Apple Harvest is ON! Try This Rolled Strudel Recipe

There is something about strudel that really hits the spot with a cup of hot coffee or tea on a crisp autumn day.

The usual hiccup in making strudel is the thought of getting the dough paper thin. That no longer needs to be a concern! From the shared Czech recipes of my grandmother, Emma Nesetril, comes this wonderfully compliant dough.

I think the difference is the vinegar: just a teaspoon and the dough stretches and stretches without ripping or tearing. Now. Please understand that everything has a breaking point, but this dough is lovely and extremely forgiving. Besides which, since you roll the strudel several times, the holes that might appear are usually on the inside and don't affect the outcome anyway! Enjoy!

Rolled Strudel

1/2 pound shortening -- (half butter, half shortening of choice is OK)

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

~ Beat yolks and water together. Add vinegar and sugar; mix well.

~ In another large bowl, mix flour and baking powder and make a well in the center. Add shortening and cut in as for pie crust. (Do not worry about how well you do this step. I've even done this in my bread machine's dough-making setting and the result is still fine!)

~ Gradually add liquids to the flour and form a dough. IF the dough is too sticky, add flour in small quantities. "Too sticky" is defined as 'when you can't get the dough off of your fingers no matter what you try'!

~ Refrigerate for at least 4 hours -- preferably overnight.

Next, make your streusel (aka butter crumbs):

3/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/3 cup butter

Cut the butter into the combined dry ingredients as for a pie crust. Do not make into a dough -- just rough crumbly bits. Set aside.

Prepare 3 pounds of apples by slicing them (leaving the skins on for color and food value) with a grater into a bowl of cold water into which 1 teaspoon of powdered vitamin C has been dissolved. This keeps the apples from discoloring. After each apple is sliced, make sure the water has reached all exposed apple surfaces and then remove by handsful into another bowl.

Apple Filling:

1 cup sugar into which you mix cinnamon -- to taste (at least a teaspoonful)

1/2 cup raisins -- white is usual; black is OK

1/2 chopped nuts -- pecans are usual; others are OK

Mix all of the above into the sliced apples so that it is evenly distributed.

After 4 hours or the next day, bring out your dough from the refrigerator and cut it into two pieces. Leave it warm up for a bit as you prepare your rolling surface: a tight-weave, heavy dish towel or table cloth.

Spread your cloth on a large working surface and liberally sprinkle flour all over it, spreading the flour with your hands. Take one piece of dough and stretch it in an elongated direction and then lay it on the floured cloth.

Using a rolling pin -- I've found my pizza roller to be even more useful than my full-sized marble rolling pin! -- roll the dough in all directions until you have it paper thin. You will want more length than width. You can judge the approximate WIDTH of the dough using the LENGTH of a standard sized cookie sheet.

When the dough is rolled out paper thin, spread a layer of butter crumbs on it, smoothing it on the dough with your hands. Next spread one half of your apple mixture evenly onto the dough to within an inch of the edges. Finally, take the cloth on the LONG end of the dough and gently lift up until the dough curls over onto the apple filling. Continue lifting and curling the dough, making an increasingly large roll. Fold the ends under and lift the roll onto one side of a greased cookie sheet. Make the other strudel roll and put it next to the first. Bake both at 375 for 30 minutes.

Cool. Serve slices with powdered sugar sprinkled atop it!