Book XIV). He describes the Koptoplakous recipe from Crete as a cake consisting of several layers that is filled with Pontic nuts, poppy seeds and almonds and then doused with honey. The dough layers should be laid out very thinly, similar to filo dough. This coptopla recipe is very similar to today's baklava. When asked whether the origin of this is in Greece, or whether the cake came to Greece in the course of antiquity, Athenaios does not provide an answer.
Most of the theses assume that the origin of the puff pastry is in Central Asia. Characteristic of the nomadic way of life of the Turkic peoples there is the layering of thin flatbreads baked in pans, the so-called Yufka , which are not known in this stacked form in Byzantium or the Middle East. The basic structure could thus have come through those to Anatolia and the Middle East.
Other theses assume that baklava must have been created in a sedentary culture due to the preparation in the oven. One thesis says that the Assyrians as early as the 8th century BC Baked baklava and Greek merchants brought them to Greece , where the Greeks have a share with a technique for wafer-thin dough . The Greek Byzantinists Speros Vryonis and Phaidon Koukoules want to enter the Deipnosophistai of Athenaios from the 2nd century BC. Chr. Made up the description of a layered dessert called gastrin, to be regarded as a baklava forerunner.
As other origins in the late Middle Ages is Persia or Asia Minor considered. In the cookbook of Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi from 1226, a dessert called Lauzinaq is listed, which consists of an almond paste covered with dough and poured over with syrup, which is very similar to baklava.
The well-known variant with several layers of very thin filo pastry was probably developed in Topkapı Palace after the 16th century .
The Zeidlerei , the commercial air collecting honey wild or semi-wild bee colonies, was formerly the actual source of honey by melting from the honeycomb was recovered. The honey extractor was only invented in the 19th century . In order to extract the coveted (because rare) honey with high yield from the melted wax mass , the wax was boiled with water and the sugar was washed out. The honey solutions were used to make mead or preservation used (see Konfitfrüchte , rose jam and marmalade # History ). Depending on the cooking time and thickening, the syrup was durable or fermented . Sugar did not crystallize as easily from the boiled honey solutions; possible crystallization nuclei such as pollen and dust were separated off after boiling by decanting as foam or sediment. That is why thin and thick syrups were available for sweetening in the kitchen.
preparation
Due to its widespread geographical distribution, there are a large number of recipes for baklava, the preparation varies regionally; Common to all variants is only the basic method of preparation. The widespread use of pastries in their original countries of origin has led to a multitude of special types of preparation and ingredients.
- A nut mixture is made from chopped nuts, sugar and spices.
- For the syrup, sugar is dissolved in water and reduced . Further ingredients can then be added.
- Filo leaves coated with melted butter are alternately layered ( tossed ) with the nut mixture . The top and bottom layers are made of filo pastry. The finished preparation is either cut into rhombuses or rectangles in a baking pan or folded individually and baked in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Finally, the baklava is poured over either in the cooled state with hot or in the hot state with moderately warm syrup made from boiled sugar water and left to cool.
A classic accompaniment to a baklava dessert is strong, black mocha , as its bitterness contrasts with the sweetness of the baklava. Ice cream or kaymak is often served with it.
variants
Special types of preparation can be specified for some regions.
- In Turkey , walnuts or pistachios are used for the nut mix.
- In Greece , the syrup can be made with honey, lemon juice and cinnamon.
- Walnuts are used in the Balkans and Levant .
- In the Arab region and Iraq, rose water is added to the syrup .
- In Iran , almonds and pistachios are widely used as nuts for the filling.
In Germany, baklava is no longer only available in Turkish bakeries and in oriental food retailers, but as a promotional product at discounters . Baklava is available in different variations, such as Greek with cinnamon, oriental with pistachios or Brazil nuts, Balkan-style with walnuts. Usually they are imported directly from the respective regions.
literature
- Tim Robertson: Sweets - A History of Temptation . Bantam, 2002, ISBN 978-0-553-81446-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Athenaios: Δειπνοσοφιστών (The Learned Banquaters) . Ed .: S. Douglas Olson. 2006th edition. tape XIV . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1911.
- Jump up ↑ Food in Motion: The Migration of Foodstuffs and Cookery Techniques: Proceedings: Oxford Symposium 1983 , Volume 1, 1983, p. 16
- ^ A b c Charles Perry: The Taste for Layered Bread among the Nomadic Turks and the Central Asian Origins of Baklava . In: Sami Zubaida, Richard Tapper (Ed.): A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East . 1994, pp. 87-91, ISBN 1-86064-603-4 .
- ^ Alan Davidson: Oxford Companion to Food , Oxford University Press, 1999 p. 299
- ↑ Paulina Lewicka: Food and Foodways of Medieval Cairenes: Aspects of Life in an Islamic Metropolis of the Eastern Mediterranean , BRILL, 2011, p. 311.
- ^ Mary Isin: Sherbet and Spice: The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts IBTauris, 2013, p. 181
- ^ A b Gil Marks: Encyclopedia of Jewish Food . Hoboken, 2010, p. 37 f., ISBN 978-0-470-39130-3 , keyword: Baklava