Cherry Cheese Strudel

My very first attempt at making strudel. And eating it too – I think. Perhaps I’ve tried it before, but I don’t remember. Going off of the philosophical question, if a tree falls in the middle of the forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound; if you try something and don’t have any recollection of the incident afterwards, does it count? Because, quite frankly, until I started baking from the pie bible, I didn’t know everything had a distinct name and characteristic. I lumped everything together under the fuzzy category “pastry” and never gave it much thought. Turnovers and popovers were all the same to me. And I really should’ve tried strudel in Vienna. I vaguely remember my friend suggesting we try some, but I don’t think we got around to it. But it could be assumed that I inadvertently ate some at the breakfast bar. But then does accidentally eating something and not remembering later count? Oh, I’m such a fake foodie, only thinking about food in retrospect!

Anyway, I decided it was time to make some strudel (in the present) because it is described as a summer pastry, perfect for making in hot, humid weather. And summer was unusually hot and humid this year, even for Korea. But as luck would have it, the weather today was quite cool, autumnal even. It seems the weather deems it its duty to be whimsical.

Making the dough – I can see why strudel-making is described as “easy.” The dough is very simple to make (it’s basically flour, water, and a little oil), especially compared to pie dough. Yet I managed to mess up twice before getting it right, as evidenced by the heaping pile of mess-up in the background.

In preparation for the momentous event of strudel-stretching, the desk was dragged out to the middle of the room. Butter was also (somewhat) clarified (another first).

Stretched not-quite-gossamer-thin and dotted with what will have to pass as clarified butter. The hope was to get it as big as the desk, but that really was too much of a stretch. It’s supposed to be so thin, you can read a newspaper under it. I guess if you tried that at this point, it would be quite a botchy read… But as a super-novice strudel-maker I was impressed it stretched at all!

With the cream cheese filling and cherry topping. Now the fun part – rolling!

All rolled up and ready to go into the oven. I think it came out quite pretty, actually.

And my first actually remembered strudel experience – let’s just say that I got a sense of its allure. The layers didn’t come out as individually crispy as I think it was supposed to (and not enough layers either), but I can imagine what it should be like and I’m quite impressed by the idea. And I can see why it’s supposed to be so accessible – though not exactly easy, it’s quite simple to make in theory. All in all, it’s got potential. Realizing the potential will probably be an on-going story.