This Safranbolu dessert is made by layering yufka (thin Turkish pastry sheets) with walnuts, baking it in a pan, and pouring syrup over it. Unlike baklava, its layers are gathered into thick folds rather than stacked thinly, so the cut surface shows waves instead of straight lines. Gather the folds without stretching the yufka; stretched yufka flattens in the oven and loses its waves.
Bring the sugar and water to a boil and simmer over low heat for 12 minutes. Add the lemon juice just before removing from the heat. Let the syrup cool completely.
Chop the walnuts coarsely with a knife. Melt the butter, let it stand for 3 minutes, then skim off the clear portion. This pastry uses less fat than baklava because the air between the folds already helps make it crisp.
Lay out one sheet of yufka, brush its surface with butter, and sprinkle with walnuts. Using both hands, push the ends toward the center to gather the yufka like an accordion; do not stretch it, and keep the folds loose. Place the gathered sheet in a strip in a greased pan. Repeat with the remaining yufka, arranging the strips side by side to fill the pan.
Cut vertically across the strips every 4 cm, letting the knife reach the bottom of the pan. Spoon the remaining clarified butter into the cuts and over the tops of the folds. If the peaks are not coated with butter, those spots will stay pale and tough in the oven.
Bake on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 180°C / 355°F for 45 minutes. It is done when the peaks of the folds are dark and the spaces between them are light golden. As soon as it comes out of the oven, pour on the cooled syrup in three rounds: add one ladleful each time and wait for the sizzling to stop before the next pour. After the third round, tilt the pan and check the bottom.
The syrup should be cold and the pan hot. Because the folds have gaps between them, this pastry absorbs syrup faster than baklava; pour it in three rounds rather than all at once.
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