Welcome to My Kitchen

Last week The Odessa Record included a Deutschesfest insert. In the insert on page 3 is a stock recipe for Apple Strudel. Please Do Not use that recipe.

Reason one, amounts in metric or US are incorrect. At best, you will end up with goop suitable for hanging wallpaper. Reason two, this is not the style of strudel served during Fest, as it is a rolled rather than stretched dough. The filling ingredients listed are typical of an Austrian style strudel.

Most Germans from Russia Odessa area settlers made strudel with a stretched dough. When Deutschesfest started, the ladies of Christ Lutheran Church settled on the following recipe and used it continually throughout the years, though they mix the dough in larger batches these days. The first year they made 25 strudel, now they make over 550 strudel, each serving 10-12 people.

Apple Strudel

Dough:

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)

2-2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup melted butter

1 1/2 cups dry bread crumbs

6 cups finely chopped tart, golden delicious apples

Additional butter for brushing on dough and finished strudel.

Mix dough by hand or with an electric mixer. Combine eggs, sugar, butter, salt and warm water. Mix until well combined. Beat in flour about 1/4 cup at a time until dough clings together and leaves the sides of the bowl.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Divide into two equal pieces and knead each about 1 minute more forming into a ball.

Heat two bowls in hot water. Place dough balls on floured cloth and cover with heated bowls and let rest about 1 hour.

Filling ingredients are for one strudel, so double to accommodate the dough, or you could make one with a different fruit.

Combine all the filling ingredients except the apples and mix until butter and cinnamon are evenly distributed. Set aside.

When dough has rested, roll into a 12 inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Brush with melted butter. Let rest about 30 minutes.

Lightly dust a tablecloth with flour and lay out on table. Carefully lift dough onto the backs of your hands, using the weight of the dough to stretch paper thin while pulling with your knuckles. Lay dough onto tablecloth when too big to handle and continue stretching the edges until about a 30 x 40 inch rectangle.

Spread evenly with bread crumb mixture, then scatter the chopped apple over the crumbs. Turn in sides of dough about 2 inches, then starting at one edge, lifting the tablecloth to assist rolling dough into a doll like for cinnamon rolls.

Carefully place dough in a horseshoe shape on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with melted butter. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 50 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar to serve. Yield: 10-12 servings per strudel.

Note: diced plums or peaches would be good in the second strudel.

Share your favorite recipes by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159, email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office.