Baklava recipe from scratch requires making baklava dough and rolling it out into phyllo sheets at home. It is not as hard as you think, just takes some time. Filled with walnuts and layered with incredibly thin homemade baklava sheets. Everyone will beg for more!
Baklava is one of the best Turkish desserts known around the world. If you don't have the patience or time to make it from scratch, don't worry. You can still make a tasty and super easy baklava with store-bought phyllo sheets!

Handmade baklava is a well known Middle Eastern dessert around the world and it has varieties. It is either filled with crumbled pistachio or crumbled walnuts. Mostly grannies are known as the masters of rolling out baklava dough in thin sheets.
It’s a tradition in Turkey to make it at home from scratch to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr. I don’t know why but baklava with homemade phyllo sheets is always much tastier than the most pricy one in the industry.
Serving your guests the baklava you make from scratch is definitely precious during Eid. I think this tradition will die unless young women learn how to make baklava from scratch. I accept it is not very easy to make it at home, but you are encouraged enough if you have your mother or grandmother with you. Or if you have enough craving for a good baklava.

How to make baklava sheets
Baklava sheets must be very thin, as thin as parchment paper which makes it a challenging dessert to make from scratch. Several phyllo dough sheets are put together and rolled out together. Instead of flour, corn starch aka cornflour is used in between each to prevent them from sticking to one another.
First make the baklava dough. Mix all ingredients for dough and combine well. It will not be a too soft dough. Cover and let it sit for 20 minutes.
Second, divide it into three and make 16 small balls from each group, so you will have 3 groups of balls, each with 16 balls. Sprinkle corn starch over them.
Third, roll them out. Take one of the balls and roll it out a little sprinkling corn starch over it. After rolling it as big as a serving plate, sprinkle extra corn starch over it and put it aside. Roll out all the dough balls in the same way. Finally, put them on one another, sprinkling starch between each layer. They should overlap. Repeat the same for the other two groups of balls.
Finally, roll them out in groups to make larger leaves. Take the first rolled group and roll all of them out together as big and thin as you can. Sprinkle starch when needed.

What else to serve during Eid
I find it interesting, but stuffed grape leaves aka dolmas are served on the same plate with homemade baklava or its cousin, kadaif during Eid in central Anatolia. These are accompanied by Turkish tea or a cup of traditional Turkish coffee for sure. By serving these two laborious foods, you want to show your guests how valuable they are for you. You must watch how much you eat during Eid otherwise you might easily gain weight after eating it at every home you visit.
Not to mention the Turkish delights served just when welcoming the guests at the door.

