Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Daring Bakers - May - Apple Streudel




Ah Austria! Scenic land of German speakers, Salzburg (I am a Sound of Music fan!) and home of Mozart. It is also the heartland of some wonderful desserts - thinks Sacher torte and streudel for instance. And it is to the streudels of Vienna that we journey with the Daring Bakers this month.

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.

The challenge was to make your own streudel dough and fill it with whatever takes your fancy. I have made streudel dough before in a
pastry class, but this was my first time flying solo.

There have been some wonderfully creative Daring Bakers who created an array of savoury and sweet fillings, but I played it simple and used the apple filling for which our hosts gave us the recipe. (My initial choice was cherry cheese, but I am kind of over rich things at the moment, and the simplicity of the apple filling struck my fancy.)

Here is my rested dough before stretching:


and this is the stretched dough with the holy bits cut off the edges (no, not sacred, just full of holes):


Here is the wonderful apple filling pre-baking (containing apple slices, raisins, rum and almonds) lying on the bread-crumb strewn dough:




After some careful rolling (using the floured tablecloth as an aid) and shaping, I ended up with this horse-shoe shaped streudel pre-baking (with the scariest moment being lifting the delicate but heavy streudel from the table onto the baking tray):



and finally, here is the finished product in all its golden brown, crispy glory:



The streudel baked out quite a lot of juices from the filling, which accounts for all the syrup you can see surrounding the streudel. My dough is orange in colour because I used a red palm-canola oil blend. I also chose to sprinkle the top of the streudel with extra sugar pre-baking to give it a nice crunchy top.

In my opinion, this streudel tasted best straight out of the oven, sliced and served with vanilla icecream. It smelt wonderful and tasted heavenly. The simplicity of the apple filling really won me over, and I would make the filling again for pies and tarts (as well as streudels!). It is not perhaps the handsomest of desserts, but it is very tasty.

Thank you to Linda and Courtney for being our hosts this month. You will be able to find the recipe for the streudel dough and the apple filling at their sites. To check out all the other amazing streudels from my fellow Daring Bakers, visit the
Daring Bakers blogroll.

35 comments:

The Blonde Duck said...

We made apple pie this weekend. That strudel is bringing up fond memories...

Tammy said...

wow, that looks awesome! I am running a bit late with mine and am going to make it tonight (I have made the dough though). I am a sound of music fan too!

Anonymous said...

Looks great! Mine ended up looking crazy, but at least I baked it.

Heather said...

oh my gosh - this is one of my favorite, favorite desserts. yours looks just lovely!

Engineer Baker said...

Gorgeous! Your strudel stretching turned out just perfectly!

Audax said...

Great job on this challenge and the end result is so nice. Yes the crisp layers and the simple apple filling is hard to beat because it is so simple and tasty. Wonderful effort on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Australia.

Deeba PAB said...

Love how well your strudel dough rolled out, & how beautifully you got the horse-shoe shape. Very yum Gaye...I'm dreaming of Austria!!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Great job! Wow, your pastry is so neat! :D I agree, lifting the pastry was the time where I was the most scared when doing this challenge.

Anonymous said...

Beautifully done all around. From the dough to the filling - it looks simply delicious!

Mary said...

Looks good!

Jo said...

I'm not surprise if someone starts singing "the hills are alive with the sound of music". I too had visions of this when doing this challenge. I must congratulate you on a job well done.

adele said...

I'm impressed at the home-made strudel dough. The results look delicious. :)

Beth said...

Apple is always a solid choice! I'm glad that you enjoyed the challenge.

Natalie, aka "Sheltie Girl" said...

You did a wonderful job on your strudel. I love that you were able to get it in a horse shoe shape. My gf version just wasn't up to that level of contortionism.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!! Great job!

George said...

Looks excellent. I like the idea of serving the strudel hot with ice cream, I might have liked mine better like that.

♥Rosie♥ said...

Bravo C.L. for making your own strudel dough!! It looks amazing - great entry for this event!

tartasacher said...

Hello Cakelaw:

Great your apple strudel. Thank you for your comments in my sweet blog. A kiss for you

Ivy said...

You did a great job again. The strudel sounds delicious.

A_and_N said...

I love the step by step pics! And what a challenge!

Dharm said...

You got your dough really thin didnt you!! Red palm canola oil huh! Brilliant!!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

I was wondering about the colour. Lovely shape and strudel.
I first heard of an apfestrudel after watching Sound of Music! :)

foodcreate said...

Delicious! apple strudel:)
Thanks for sharing your recipe:)

and you can visit me if i can visit you:)

Welcome!
www.foodcreate.com

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Duckie. The filling is devine - perfect for your next pie?

Hi Tammy, I had the best time in Salzburg on the SOM tour and just running around the town. It's just the right size for walking, and I loved it.

Hi Wendy, I loved the cherries and blueberries in yours - I'll bet they tasted good!

Hi Heather, there's nothing like an apple dessert for simple comfort.

Thanks Caitlin - it was kind of fun to do.

Thanks Audax - you have inspired me to try a savoury version soon.

Thanks Deeba - wouldn't it be nice if we could actually go?

Hi Lorraine, I know - I think I would have cried if it had fallen apart at that stage.

Thanks Lisamichele - I gave half of it to a workmate who had it for dinner one night.

Thanks Mary :)

LOL Jo - that's what I was thinking with so many streudels around the place.

Thanks Adele - you'd be amazed at how simple it is to do.

Thanks Beth.

Thanks Natalie - I always admire your gluten free creations, and could learn a lot in that area.

Thanks Newlyweds!

Hi George, fresh out of the oven with the cold icecream melting over it - it was just lovely that way.

Thanks Rosie - I enjoyed doing this, despite putting it off til near the end of the month.

Thanks Tartasacher - and great to have you drop by.

Hi Ivy, you'd love this one - and being such a pastry whiz (I've seen you make phyllo ;)), you'd find it a breeze.

Thanks A&N - I found the step by step pics posted by Aparna in the forum invaluable because I couldn't visualise how to put the filling in until I checked those.

Hi Dharm - I doind't try to balance it on my arms or hip ti stretch it (because when I tried that, it was about to tear!!) - I just persevered on the tabletop.

Thanks Aparna - and thanks for your photos of how to do it in the forum, because I relied on those to understand what to do with the filling!!!

Thanks Foodcreate - absolutely.

Ally said...

the shot right out of the oven looks fabulous! My husband wants me to make the apple version, I am thankful I made that extra batch! Good job!

Kenna - everythinggal.com said...

Cute flowered plate, and great writing!

TeaLady said...

Great job on your first solo strudel.

I completely forgot about DB. But everybody's looks sooooo good I will have to try...

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Ally. I liked the apple, so despite my initial grand plans, I was very happy to have stuck with this.

Thanks Michael & Kenna!

Thanks Tealady. Believe me, I put it off until the second last weekend (and I was not around the last weekend to make it, so my window of opportunity was narrow!).

linda said...

Glad you liked the challenge :) Great job on the strudel!

Lauren said...

Yum!! Your strudel looks wonderful =D. Awesome job on this challenge!!

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Linda - it really was a delicious dessert and proved that the simple things (ie the apply flavour) are often the best. Hope you and your bub are going well.

Thanks Lauren :)

Jenny Tan said...

Great job! It definitely looks very tasty! :)

Lisa said...

Must agree with you - freshly baked from the oven with ice-cream, and all was forgiven!

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Jenny - it was fun to make.

Hi Lisa, absolutely - even the anxious moments loading the filled streudel onto the baking tray!

Y said...

From one Sound of Music fan to another, your strudel looks fantastic!