Strudel History

Strudel

The Strudel is a pastry with a sweet or savory filling rolled up in a very thinly stretched dough. The name "Strudel" means Whirlpool since the dough is rolled and the center of the pastry resembles a whirlpool.

Traditionally, Strudel dough is made from scratch out of high-gluten flour, water, and oil. Preparing the dough is manually intensive. It requires an intense kneading period to develop the gluten strands, followed by a resting period for the dough (and the baker!). This gives the dough the elasticity it needs to be stretched into a very thin sheet - so thin that it is almost transparent. Easier recipes replace this process by substituting the traditional dough with a ready-made phylo-dough or puff-pastry dough.

Strudel Variations

The most well known Strudel is the Apple Strudel. However, both sweet and savory Strudels exist in German cooking. Some of the most popular Strudels are described below, but the number of variations are endless ... limited only by the creativity of chefs both in Germany and around the world.

Sweet Strudel

Apfelstrudel (Apple Strudel)
Apple Strudel is a specialty of Austria and Bavaria (Bayern) and it is known worldwide. Its filling is made from chopped apples, cinnamon, raisins, and roasted bread crumbs. Other ingredients could include nuts (such as almonds or walnuts) and rum, depending on the recipe. The filling is spread out over the Strudel dough, which is then rolled up into a log. It is baked in an oven until golden brown and the ends become crispy. The Apple Strudel is best served warm, fresh from the oven. It is usually eaten with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or a vanilla sauce.

Mohnstrudel (Poppy Seed Strudel)
This Strudel is filled with poppy seeds, apples, raisins, powdered sugar, and milk.

Quarkstrudel
This Strudel is filled with Quark, butter, powdered sugar, raisins, semolina, eggs, and sour cream.

Walnuss-Strudel (Walnut Strudel)
The filling for this Strudel is made from ground walnuts, sugar, and whipped cream.

Kürbis-Apfel-Strudel (Pumpkin Apple Strudel)
Apples, pumpkin, powdered sugar, raisins, nuts, and cinnamon make up the filling for this Strudel.

Savory Strudel

Blutwurststrudel (Blood Sausage Strudel)
This Strudel is a specialty of the Palatinate (Pfalz) region. It is made from a Potato-Strudel dough and filled with bacon,Sauerkraut, and Blutwurst (Blood Sausage).

Krautstrudel (Cabbage Strudel)
This Strudel is filled with white cabbage, salt, pepper, and sugar.

Quark-Dill-Strudel
Quark, butter, semolina, eggs, chopped dill, and sour cream make up the filling for this savory Strudel.

Gemüsestrudel (Vegetable Strudel)
The filling for this Strudel is made of carrots, celery, savoy cabbage, cauliflower, grated cheese, butter, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley.

Recipe for "Autumn Fruit Strudel" here!

Recipe for "Summer Fruit Strudel" here!

Recipe for "Sour Cherry Strudels" from Gourmet.com here!

Recipe for "Plum Strudel" here from Saveur!

danish.

Cheese Danish

Danish Pastries is a speciality that comes from Denmark that everyone has enjoyed at one time or another. Vikings invented the Danish Pastry in a flower shape to worship a tribe leader’s daughter and who ever made the best tasting pastry was the one who got to marry the daughter. Danish Pastries are made all over the world these days, but most of its origin does trace back to Denmark. The Danish Pastries that are consumed in Denmark can be topped with a number of different things. Some of those things can be chocolate, sugar and icing, and stuffed with jam or custard. Each country though as there own way to prepare Danish Pastries and they all taste a little different depending which country they are from.

Most Danish Pastries have the following ingredients in them flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and generous amounts of butter. You will need to chill the dough to make it much easier to roll out though. Danish Pastries over the years as seen many different changes from the original format that was made so many years ago. Today's Danish Pastries come in all shapes and sizes from flower shapes to crosses to circles these days. You can almost make any shape out of Danish Pastries dough anymore if you have enough talent and are very creative. Many people do not know that Danish Pastries are actually a lot like the croissant that originate in Vienna and is called the wiener bread in Denmark.

Over the years many different things have changed about the Danish Pastries besides the shape of it. many different countries serve it in a multitude of different ways. People in the United States will put almost anything on top of it and eat it at anytime of the day. While in other countries it has to be made a certain way. Danish Pastries has grown a following over time and certain types are more popular than others. Taste is a very big factor when we talk about Danish Pastries and people will tell you everyone has a little different taste depending on the cooking process that the implement. No matter what one thing is for sure Danish Pastries has grown a loyal following over the years and I do not see that ending anytime soon.

Where Danish Pastries were mostly a breakfast treat around the world many people in the United States use Danish Pastries as snacks all day long or a special treat for the young child that does well. No matter how you use Danish Pastries there is no doubting how good they do taste. Danish Pastries can be found in the finest hotels and the smallest restaurants. Can you imagine that such a small treat that was originally design to win the love of a women could end up everywhere in the world, but that is the story of the Danish Pastry. If you have never tried any Danish Pastries you sure are missing out on a lot.