Apple Strudel

Another of stara mama's delicacies is home-made apple strudel. My grandmother, a strong woman, used to make more than a dozen of these in a day. I'm not quite as talented so I stick to one at a time, I'd recommend the same.


Pastry

Preparation of the dough for apple strudels is the same as for Strukli.

Filling

12 apples
4 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Peel and core all apples. Slice apples into paper thin wedges. To keep the apples from browning sprinkle them lightly with lemon juice.
In a separate container thoroughly mix cinnamon and sugar.
Mix bread crumbs with melted butter.

Place sliced apples along one edge of the stretched dough (see Strukli). Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture over the apples. Over the rest of the dough sprinkle the butter and breadcrumbs mixture. Fold the dough hanging off the table over the apples and along the sides. Sprinkle the butter and breadcrumbs over these areas.

Starting at the side with the apples roll the strudel tightly. Pinch together the two ends and coil the strudel on a pan with baking sheet. Baste the strudel in butter and bake for approx 45 min at 370F.

Optionally, after removing the strudel from the oven baste the strudel with butter again.

Allow the strudel to cool and enjoy.

Strukli Recipe

The following is a traditional family recipe for Strukli, a Slovenian dumpling. Strukli is a sweet dish but is often served with dinner. The recipe takes about 4 hours to make from scratch but making multiple batches at the same time does no drastically increase the preparation time.

Dough

Ingredients:
flour
1 tsp salt
3 cups warm water
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vinegar

Begin by mixing 4 cups of flour with salt in a large bowl. In a separate container mix wet ingredients: vinegar, oil, and hot water. Slowly blend the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. The result will be something that looks like gooey soup.
Now, slowly add flour until the dough gets thick enough to knead. Stara mama (grandma) used to say to knead the dough until it is "soft like a baby's bottom." I don't know what that means but I hope that is a good enough description for you to go by. When done place a small amount of oil in a bowl and roll the dough in it. Cover the bowl (with cloth or a plastic bag) and let it sit for 1 hr. The dough can be prepared the night before and left in the fridge.

Stretching the dough:
Cover a large table with a cotton sheet. Sprinkle flour over the table. Place dough in the center of the table and dust it with flour. Use a rolling pin to roll out dough as much as you can (go in the long direction of the table first). The dough should be approximately 3-4 feet long and 2.5 feet wide. Rub melted butter over the surface of the rolled out dough and let it stand for 15 min.
Put flour on your hands and lift the dough on one edge. Pull at the dough by placing your hand underneath and gently sliding it towards the outer edge (again go lengthwise first). The dough should eventually be thin enough that you can see through it.

Filling

Sprinkle ground walnuts over the entire dough. Fold the edges of the dough onto the table and sprinkle those areas with walnuts. Roll the dough tightly. I like to roll the dough from both sides so that they meet in the middle of the table. This way the rolls aren't too thick. Cut the rolls into foot long sections and seal the ends by pinching them together. Roll sections into lightly oiled tinfoil (be sure to seal the ends).

Cooking Instructions

To cook, boil rolls for 20 mins. Remove the Strukli from foil and slice into bite sized pieces. Fry the dumplings in butter.

Serve with sugar lightly sprinkled on top.