05.28.09

Cream-colored Ponies and…

Posted in Cuisines, Dessert, Foodblog Events, Fruits, German at 8:59 am by julie

I’m a little late with my DB challenge this month, but better late than never, right? The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague by Rick Rodgers. I was pretty excited about this challenge because I’ve never made a classic strudel before, and I’ve had my eye on this book for some time now. But I still ended up waiting until the last possible moment to make it, possibly because my 14-month old finally decided he was tired of sitting around and learned how to crawl. I’ve spent the last month chasing him around and trying to keep him from upending the dog’s water bowl. Anyway, last night I finally buckled down and made my strudel. I stuck with the filling called for in the recipe, just because we love apple strudel, but now that I know it isn’t that intimidating to make, I hope to experiment with other varieties also.

I started out with the dough, which was lovely and soft and made a tiny amount. I think I hand-kneaded it longer than the recipe suggested, just because it was so agreeable to work with. Then I wrapped it up in plastic wrap and left it alone for probably two hours while making and eating dinner.

<

Finally I couldn't put off the stretching portion of the recipe any longer. I used my portable dishwasher as a little table---it is about 2.5 feet square---and a large flour-sack towel as a tablecloth. The dough rolled out pretty darn thin just using the rolling pin, and I gently stretched it over the edges of the table by sliding my hands under it. I ended up with a few small holes around the edges due to my long fingernails, but it actually went much more smoothly than I could have expected, and I was pleased with the thinness I was able to achieve.

I left the rum-soaked raisins out of the filling, just because I don’t like them. My apples were Cameos, so I cut down the sugar a bit to make up for their lack of tartness. They were starting to get juicy from contact with the sugar, so I drained them a bit before spreading over the dough. My dough ended up more square than rectangular, so I just picked an end and got to it.

Rolling up the strudel was the other part that had me worried, but it worked out alright. I didn’t really get the need for the cloth while I was stretching it out, but it totally made sense once it came time to roll. More difficult was the transfer from the cloth to the baking sheet—I was really afraid that I would tear holes in the dough trying to get the cloth out from under it, but it survived all the tugging.

After 30 minutes in the oven, my strudel came out looking golden brown and delicious. Difficult as it was to wait, we gave it a good 45 minutes before cutting into it, and it was still piping hot inside. I had hoped to serve it alongside some vanilla or cinnamon ice cream, but the timing just didn’t work out. However, it was delicious all on its own—the strudel dough came out paper-thin and crisp, just as it should, and the filling was pure apple, not too sweet or spiced. I was a little worried about sogginess, but the bread crumbs certainly seemed to take care of that issue.

This was a really fun challenge, so many thanks to the hosts. Maybe now I’ll be brave enough to try out one of my Italian strudel recipes too. Be sure to take a look at the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see all the amazingly creative strudel variations out there!

I am a member of the Theta Class of Daring Bakers, inducted in July 2007. Below is a list of previous challenges:
Strawberry Mirror Cake – July 2007
Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart – August 2007
Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns – September 2007
Bostini Cream Pies – October 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007
Traditional Buche de Noel – December 2007
Lemon Meringue Pie – January 2008
French Bread – February 2008
Perfect Party Cake – March 2008
Opéra Cake – May 2008
Danish Braid – June 2008
Filbert Gateau – July 2008
Chocolate Éclairs – August 2008
Lavash Crackers and Dip – September 2008
French Yule Log – December 2008
Tuiles – January 2009
Chocolate Valentino and Ice Cream – February 2009
Lasagne of Emilia-Romana – March 2009
Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake – April 2009

Permalink