Baklava

Whenever I think of fresh handmade phyllo I always think about Shaharazad Bakery, a little shop in the Sunset district of San Francisco. The shop has been closed for years now, but from what I remember, the owner made excellent phyllo. A true artisan. I think he was the only person in San Francisco who sold fresh phyllo dough made by hand. He had a table in the back room that was just the right size for pulling out the dough. Sadly the shop closed when he retired.

For this month's Daring Bakers' challenge, host Erica asked us to make our own phyllo dough. It's so much easier to grab a box from the freezer section at the market, but making phyllo isn't that hard. The recipe Erica provided was the exact same recipe as the strudel dough recipe we used for the May 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge. The only difference was the rolling method. For the strudel, we rolled and stretched the dough into one big sheet. For the phyllo, we cut off small balls of dough and rolled each ball into a thin sheet. Rick Rodger's recipe is a really good one and it's so easy to handle.

Erica also wanted us to use our phyllo to make baklava. Baklava is a dessert made of layers of buttered phyllo and nuts. After it's baked, you pour a hot sugar or honey syrup all over and allow it to soak in. It's not difficult to make since most of the work is just assembling the layers. Oh, but then there's the waiting. It needs to sit in that syrup for a few hours to soak up all that sweet liquid goodness before you can eat it. If you want instant gratification, then you need to look elsewhere.



I'm not sure what nuts make a baklava an authentic one. The internet has a lot of "traditional" or "authentic" baklava recipes using all kinds of nuts. So for my nut filling, I used whatever I had in the house - walnuts, almonds and white sesame seeds. My husband thought the sesame seeds gave the baklava a vaguely Asian flavor that he found a bit overwhelming, but I really liked the sesame flavor. I've always found baklava too sweet which is why I never make or eat it, but I think that sweetness is the appeal of baklava for most people. So if you like 'em syrupy sweet, then this baklava recipe is for you. But I'm a girl who can eat her pancakes without maple syrup or butter so I won't be making baklava again any time soon.



The fine print:
Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Burger Macarons

For months I have been obsessed with the idea of a Parisian macaron (gerbet) that looks like a burger. I finally got around to making some just in time to celebrate the upcoming Father's Day, a day typically associated with the outdoors and firing up the grill, on June 19th. And what is more father- and grill- friendly than burgers?

The macarons that I make always seem to look like little burgers. So instead of fighting my macaron's burger-like quality, I decided to embrace it fully with these whimsical "burger" macarons. I sprinkled some sesame seeds on my macaron shells before baking them so that they would look like burger buns.


For the burger patty, I felt a ganache or buttercream would be too smooth. I wanted something that had the texture of a real burger. So I made a chunky sesame butter by grinding sesame seeds with a bit of oil and salt. I combined that with some melted milk chocolate. I used milk instead of semisweet or bittersweet since its mild chocolate flavor would not overwhelm that of the sesame. I formed the chocolate sesame mixture into patties.




To complete the burger theme I had to come up with a couple garnishes. I didn't want to use colored fondant since that would be just for looks and not flavor. I wanted to use ingredients that would complement the milk chocolate and sesame filling as well as the almond shell. I like the combination of sesame with coconut, so I tinted some dried, shredded coconut with a tiny bit of green food dye. Voila - lettuce! And for those that like a little tomato on their burger, I thinly sliced sour cherries.



I haven't quite gotten the hang of making a good looking macaron shell yet. I keep trying but my shell is not correct. It's always smooth but very tissue thin instead of delicately sturdy. But at least my shells are not wrinkled. And I still haven't eliminated that air pocket under the shell. Oh, and that foot. The ruffled foot is never quite right. It sticks out beyond the border of the shell.

I've been using the French meringue method where the granulated sugar is beaten in with the egg whites. After so many not quite successful attempts using the French meringue method, I think I should explore other ones like the Italian meringue method where a hot sugar syrup is added to the egg whites. All in due time.

But in the meantime, please enjoy the cuteness of my "burger" macarons.