Strudel

It wasn't long ago that village girls in Central Europe had to prove their skills at strudel

making before they were considered eligible for marriage. Now hardly anyone has that skill. Strudel

pastry, same as the Greek phyllo (or fillo) pastry used in baklava, is a very difficult pastry to make.

Even when you know how to do it, it is one of the most time-consuming pastries. And when you

have finally finished making the pastry, you still have the filling to do.

The starting point for a strudel pastry is either a puff pastry or a simple dough made from

water, flour and oil. Instead of oil, strudel bakers may use butter and may also add eggs. A tiny

amount of lemon juice or vinegar helps both to relax the gluten and strengthen its structure.

The skill is in turning the dough into a paper-thin sheet, stretching it gently by manipulating

your hands from underneath until the fist-sized ball of dough becomes a sheet 4 or 5 feet (1¼-1½ m)

in diameter, so thin that you can read this page through it.

What allows to stretch the dough is well-developed gluten, just like in pizza dough. High-

protein hard wheat flour and well-kneaded dough are essential for strudel, and the dough must be

totally relaxed before it let's you stretch it. While the dough is in the relaxing mode, you can prepare

the filling.

Donuts and its step-sisters

There are two types of donuts: cake donuts, in which baking powder provides leavening,

and yeast donuts with yeast taking care of making leavening bubbles. They are easiest to make with

commercial deep-frying equipment, which is a major reason why they are not a popular home-made

desserts. Even though homemade donuts can be delightfully good, they are messy and slow to make

with the small deep-fryers available for domestic use. You count on two, even three donuts per

person (they go fast), so for a small group of eight people that is a great number of donuts to fry four

at a time. They are fun to do occasionally.

Spudnuts are yeast donuts with mashed potatoes in the batter—very nice, rich in flavor.

Sopaipilla is the Mexican version of a cake donut without a hole in the middle. Having no central

hole, it puffs up in the hot oil leaving a huge air bubble in the center of the dough. Traditionally you

break it open at the table and dribble some honey into its cavity or simply dip it into honey.

Fruit fritters are also deep-fried desserts. You can dip any fruit that is not very juicy in a

simple batter and fry it until crisp. Sprinkled with powdered sugar before serving, they are

irresistible, but, like donuts, they are messy to make and most of us avoid them.

Points to Remember

Use a high-starch cake flour for most tender, crumbly, fine-textured cakes and tortes.

Use icing sugar only for frostings—the coarse crystals of granulated sugar have a role in dessert

preparations.

Use eggs at room temperature for best results, particularly in whipping egg whites into foam.

When whipping egg whites, avoid even traces of oil for maximum volume and add cream of

tartar for stability.

Be gentle when folding egg white foam into other ingredients. Fold briefly to preserve most air.

Be very accurate when measuring ingredients, especially for cakes and tortes and have all

ingredients at room temperature.

Serious Kitchen Play