by love i sail: apfelstrudel

a month before the end alina and I did something that made leaving finally ok.

we made apfelstrudel. from scratch. for the first and last time.

finally i could go home. my mission had been completed. I could consider myself inculturated :)

apfelstrudel is the apex of traditional Wiener Küche (Viennese cooking) and thanks to the friendship of Melitta, the hunger and patience of her partner Franz, and a lovely, cloudy Sunday together in the kitchen of her home in one of the outer districts of Vienna, we got to take part of a three hour long baking lesson that rendered rather satisfying results.

now lets see if I can still manage it when I am back in the states.

and if not...well at least I have documentation as proof!

Here is the recipe in photos.

first of all...its always good to have some hungry stomachs and sweet-toothes waiting in the other room...preferably doing sudoku to pass the time and not get too impatient...this is going to take a while...

and then cover your pretty clothes with an apron...my fashion advice is an authentic austrian apron with the following spruch "Liebe geht durch den Magen" --ya...exactly...we're all about love. even if it means going through the stomach to get it to ya.

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since you wont understand this...i've translated

Here are the ingredients for the dough:

2 cups All-purpose Flour

1 tsp Salt

1 tblsp Oil

ca. 4 fl. oz. Lukewarm Water

First start out with your utensils...Alina and I each made a strudel so thats why there are two sets.

To Begin:

On the countertop dump your flour into a pile and in the middle make a small bowl into which you pour the salt and oil.

add small amounts of water at a time

as you mix the ingredients together

until a soft dough begins to form

be patient....it takes a while to get the ingredients well mixed!

then knead, throw and pound the dough until it is forms a smooth, soft ball. (should take about 12-20 minutes)

don't forget to enjoy yourself.

(I think this is the secret of successful Austrian marriages--beat the dough instead of your husband)

Smooth oil over the dough form and then place in a shallow bowl filled with some oil and covered with another bowl.

Leave sitting for 30 minutes and in the mean time prepare the filling

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Filling Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups Plain Bread Crumbs and 1/2 cup Sugar

1 stick Butter

Around 10 Apples, depending on size (should be 3.3 pounds)

To Prepare the Ingredients:

Melt the butter in saucepan on the stove on medium heat. Once melted set heat on low setting and mix in the bread crumbs and sugar. Keep stirring to prevent burning. The mixture should turn a nice golden brown. Set aside.

Peel, cut and dice the apples...

Then mix in 2 tblsp of Cinnamon.

Set aside the prepared filling and find a smooth, large, level area to work with (preferably your countertop). Now prepare the work area for stretching the dough.

Lay down plain (clean) dishcloths on the counter, enough to cover the space for the size of your dough when laying flat and outstretched. (About the size of a regular kitchen towel)

Then sprinkle flour over the cloth and spread it out evenly over the surface.

Take your dough ball from the oil bath and press it into a flattened circle

And then begin working very carefully to stretch out the dough.

Ask your neighbor for help--you'll need help eating the apple strudel anyway!

If there are breaks or holes don't freak out. You can always go back and repair them. Just try not to make too many of them or let them grow too big. Be gentle.

When its reached a decent size for "in the air stretching"...

lay it down on the floured towel and start pulling the edges and working the dough even thinner.

the goal---PAPER THIN. You want to be able to read a newspaper laying underneath the dough, through the dough...or at least be able to clearly see the design on your dish towel.

This is what it should like like in the end. See how you can see the pattern?

And make sure the edge goes larger than the kitchen towel because thick crusts don't belong in apple strudels

Thats why we cut them off just outside the border of the kitchen towel. If you have any holes or tears from the stretching process, just take some of that excess dough and seal up your holes.

Then spread melted butter into a think layer over the entire dough surface.

Spread the sugary breadcrumbs onto 1/3 of the dough-try to make it even and flat-and spread it almost to the outer edge of the dough.

Then add the cinnamon apples...

into a long heap...

on top of the bread crumbs.

Then sprinkle the raisins in if thats to your liking. (YUMM!)

Then VERY CAREFULLY cusp the outer edge of the filling with the border of dough until you can grab ahold of the kitchen towel. Then using the kitchen towel to roll the dough and filling one time over itself.