It’s all about pastry, the filling can vary: a combination of jam, berries, nuts, dry fruits, chocolates, poppy seeds or maybe even savory. But the pastry I remember my mom was making was magical, she was rolling it out to the whole width of the kitchen table – paper thin, stretchy, but very delicate. It was almost invisible inside wrapping the layers of the filling. But that’s what makes it melt in your mouth. Another good news is – this strudel can last for several days in room temperature.
For the pastry Ingredients:
- 200 gr cold butter
- 200 gr sour cream
- 2.5 cups app purpose flour
- 1 egg
- pinch of salt
Directions:
- Place cold butter and flour into the big bowl
- Cut it with pastry cutter or do it in the food processor till butter is pea size
- Add sour cream, pinch of salt, 1 egg
- Mix into a ball using your hands for about 2-3 minutes
- Divide into 2 equal parts, wrap with the plastic wrap and put into the fridge for a couple of hours at least (you can keep it there for a week).
- Take 1 ball, sprinkle working surface with some flour and start rolling trying to make it into a rectangular like shape (15-16” wide), it should be super thin, but it’s not hard, the pastry is very stretchy.
- Brush the pastry with melted butter or neutral olive oil (not extra virgin, it shouldn’t have a strong smell). Sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon/cacao mixture or you can skip this step
- Put the filling in a single row, or you can spread it wider to have several layers of party inside.
- Roll the pastry around the filling forming a log.
- Put strudel on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, brush with beaten egg.
- Make small incisions (about an inch from each other) on your strudel so it’s easier to cut after it’s baked
- Place into preheated to 375 °F and bake for 40-45 min or till golden brown, cool completely
Tart cherries filling (the proportions are very flexible):
- Tart cherry jam without syrup – 2 cup
- Walnuts – 1 cup
- Lemon zest – 1 tbsp
- If the jam is too sweet – lemon juice 2 tbsp
- To make the filling more condensed add more nuts or dried cherries or even crashed cookies.
