Baklava: caloric content, composition, dietary recipes, Turkish honey dessert

The first version of the baklava, or baklava, appeared in 1453, but even centuries later its recipe changed little and traditionally consists of flour, eggs, melted butter and honey or milk filling. Baklava, the calorie content of which is 400-415 kcal, and this is 1/5 of the usual daily allowance for women, is a fairly satisfying product consisting mainly of fats and simple carbohydrates.

It is unattractive for those who carefully monitor their figure, because the fragrant eastern sweetness is in fact something between the layered cookies and the cake-mead. But in order not to deny ourselves little pleasures, we will consider compromise solutions that would satisfy both true lacquers and avid athletes.

Baklava: caloric content and properties of ingredients

Baklava, of course, has a high nutritional value. But not all of its components are so detrimental to the waist, as it seems at first glance. For example:

• Walnuts are rich in fiber (6.8 g / 100 g), essential fatty acids (6.1 g / 100 g) and potassium iodide, responsible for the normal functioning of the thyroid gland, which in turn affects the uniform distribution and cleavage of fat cells in the body. They completely lack cholesterol.
• Paradoxical as it sounds, egg yolks do not provoke weight gain, since they do not contain simple fats that create a stable fatty layer. On the contrary, during numerous experiments it was proved that the use of 1-2 egg yolks a day significantly lowers the level of cholesterol, while the predominant mono-and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are not produced by the body on their own are the irreplaceable nutraceuticals in the diet of athletes.
• It would seem, how can it be dietary, if it abounds with fast carbohydrates and simple sugars? In fact, with the speed of digestibility of honey can only be compared to water, which passes through all the stages of cleavage in only 20 minutes. So, without causing stagnation and other negative phenomena characteristic of high-calorie foods, it increases the production of bile, contributing to the elimination of toxins. Consuming it in a small amount, you can increase the tone of the body and allow yourself to give up more caloric and much less useful sugar.

As for the other products, their interchangeability is worth mentioning separately. For example, from oatmeal, linseed or corn flour it is possible to prepare a yeast-free dough, and butter instead of fat-free dry cottage cheese.

If we talk about radically dietary recipes without flour, butter and sugar, then this baklava, caloric content per 100 grams of which is ~ 130 kcal, is used mainly with strict restrictions in the diet.

Traditional Turkish recipe

In general, the Turkish baklava, the calorie content of which does not exceed 140 kcal, does not differ much from ordinary domestic, widely used recipes. But still it is recommended to perform some conventions.

For cooking, you will need:

• 300 g of wheat flour of the highest grade (2 faceted glasses);
• 8 tbsp. L. Milk;
• 200 g melted butter;
• 1 chicken egg whites and 2 yolks;
• 2 tbsp. L. Pressed yeast;
• One and a half cups of crushed walnuts or hazelnuts;
• 7 tbsp. L. Powdered sugar;
• 3 tbsp. L. Honey;
• A pinch of ground seeds of cardamom and salt.

Stages of preparation

First you need to dissolve the yeast in warm milk and add it a little. Then add whipped eggs and flour, during the mixing process add oil. Next, put the dough in a saucepan and wrap it with a warm coverlet or put it in a basin with a preheated, but not higher than +30 ° C water. In winter, you can put just closer to the batteries, making sure that the dough is not cooled or overheated.

When it rises, you need to divide it into 45 equal parts and roll it onto very thin cakes, oil them with oil. Laying the cakes on a baking sheet, we have them on each other, adding to each second, except the first and last, prepared stuffing from ground nuts, sugar, honey and cardamom. Next, the resulting stack is carefully cut into oblong cubes and greased with egg yolk.

The average baking time is half an hour, the temperature is 180 ° C. In the end you can pour baklava with butter.

Appetizing oriental dessert is ready!