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Israeli Baklava

Layered phyllo pastry with nuts, butter, and a sweet syrup.

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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,027 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven350°F (180°C), then 300°F (150°C)

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • -- Pastry
  • -- Syrup

Directions

Assemble

  1. Place sheets of phyllo pastry in a 13x9x2 inch pan, brushing every other sheet evenly with butter.

  2. When ten or twelve sheets are in place, combine walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and clove, and spread 1/3 of this mixture over the sheet.

  3. Place another five or six buttered sheets of phyllo on top of the nut mixture.

  4. Repeat this process two more times, alternating nut mixture with five or six sheets of buttered phyllo.

  5. With a sharp knife, cut baklava into diamond-shaped pieces.

Bake

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

  2. Heat remaining butter (about 1/2 cup) until hot and light brown.

  3. Pour the browned butter evenly over the baklava.

  4. Sprinkle a few drops of cold water on top.

  5. Bake for 30 minutes.

  6. Reduce the temperature to 300°F (150°C) and continue to bake for one hour.

Make the syrup and serve

  1. In a saucepan, combine water, sugar, honey, lemon juice, orange and lemon rind, cinnamon stick, and cloves.

  2. Heat the mixture until a drop forms when placed into a cup of cold water.

  3. Simmer for an additional 20 minutes.

  4. Strain the syrup.

  5. When the baklava is baked, pour the syrup over it.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + orangetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Almond + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Almond + walnuttop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together993 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Clove + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Phyllo pastry sheets
Form thin, flaky layers that crisp into the structure of the pastry.
Butter
Coats the layers so they crisp and brown while keeping them from sticking together.
Walnuts
Provide the filling bulk and a rich, toasted nut flavor between the layers.
Sugar
Sweetens the nut filling and, in the syrup, helps the baklava stay moist and glossy.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture to the syrup and helps it stay soft.

The step that matters

Pouring the syrup over the baked baklava. Hot syrup poured onto hot pastry is absorbed quickly and keeps the layers crisp on top while moistening the interior; the syrup should be cooled or the pastry should be warm so it soaks in evenly rather than turning soggy.

Flavor stand-ins for the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, butter, clove, sugar, cinnamon, honey, orange):

  1. Walnutthe original
  2. Pistachioabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Pecansabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, butter, clove, sugar, cinnamon, honey, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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