How Baklava Is Made: 40 Layers of Phyllo, by Hand

How is baklava made? Paper-thin phyllo, nuts, clarified butter, syrup — and patience. A proper tray starts with roughly 40 hand-rolled sheets of phyllo, each thin enough to see through, layered with Antep pistachios or walnuts and brushed with butter, baked until golden, and finished with hot syrup poured at exactly the right moment. That's the whole recipe. The craft is in the details.

The short answer: paper-thin phyllo, nuts, butter, syrup — and patience

Baklava has six ingredients: flour, water, nuts, butter, sugar, lemon. There is nowhere to hide. Every flaw shows — a torn sheet, stale nuts, cloudy butter, mistimed syrup — which is why handmade baklava from a 150-year-old Istanbul bakery tastes nothing like a factory version. The Pistachio Classic Baklava (14 pieces / 500 g per pack) is the reference standard: this is what the process is for.

The 40 layers (why thin matters: crispness, not doughiness)

The phyllo is the soul of baklava, and thinness is everything. Each sheet is rolled by hand until it's translucent — thin enough to read a newspaper through, as the old test goes. Forty such sheets go into a single tray. Why so many, so thin? Because thick phyllo bakes up doughy and heavy, while thin phyllo bakes up crisp and shattering. The layer count isn't decoration; it's the difference between pastry that crunches and pastry that chews.

Rolling phyllo this thin by hand takes years to learn. The dough must be elastic but not sticky, rested but not dried, rolled with a long thin rolling pin (oklava) in a rhythm that keeps the sheet even. A torn sheet can't be patched invisibly — it goes back in the pile. This is the step machines still can't do well, and it's why handmade baklava commands its price.

The nuts: Antep pistachios and walnuts

Between the phyllo goes the filling. Since 1871 uses Antep pistachios — the variety from Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, prized for intense flavor and deep green color — ground to a texture that's neither powder nor chunk: coarse enough to give bite, fine enough to sit evenly between layers. The pistachio version is the flagship; the walnut version follows the same method with finely chopped walnuts for a mellower, earthier result.

Nut quality is non-negotiable because nuts are half the flavor. Stale or low-grade nuts make flat baklava no technique can rescue. Fresh, high-oil nuts — used quickly after grinding — are what give good baklava its haunting aroma.

Clarified butter and the syrup (sugar, water, lemon — timing is everything)

Every layer gets brushed with clarified butter — butter with the milk solids removed, so it tastes purely rich without burning or clouding. The assembled tray is cut into pieces before baking (cutting afterward would shatter the layers), then baked until deeply golden.

Then comes the moment the whole craft pivots on: the syrup. Sugar, water, and lemon are cooked to a precise density — too thin and the baklava goes soggy; too thick and it sits on top, candy-like. It's poured hot over the hot pastry, and the layers drink it in with a hiss you can hear across the bakery. Get the timing wrong by minutes and the texture is lost. Get it right and the syrup does something remarkable: it preserves the pastry naturally, giving every sealed Since 1871 box its 6-month shelf life at room temperature with no preservatives.

Baking and resting (why fresh-from-Istanbul still works after shipping)

After the syrup, the tray rests. The layers settle, the syrup distributes, the flavors marry. Only then is it portioned into boxes, sealed, and ribbon-wrapped. Because the syrup is a natural preserver and the seal locks out air and humidity, the baklava that left Istanbul tastes crisp weeks later — in the EU via the Deventer, Netherlands warehouse, in the US via Turkey and New Jersey, and across Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Australia from Turkey. Shipping is free, included in the price.

That's the whole answer to "how is baklava made": forty thin sheets, good nuts, clean butter, well-timed syrup, and the judgment to know when each is right. Simple ingredients. One hundred fifty years of practice.

Frequently asked questions

How many layers of phyllo are in baklava?

A traditional handmade tray uses roughly 40 thin sheets of phyllo. The thinness matters more than the count — thin layers bake crisp; thick layers bake doughy.

Why is handmade baklava more expensive than factory baklava?

Hand-rolling 40 sheets of translucent phyllo, using genuine Antep pistachios and clarified butter, and timing the syrup by judgment rather than by timer — all of it is skilled labor and premium ingredients. Machines can't replicate the thinness or the timing.

What is the syrup in baklava made of?

Sugar, water, and lemon, cooked to a precise density. The lemon prevents crystallization and adds balance; the sugar concentration naturally preserves the pastry.

Can I make baklava at home?

You can, with store-bought phyllo — but expect your first trays to teach you humility. The hand-rolled phyllo of a professional bakery is a different product from packaged sheets.