How to make
Knead a smooth and soft dough from the products for it. Leave to rest 15 min., then form 21 doughy balls of roughly the same size from it.
Roll out each ball into a thin sheet the diameter of a dessert plate. Divide up the sheets into 3 piles, 7 sheets per pile.
Start with the 1st pile, take a sheet, sprinkle with corn starch, place another sheet on top, sprinkle again, place a 3rd sheet, starch again and so on until you've placed all 7 atop one another.
Take a rolling pin and roll out thus arranged pile into 1 large sheet the diameter of the tray in which you'll be baking.
Smear the tray with oil and put the sheet in it, sprinkle with 1/2 the walnuts.
Make the other pile the same way - sheet, starch, and arrange all 7 on top of one another and roll out into 1 large sheet. Put it in the tray on top of the walnuts and sprinkle with the remaining walnuts.
Repeat this process for the 3rd pile of sheets but after you put in the tray it will serve as the top of the baklava, without any walnuts.
Cut the baklava as desired and smear it generously with melted butter.
Put it in the oven at 340°F (170 °C) and bake for 40-50 min., then take out and leave it to cool well.
In the meantime, make a sugar syrup from the sugar, water, lemon juice and vanilla.
If you like the aroma of cardamom you can add a little of it to the syrup. Boil until you obtain a medium-thick sugar syrup.
Pour it over the cooled baklava and leave it in a cool area for at least 12 hours to take it in.
