Baklava - Pistachio

This recipe promised so much, and being an AVID pistachio lover, I was very excited lol.
There is a flaw in the recipe I believe.
They suggested boiling the sugar syrup for 15-20 mins until it becomes slightly viscous.
I think thats rather vague myself, and I boiled it for 14 mins and it just became somewhat thick, or gluey or syrupy. But in my opinion this is too far long to be boiling it lol.

Some Toffee recipes suggest 7-10 mins.

When i added the juice of one lemon to the syrup, and the orange water etc. It didnt seem that viscous at all. It seemed perfect consistency to be drizzling over and into the baklava which had just been baked. Unfortunately it turned hard like toffee. Even after the lemon was added.

It seemed to soak into the baklava ok but once it cooled, it went far too hard.
It was almost like I had made pistachio brittle lol.
It tasted good lol But for me a little too sickly.
I think the recipe made far too much syrup for the baklava.

I also prolly made a mistake by putting it into the fridge after it had cooled, this would harden up the syrup as well.

Im not even sure what the texture of good Baklava is supposed to be after it has cooled, but I gather its supposed to be a lot more moist, and certainly not remotely as brittle as what mine turned out.

Its such a large batch as well. Pistachios are not cheap either. Im not even convinced Filo is the best way to go here. If we want to create separate layers of pastry, I would agree with filo, but if you only wanted bottom and top, perhaps puff would be feasible.

In any case I would make a much smaller version in terms of surface area, and experiment with the syrup to your taste requirements.

Its definitely a recipe to pursue further. But It needs to be modified for better results.

The recipe also calls for some ingredients which can be difficult to buy. Supermarkets wont have them. That being Orange flower water and Rose flower water. I found these for about 3-4 dollars each at a health food store.

Heres the recipe from SBS Food Safari

Im not convinced whether just plain pistachios is the best way to go.
Perhaps some kind of combination of fruit and nuts. Pistachio and Fig maybe.
You can also use walnuts, pecans, or any nut u like really.
Maybe an apple and walnut Baklava.