Special method of eating baklava
Did you know there is a special way to eat baklava recommended by masters of it? Grab it with two fingers, turn it upside down and eat it that way. Masters from Gaziantep say that you must first feel the sweetness of this dessert on your palate. The bottom layer is the sweetest part of it, the top layer is left crispy. That’s why you turn it upside down when eating.
This crispy and irresistibly tasty baklava is made by a very sweet neighbor of us. When we visited her this Eid, she gave us a small box of her baklava as a gift! What a neighbor! She even gave the recipe and I wrote it down for you.
More Turkish Desserts
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Baklava Recipe From Scratch
Baklava dough, baklava sheets and the final dessert with walnut filling are all homemade.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 25 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
Dough:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 egg
- ½ cup lukewarm milk
- ½ cup juicy yogurt
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ cup corn oil
For rolling out:
- 500g corn starch
Filling:
- 1 and ½ cup walnut, crumbled
topping:
- 150g butter
Syrup:
- 5 cups sugar
- 3 and ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients for dough and combine well. It will not be a too soft dough. Wait it for 20 min.
- Divide it into three and make 16 small balls from each, so you will have 3 groups of balls, each with 16 balls.
- Sprinkle corn starch over them.
- Take one of the balls and roll it out a little using corn starch. Sprinkle corn starch over it and put it aside.
- Roll out 15 balls in the same way and put them on the first one sprinkling starch between layers and they overlap.
- Repeat the same for the other two groups.
- Preheat oven to 190C.
- Brush a round oven tray with a little oil.
- Now take the first rolled group and roll all of them together as big as thin as you can. Use starch when needed.
- Place these layers into the tray and add half of the walnuts on it.
- Roll out the second group of 16 layers in the same way and place them right over the walnuts.
- Sprinkle the rest of walnuts on it.
- Roll out the third group and place it over the second walnut layer.
- Cut it into slices with a thin and sharp knife.
- Melt butter and pour it hot over it.
- Bake it at 190C until golden, about 50 min.
- Let it cool.
- Mix sugar and water in a pot and bring it to boil.
- Let it boil for 15 min.
- Add in 1 tablespoon lemon juice, boil for 2 more minutes. Let it cool.
- Pour the cold syrup over hot baklava and let it absorb the syrup well.
- Serve at least after 4 hours.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 397
- Sugar: 40.5 g
- Sodium: 10.5 mg
- Fat: 18.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 56.6 g
- Protein: 2.7 g
- Cholesterol: 21.1 mg
Keywords: baklava from scratch, baklava recipe from scratch
Ana Bean says
Hey, great recipe!!
Quick question...
What was the size of the pan you used?
Melody Thompson says
Baklava is one of my favorite dessert.
DE says
Hello! What do you mean under a “juicy yogurt”? Is it just a drinkable yogurt (or in other words not as thick as Greek yogurt)? Thanks you!
Yusuf says
Yes, not as thick as Greek yogurt. Homemade yogurt is runnier than it.
Kulsoom says
Hey, can we use normal sunflower oil instead of corn oil? I'm looking forward to making this baklava from scratch.
Yusuf says
Hi Kulsoom, yes you can use sunflower oil.
Ayla says
Hello
Baklava is very popular in Albania,but I've never tried making it.My only concern is the baking time.Should we lower the temperature and bake it longer.I've heard that some bake it for 2 hours at 150 c.I don't want the baklava to turn soggy.This seems an easy recipe and I want to try it.Thanks
ammarah nawaz says
I have a question regarding above recipe (Baklava) "Can we use corn flour instead of CornStarch"??
Please reply I wait.
Zerrin says
Well, you need a kind of starch for rolling the dough so that you can roll several layers of dough at the same time. Starch prevents them from sticking one another. You can use either corn starch or wheat starch but we never use corn flour when rolling, it doesn't have the same effect. Also, corn flour will probably change the taste of your baklava, so I don't recommend it.
ammarah nawaz says
Dear Ma'am Zerrin,
I really thankful to you u that u have replied me for my confusion I'll now definitely try Baklawa because its my favorite sweet. Sorry for my late reply I was much busy with my office work. Once again thank you for your concern and your professional recommendation.
Regards,
Ammarah Nawaz
Himalayan Chef says
@ Ammarah> In much, if not most, of the world "cornflour" is the same fine white starch that is called "corn starch" in North America and some other countries. Cornmeal (and masa harina in Latino cooking) are a very different thing. If what is called "cornflour in your area is a super fine white powder, then that is what you need.
★★★★★
Silky says
Thank you so much for this recipe!
I'm going to try it some time no matter how time consuming it seems.
My parents best friend is originally from Gaziantep, so guess what my favourite turkish treat is.
Is it possible to substitute the butter an yoghurt to make it dairy free? I have some family members that are highly sensitve to dairy products.
Chris at Hye Thyme Cafe says
I was wondering why you thought it was difficult to make until I realized the dough was made from scratch! I can't even imagine doing that, although I supposed I'll have to get around to at least trying it once at some point. Knowing that makes this one twice as beautiful! Of course, my grandmother grew up making it from scratch, but by the time I was in the picture, Phyllo was readily available in all the markets. Glad to see someone is keeping with tradition. 🙂