 |
| Pastry made with phyllo (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Filo (or phyllo) dough, best known for its use in Greek and Turkish pastries like baklava, is sold in the freezer section of large grocery stores. It is an elastic dough pulled into very thin sheets and cut into large rectangles. Follow the instructions on the box for thawing. When working with filo, keep the unused dough sheets stacked under a piece of plastic wrap or a barely damp kitchen towel until you are ready to use them; otherwise, they may become brittle and tear easily. Frozen filo dough keeps well, but not indefinitely; it becomes dry or sticky if stored for too long.
It is best if you will only buy filo dough just enough so as not to store it for a long time and just waste your money or think of other recipes in order to consume all your filo dough in one cooking. Autumn fruit strudel can be added to your menu and make use of your filo dough and at the same time enjoy the savings from unused dough.
You will need:
12 sheets filo dough, thawed if frozen
1/2 cup (4 oz/125 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
7 teaspoons granulated sugar
3 or 4 tart apples, peeled, halved, cored, and diced
(about 3 cups/12 oz/375 g)
1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz/105 g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup (7 oz/220 g) mixed chopped dried fruit such as sour cherries,
apricots, cranberries, currants, golden raisins (sultanas), or nectarines
Here's how:
Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (baking) paper.
Working with 1 filo sheet at a time and keeping the others covered with a barely damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out, place the first sheet on the parchment paper. Using a pastry brush, brush well with some of the melted butter. Lay a second filo on top of the first and brush again with butter. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the granulated sugar. Repeat, brushing every sheet with butter and sprinkling every other sheet with 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, until all of the filo is used.
In a large bowl, toss together the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and dried fruit. Arrange the apple filling along one long side of the filo stack, positioning it about 1 inch (2.5) from the edge. Fold the edge of the stack over the filling, then carefully roll up the filo into a log with the seam side down. Brush the log with additional melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon granulated sugar.
Bake the strudel until the filo is golden and the apples are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 45-55 minutes. Let cool on the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Transfer to a long serving platter, cut crosswise, and serve warm.
No comments:
Post a Comment