Sochinskaya Baklava

Dear Friends,

Today I present you the queen of baklava (at least for me :))

"Sochinskaya Baklava" (i.e. baklava in a Sochi style) - a wonderful sweet cake which, I am sure, will impress your guests and beloved ones.

There is a small confectionery shop in the center of Baku called "Raffaelo" where they sell delicious sweets and bakeries. The owner of the shop makes it all by herself. I tried this baklava there for the first time and was amazed by the taste. It had ingredients I love - raisins and nuts.

So, here we go:

For the dough:
3 cups of flour
250 grams of butter
3 egg yolks
200 milligrams of sour cream
0.5 teaspoon of baking soda
a pinch of salt

For the filling:
4 egg whites
2 cups of walnuts
2 cups of raisins
1.5 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of cardamon
milled clove on the tip of the knife
1 tablespoon of cognac
1 vanilla
1 tablespoon of honey for spreading

Dough

Sift the flour in a bowl, add cold cut butter cubicles and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Make crumbs. You can make them with the help of a knife or a blender if you have a proper pot and a special knife - this will make your work easy and quick. Add 3 egg yolks on the floury buttery crumbs. Stir the sour cream with baking soda and salt and add on the dough. Knead the soft dough, it should be slightly sticky. All looks wet. Split the dough in 3 balls, wrap each one in a food foil and leave them in the fridge until you complete making the filling.

Filling: 

If you think that your raisins aren't clean enough, you can rinse them in water and dry them gently. My own ones were very clean, so I omit this process. Gently bit up 4 egg whites with sugar. Use a fork. Roast the walnuts in the oven for 10 minutes. Do not leave them roast for too long as they may bitter the taste of the filling. Now, crush them. Pour them on to the egg white-sugar mixture, add cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, cloves and cognac.

Roll out one ball to a thin sheet to match the size of the tray which you will use to bake your baklava (my tray was 37cm x 39cm). With the help of a rolling pin move the sheet on the tray which you have preliminary covered with a baking paper. Spread half of the filling on the layer sheet. Put the second sheet on the top exactly the same way as you did with the first one. Spread the remaining half of the filling and put the third sheet on the top. With a sharp knife carefully chop raw baklava into squares or diamond shapes as desired. Brush the top sheep with beaten egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of honey. Put the tray in cold oven and bake at 200 degrees Centigrade for 5-10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 160-180 degrees and continue baking for another 20-25 minutes. Then take the baklava out, gently brush the top with honey and return back to the oven for another 5 minutes.

Take the ready baklava out and let it cool.

I recommend baking baklava in the evening to have it cool in the morning with a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast.

Bon Appétit!