Bosnian spinach pie

This is the pie I needed milk ricotta for, Bosnian spinach pie. Actually all over the Balkans you can find a variety of this pie, shaped differently but filled with spinach, cheese or some kind of creamy diary. This pie is actually type of a strudel but much thinner and differently shaped.

The best is to use fresh spinach, it gives the best consistency and it does not make the pie too much wet. Fresh spinach also absorbs eggs better then frozen spinach.

I prefer to cut the dough in three parts and then to stretch each part individually to have three dough sheets. But if you want you can stretch all the dough at the same time so that you have one big dough sheet.

Bosnian spinach pie

serves 4

600 gr fresh spinach (not cleaned)
or 350 gr cleaned & wilted spinach
200 gr milk ricotta
2 eggs

salt and pepper

2,5 dl strong bread flour

2,5 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp salt

about 7 tbsp warm water

80 gr melted butter for brushing the dough sheets
round baking dish, 28 cm

Start with making the strudel dough and let it rest. Wash and clean the spinach, cut it in thicker stripes and steam in a sieve until wilted. You can also wilt it by putting a tiny bit of water in a saucepan and cook for couple of minutes until wilted. Let cool and then squeeze out as much water as you can. Set aside.

Stretch the dough, I made 3 dough sheets, each approximately 60x35cm. Let dry until you finish preparing the filling. Add eggs to the spinach, salt and pepper and blend everything with your hand until the eggs have been absorbed by the spinach. Drizzle the melted butter over the stretched dough.

Put a third of the spinach filling on the long side of the dough sheet, and third of the milk ricotta over the spinach, leaving 5 cm edge all around. Roll until you have used all dough. Grease the baking dish and put the pie roll inside, shaping it as spiral. Repeat with two other dough sheets.

Brush the top with some melted butter and bake on 180 C for about 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Old-style Bavarian appelstrudel

I have become the biggest Strudel-fan ever. I love it. The dough is so fun to make, you can fill it with almost anything and it is always amazing. I found the recipe for this apple strudel at the website of the Bavarian TV. I was curious about it as brown butter and sour cream are used in the filling and the strudel is baked in vanilla-milk.

It is a wonderful recipe, this strudel is like an apple cake with soft and creamy filling. It tastes even better the next day!

Old-style Bavarian appelstrudel
serves 6
recipe from Bavarian TV
3 Boskoop apples (about 600 gr)
50 gr butter
50 gr raisins
150 gr sour cream
1/2 dl sugar
1 tsp cassia cinnamon
1 dl + 2 tbsp milk
half a vanilla bean

2 dl strong flour (I used white spelt flour)
2 tbsp oil
pinch of salt
about 5 tbsp warm water

baking dish 17x26 cm (1,2l)

First make the strudel dough and let it rest for about one hour. In the meantime prepare the apple filling.

On medium heat melt the butter and let it get brown, it takes about 15 minutes. Set aside so that the brown milk solids settle on the bottom of the pan.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Scrape the vanilla bean seeds and add to the milk. Peel the apples, cut in quarters, core and slice in thin slices.

Stretch the strudel dough to a 65x45 cm, cut the thick edges so that you have a nice thin strudel sheet 60x40cm. Let it dry for about 10 minutes. In the mean time pour brown butter in a small bowl, try to leave as much as you can of the brown milk solids in the sauce pan. Brush the strudel dough with brown butter. Save a bit of butter for the baking dish and for brushing the strudel when rolled.

Heat oven to 200C. Cut the strudel sheet in half so that you have two 20x30 sheets. Spread the apples on the short side, over a bit less then half of the dough, leaving an edge all around. Sprinkle raisins over the apples and spread the sugar mixture all over the apples and over the empty part of the strudel sheet. Spread the sour cream over the apples. Fold in the edges and roll the strudel. As you roll keep on folding the edges over so that the filling does not escape.

Butter a bit the baking dish, put the two strudels inside and brush strudels with brown butter. Pour inside the vanilla milk and bake for about 50 minutes. Let it cool completely before serving. The best is to make it in the morning and serve in the afternoon.

Poppy seed strudel with cherries

I have been wanting to make poppy strudel since forever and when I saw this recipe in the food-magazine Essen und Trinken I knew the moment had come. I love poppy seed, taste is so special, so different, and oh so delicious. And poppy seed with sour-cherries just cannot be wrong.

To use poppy seed in baking is very Central and Eastern European thing. There are many different cakes, cookies and breads that are made with poppy seed, and luckily strudel is one of them as well.

This time I made strudel dough with spelt flour, and I was really surprised how well it worked. It was the best strudel dough I have ever made. In Germany there are three different types of spelt flour and I used the white one which in German holds the number 630. The number says that each 100 grams of this type of spelt flour contains 0,63 grams of minerals (i.e. good stuff).

Poppy seed strudel with cherries

adapted from Essen & Trinken

serves 10
200 gr ground poppy seeds
2 dl milk
7 tbsp sugar
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 dl raisins
3 tbsp dark rum
seeds of 1 vanilla pod
1/4 tsp cassia cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs
about 3 tbsp bread crumbs

1 can of sour cherries
2 tbsp sugar
1 dl orange juice
1 tbsp cornstarch (more or less)

2,5 dl white spelt flour (or strong bread flour)
2,5 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
about 7 tbsp warm water

80 gr melted butter for brushing the strudel dough

First make the strudel dough and let it rest for an hour. While the dough is resting start preparing the filling.

In a sauce pan heat the rum and raisins, pour over in a small bowl and set aside. Put the milk, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan and cook until it boils, add ground poppy seed and mix well. Add raisins with rum, blend well, take off the heat, cover with a lid and set aside. The mixture should be quite thick (but wet, not dry) as later eggs will be added.

