Leftovers

I know I'm in the right profession because I was all excited to finish my baking requisitions at work early today so I could come home and... do more baking.

A while back I made cinnamon buns for the neighbor, but as it turned out he wasn't home to receive them and as a result they went stale. As the buns sat on their plate turning into wonderful cinnamon sugar croutons, I pondered on what I could do with them (other than bread pudding).

Strudel it is! (my first time!!)


Austria and many other central European countries enjoy fresh breads and pastries. A lot. I'm told the reason strudel contains bread crumbs is in part because of this reason; to reduce the waste of breads that have gone stale. I did a quick bit of research on the interwebs and can't seem to find any supporting document to this claim. Allow me to simply cite and/or thank "The Yodeling German" for that one.

So, I chopped up some very ripe apples I had on hand and tossed them with some nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, and walnuts (walnuts compliments of my mother in law)


I didn't go too crazy on seasoning the apples because my bread crumbs were already seasoned from being cinnamon buns.


And here I have to confess.... I did not go through the trials of making traditional strudel dough. I instead thawed a box of filo pastry leaves, layering five sheets with melted butter spread inbetween. Next time, I will do it all from scratch... mark my words. If anything, the real fresh dough might be easier to work with than the frail, dry, break-apartyness of the filo.


After baking @ 350° F until golden brown, I brushed generously with a slurry of simple syrup, cornstarch, and cinnamon.


Finally, I iced the thing with flat icing and promptly delivered it to the neighbors who were home this time. It could very well be that they saw me coming with cinnamon buns last time and decided to hold out for something better....

They did indeed get something better. Mmmmmmmmm. Serve with vanilla pastry cream, pudding, custard, or ice cream!

Pie dough

I think I was shown how to make basic pie pastry before I was taught how to scramble an egg. When I'd visit my Memere as a child of 5 or 6, my favorite thing to play with was a half batch of the recipe listed below, along with some cookie cutters, a bowl of cinnamon sugar, and some raisins. To hell with playdough, I wanted the real thing!

I have friends and relatives with all sorts of crazy pie dough recipes. Some include eggs, others vinegar, and one that I know of utilizes a can of clear soft-drink. Crazy. Mine is pretty basic in comparison. Flour, shortening, and water - room temperature. I don't even bother with the dash of salt anymore. For a double crust pie I typically use:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup shortening
• ½ - ¾ cup water (depends on humidity and brand of flour)

Method:

1. Cut the shortening into the flour using a pastry blender or the backsides of 2 butter knives.
2. Do this until the pieces of shortening are about the size of lentils or whole oats; not walnuts or peas!
3. Mix in water with a knife or fork until a dough forms and just begins to get tacky.
4. Let rest for at least 20 minutes, preferable somewhere cool.
5. turn out portions onto well floured surface and roll to several mm thickness.
6. baking times depend entirely on what you fill this dough with. Usually at a temperature of 350 - 370°.

This recipe will give enough dough for a top and bottom crust, plus a little extra to play around with.

There are many recipes I make that require this dough, so I'll be referring back to this post often.