Recipe#11308

Title: Apple Strudel 08

From: jbeekhui@jaybee.xs4all.nl (Johannes Beekhuizen) 
 Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
 Subject: Strudels 
 Date: 14 Apr 1997 10:40:16 -0400 
 Message-ID: f7a_9703242253@jaybee.xs4all.nl 

Keywords: strudel, pastry, traditional, Austrian
 The rolls or 'strudel' belong to the most popular pastries of Austria.
 The thinner the dough, the better they are.  If you put the dough on
 top of a paper you should be able to read the printing.  The dough
 should be made exactly according to the quantities in the recipes so
 that it may be rolled very thinly without it tearing or sticking.  For
 other recipes you may use a little bit more of this, a little bit less
 of that.  But that is absolutely out of the question with recipes for
 Strudel dough.
 The flour for Strudel should be dry and not freshly ground.  The best
 is flour containing 13% proteins and 65% starches.  These quantities
 may be established as follows: put 100 grams (3-1/2 oz) of flour into a
 linnen bag.  Soak this bag in a bowl with plenty of water and squeeze
 it until it doesn't absorb any water anymore.  In the bag you should
 now have a pleasantly smelling, yellowish, doughlike mass (the proteins)
 which should weigh 13 grams (1/2 oz) after drying.  Is the mass greyish,
 not doughlike, or smelling unpleasantly, you should not use the flour
 for Strudel.  On the bottom of the bowl the starches from the flour
 will settle.  After straining off the water and drying it you should
 have 65 grams (2-1/3 oz) left.
 Here are two recipes for the dough:
 Strudeldough I:
 ==============
      250   g  flour  (8-3/4 oz)
               pinch of salt
        1 tbs  olive oil
        1      egg
     4..7 tbs  lukewarm water (as much as the flour absorbs)
 Knead the ingredients by hand or with kneading hooks to a supple dough.
 It should form blisters and not stick to the hands anymore.  Form it
 into a ball and put it onto a board dusted with flour.  Put a warmed
 bowl over it and let it rest for half an hour to an hour.
 Spread out a smooth cloth of about 1x1 meters (3'4"x3'4") and dust it
 with flour.  With a rolling pin dusted with flour, roll out the dough
 on this cloth as far as possible.  Now, hold the dough with one hand
 and stretch it slowly and carefully with the other from all sides, until
 it is as thin as paper.  Cut of the thicker edges.  Whether you now make
 one big or several smaller Strudel depends on your skill.  Smaller
 Strudel are easier for beginners.
 Strudeldough II:
 ===============
      250   g  flour  (8-3/4 oz)
               pinch of salt
        3  ts  oil
               lukewarm water
 Prepare as Strudeldough I
 Apfelstrudel:
 =============
      750   g  ripe, soft apples  (26-1/2 oz)
               cinnamon
        2 tbs  sugar
               butter
               breadcrumbs
      100   g  raisins  (3-1/2 oz)
               grated lemon peel and/or a few finely chopped nuts
               butter or egg yolk
 Cut the apples into very thin slices and stew them for a minutes with
 the sugar and the cinnamon.  Brush the Strudel dough with some melted
 butter and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.  Spread the apples and the
 raisins evenly on top of it.  If desired add some chopped nuts and/or
 grated lemon peel.  By lifting the cloth on one side, roll up the
 Strudel.  Let it slide from the cloth onto a buttered baking sheet.
 Brush the Strudel with some melted butter or egg yolk. Depending on the
 size it should bake for 30..40 minutes in a fairly hot oven (200xC/400xF).
 For an extra moist Strudel one may pour 125..250 ml (4-8 oz) of milk
 onto the baking sheet.
 Zwetschgenstrudel:
 ==================
     750..1000 g  Zwetschgen (small, blue prunes, the same ones as are
                  used for Slivovic), quartered and without stones,
                  sprinkled with some sugar and cinnamon.
                  (1-1/2..2 lb)
 Cherrystrudel:
 ==============
     750   g  cherries without stones, fresh or preserved (1-1/2 lb)
              chopped nuts
              cinnamon
              grated lemon peel
              sugar
              breadcrumbs
 Poppyseedstrudel:
 =================
     150   g  poppyseeds (5-1/3 oz)
              breadcrumbs
       3 tbs  sugar
              cinnamon
       1 tbs  rum
    2..3 tbs  marmalade
 Put the poppyseeds into a sieve and pour hot water over them.  Grind
 them and mix the with the other ingredients.
 Curdsstrudel:
 =============
     125   g  stale white bread without crust  (4-1/2 oz)
     125  ml  milk  (4-1/2 oz)
     500   g  curds (17-1/2 oz)
       1      egg
      80   g  butter  (2-3/4 oz)
      80   g  sugar  (2-3/4 oz)
              grated lemon peel
       3 tbs  raisins
 Cut the bread into smallish dice and let it soak in the milk.  Put it
 with the curds through a sieve.
 Divide the egg into yolk and white.
 Whip the egg white until stiff.
 Beat the butter and the egg yolk until they are foamy.  Add the sugar
 and spoon by spoon stir in the curds mixture.
 Finally very gently fold in the egg white.
 Spread the mixture onto the Strudel dough.  Sprinkle on the raisins
 and lemon peel and finish it like Apfelstrudel.