Bits ‘n Bites

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers. We had worked with flaky dough a little while back, but the challenge this time around was to actually make and stretch the dough paper thin.The filling was left to our imagination. Being prime time for rhubarb in this part of the world, and having access to a fresh-from-the-garden supply thanks to my honey’s backyard, I decided to go with a classic strawberry-rhubarb filling. The dough was easy to put together. The stretching took a while and I resorted to rolling it to avoid tearing it too much. It took a good 30 minutes to get it to what felt like the proper thickness.

I knew deep down it coulda (shoulda) been thinner, but a) I was worried the dough would dry out, and  b) I was tired of rolling this thing.  I added the strawberry-rhubarb filling, rolled it, tucked its ends and put it in the oven. Turned out all right. But again, I knew the dough should have been thinner.

Talking about it with my honey over dessert (of guess what?…), the image of my KitchenAid pasta roller popped in my mind. Could it work? Granted, it was way narrower than was needed, but what’s wrong with mini strudels? A week later, I repeated the recipe, this time with the roller. It worked beautifully — now, that was my style of rolling dough. The results were much crispier (as expected) and delicate. This method would be ideal for making flaky canapés or small spanakopitas. Might be on to something here…Though next time I’ll make sure there’s another pair of hands available. This dough really stretches! Meanwhile, on to the Daring Cooks challenge (due May 14th)!