The Baking Boys and Miss: Strudel-time

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. Mmmm, layers of flaky crust surrounding a delicious filling..."curious choice for May" was my first thought when I read the challenge, given that the traditional filling, spiced apple compote, is more commonly associated with autumn. True, I live in Arizona, and perhaps our spring weather is not typical of the rest of the country, but the temperature was hovering right around 100 degrees on the day that I made this recipe, which I must admit did not put me in the harvest-moon-apple-cider-and-barn-dance frame of mind...but, alas, I know, I am not the center of the universe.

That fact accepted, then, I must ask, if not me, then who is the center of the universe, culinarily speaking? And I pose this question only partly rhetorically. Because I do think that many of us, or at least those of us who might bother to give this a moment's thought, know exactly who/what/where our particular food universe is centered. For me, there have been a few different Big Bangs around which my world of food rotates...certainly growing up in a house where cookies could almost always be found in the Tupperware on the kitchen counter established one culinary force field...discovering Nancy Silverton's Breads of La Brea Bakery and taking Chef Amy Quazza's bread classes at FCI joined forces to create another strong point on my personal time-space continuum...and though I have not yet eaten at any of his restaurants, reading the books and recipes of Jean-Georges Vongerichten sets my mind and palate spinning/drooling into another realm.

So...back to strudel. Strudel = Autumn, Vienna/Germany/Eastern Europe, Grandmothers...my personal perspective on strudel-ness, which, yes, I admit is a stereotype. But being the proud member of a subculture that relishes its stereotypes (think Village People), may I just say...stereotypes come from somewhere. We talk in culinary racist stereotypes everyday..."Chinese or Mexican for lunch?"..."Let's do something Italian with the chicken tonight"..."Yuck, I hate Greek food." We all do it, and to a degree, I suppose, it is an act of verbal efficiency, but it probably also represents the limited variety of a culture's food that might be available in restaurants (face it, a certain unnamed loved-one of mine has been known to refer to Mexican food as "rolled food"). But what a disservice we do to ourselves, to limit our exploration of the world's cuisines to the 4 or 5 dishes we might have tried at the local ethnic eatery. And I am as guilty as anyone in this way - I tend to order the same thing everytime we go to the handful of restaurants that we seem to frequent most commonly, as if there were nothing on the menu other than a Chicken Burrito Enchilada-Style.

However, as I said...stereotypes do come from somewhere. Take, f'rinstance, the meal that I was served in Munich. Having tired of day after day, meal after meal of heavy (but delicious) German food, (and feeling rather "clogged up", if you will)

Nik's nephew Corey and I were pleased to see a salad featured on the menu at dinner one evening. Ok, maybe we should have thought about it before ordering, we were, after all, in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, not exactly the home of spa cuisine. And, ok, maybe analytical thinking was not something we could have done at the moment, so we both went ahead and ordered the salad (really, I distinctly remember the words salad and vinaigrette in the English translation on the menu). Lesson #1: Salads do not necessarily contain lettuce; Lesson #2: Slice beef thin enough and toss it with vinaigrette and tourists drowning themselves in beer

might just forget about lesson #1; Lesson #3: How does one make a tossed salad heavy? Substitute beef for the lettuce. German food = Heavy food? Yes, stereotypes come from somewhere.

Yet, the other side of the deutschmark is the lovely tradition of the 3:00 cake and coffee break. I suspect that the promise of the mid-afternoon piece of cake might have been Nik's real motivation for going to Germany (other than to visit "the motherland" with his German-speaking mother, Rosemary-Rosemarie). Nik had spoken lovingly of "afternoon cake" for years, and we certainly tried to honor the 3:00 tradition, but I must admit that we tend to become rather driven on vacations, with a go-go-go attitude, so I fear 3:00 often passed us by without the leisurely visit to the bakery. Yet, stereotypes be damned, on those occasions when we did stop walking long enough to enjoy some caffeine and a confection,

I don't believe we ever once had a slice of strudel, usually opting instead for desserts containing marzipan or chocolate. Hmm, I guess there's yet another reason to go back. Until then, here's a delicious version of apple strudel...and don't be afraid of the dough, it's really fun to make.

Apple Strudel

Filling

Apples, peeled, cored, sliced.....................2 lb

Lemon Juice.........................................1 oz

Brown Sugar.........................................3 oz

White Sugar.........................................3 oz

Cake Crumbs........................................1 1/2 oz

Cinnamon............................................2 tsp

1. Combine in saucepan. Cook over medium-low until apples are cooked and juices are slightly thickened.

2. Let cool before using.

Dough

Bread Flour.........................................300 grams

Water...............................................166 grams

Salt.....................................................5 grams

Eggs...................................................46 grams

Vegetable Oil........................................18 grams

1. Mix all ingredients together. Knead until soft but not sticky. Wrap well and refrigerate overnight.

2. Cover a surface with a slightly floured sheet or tablecloth. Gently stretch/pull the dough to approximately 2 ft x 3 ft.

3. Coat dough with 6 oz melted, room temp butter (use your hands to spread the dough - a brush will likely tear it). Sprinkle with cake crumbs.

4. Make a line of filling down one side of the dough, with approx 3 inch border of dough on the edge.

Flip the dough over the filling. Using the sheet to assist, loosely roll the strudel, cutting of any thick edges of dough. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.