Baklava cooking class

General information

Destination	Category
Istanbul, Turkey	Attractions/Entertainment

Program details

Baklava was just as ubiquitous as we'd anticipated, though not all brands are created equal. It's always best eaten fresh and thankfully it's socially acceptable to devour it for breakfast, fresh out of the oven.


The pastry comes in numerous shapes, sizes, and flavors; cevizli baklava (walnut baklava) and fistikli baklava (pistachio baklava) are what you see most often in the States: flaky layers of phyllo dough, stacked and brushed with butter and sugar syrup, and then cut into rectangles or diamonds.

But keep an eye out for other variations, like ceviz dolama, a round and slightly more compact baklava made with walnuts, or the similarly shaped saray sarmasi, which features a combination of both nuts. Then there's dürüm, which is made with only a single layer of phyllo, so it's composed almost entirely of ground pistachios that turn each piece a vibrant green.

And wait, there's more! Like özel kare baklava, which contains the traditional layers of phyllo but bulges with double the pistachio filling; visenli baklava, packed with sour cherries; and the delightful kestaneli baklava, in which phyllo dough is wrapped around a candied chestnut so it actually assumes that same, rotund shape.



Duration: Two to three hours.

Start/opening time: At 10.30am.

Languages: English.