In a small sauce pan melt 2 tablespoons of sugar until light golden, add the orange juice and cherries with their juice, and let everything boil. Dissolve cornstarch in a bit of cold water and add slowly to the cherries (mixing all the time) until you have a thick sauce. Depending on how much cherry juice there is you will maybe have to add more cornstarch. Drain the cherries from the sauce and set both aside.

Stretch the strudel dough, and cut the edges so that you have 70x50 cm sheet. Let it dry for about 10 - 15 minutes and then brush with melted butter (a bit more than half of the melted butter). Preheat the oven, 200 C.

Lightly beat the eggs and add to the poppy seed, mix well. Spoon the poppy seed paste over a third of the stretched dough (40x25 cm), leaving a 5 cm edge on the three sides.

Now carefully with a help of a spoon spread the poppy seed paste evenly and put the cherries on the top.

Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the whole strudel dough, filling and the part without the filling. Fold in the sides (only the sides around the filling) and start rolling the strudel.
As you roll keep on folding in dough sides over the strudel and push the ends inwards when the strudel wants to get out of the path.

Brush the strudel with melted butter and with the help of the cloth roll over the strudel on a baking sheet. Now brush the other side with the melted butter, use all of the butter that is left, strudel loves the butter. If you have some butter left over brush the strudel couple of times during the baking. Strudel really loves the butter.

Bake for about 40 minutes.When done let it cool, then cut and serve with the cherry sauce.

Sweet pumpkin strudel

Last winter I made savory pumpkin strudel so this winter it was turn to make sweet pumpkin strudel.
Hokkaido is the pumpkin in question, no surprise here!

And as this pumpkin is delicious as it is I thought a bit of cinnamon, ground hazelnuts and sugar would be more than enough to add to the filling.

So the only thing left to "play" with was the strudel dough. I decided to add the spices I usually use when making Swedish gingerbread cookies (cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom) in the dough.
I just loved the idea of pumpkin being enclosed in dough that tastes like gingerbread. And as I have never seen a strudel with other than plane-wheat strudel dough I liked the idea even more.

However I was not sure if the gluten would like this spice addition, and if it would be possible to stretch the dough thinly. But it worked! I stretched it very thin without any problems. And the strudel, that stands for all the great things about the fall and winter, turned out fantastic!

Sweet pumpkin strudel
serves 6
450 gr Hokkaido pumpkin

1 dl toasted and ground hazelnuts
1/2 dl sugar
1/2 tsp ground cassia cinnamon

1,5 dl bread flour
1/2 tsp ground cassia cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 tbsp oil
4 tbsp warm water

2 tbsp melted butter for brushing the dough

Make the strudel dough and let it rest for an hour. When 30 minutes are left start preparing the filling. Wash the pumpkin, cut in half and clean from seeds. Cut each half in thicker slices and then cut each slices thinly. Add hazelnuts, sugar and cinnamon.

Preheat the oven 175 C. Stretch the strudel dough and brush with butter. Spread the pumpkin filling over half of the strudel sheet, leaving 5 cm around the edges. Fold in the edges and with help of the cloth roll the strudel.

Brush with butter and bake for about 50 minutes. This strudel tastes even better the next day!

Bramley apples

I have been curious about Bramley apples for a very long time, and finally I got a chance to cook with them. Bramley apples are British and almost all UK recipes, where apples are included, call for Bramley apples.

They even have their own web-page where they are described as "superior to other dessert apples when cooked". The web-page has some great recipes as well. So what can put these apples to the test if not good old apple strudel!

The strudel turned out excellent and Bramley apples were amazing. They are melting away and the taste is wonderful. Bramley apples have passed the test. But all of you who are not able buy them, do not worry, Boskoop apples, which are easier to find outside the UK are as good as Bramley.

Apple strudel serves 64-5 apples (500 gr when peeled and cored)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1,5 dl breadcrumbs
65 gr butter
1/2 dl sugar
1 dl raisins
3 tbsp rum
1 dl chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon

homemade strudel dough or phyllo

If you are doing your own strudel dough start with it and let it rest while you are preparing the filling. Peel the apples, cut them in quarters, core and slice in thin slices. Add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon to the apples and set aside. Heat the rum in a saucepan and add raisins. Take off the heat and set aside.

Roll and stretch out the strudel dough until thin. I find it easier to handle the dough if I let it dry a bit while I am preparing the breadcrumbs.

Melt the butter in a pan. Take away 4 tbsp of melted butter that you will use for brushing the strudel later on. Add the breadcrumbs to the pan and fry until golden. Should look something like this:

Add raisins and walnuts to the apples. Brush the strudel dough with butter. Sprinkle breadcrumbs all over the dough, leaving 5 cm edge all around. Spread the apples only over half of the dough. Fold in the edges on the sides, fold in the dough on the short side.

With the help of the cloth start rolling the strudel until you have used all the dough.

With the help of the cloth put the strudel on a baking sheet, brush with butter and bake in preheated oven 200 C for about 35 minutes.

Strudel is traditionally sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with vanilla sauce. I serve the strudel just like it is, simple and delicious.

Pumpkin strudel

Pumpkin and fresh sage are a perfect match. And adding sour cream and hazelnuts makes this strudel a perfect-pumpkin-strudel.

I used sour cream but I believe any kind of creamy cheese like, ricotta, mascarpone, quark, will work fine as well. Semolina takes up all extra moisture that the pumpkin and cheese release when baking.

Phyllo dough can be used as well but homemade strudel dough is easier to handle and does not dry as fast as the phyllo.

Pumpkin strudelserves 6
350 gr pumpkin, I used hokkaido
1 dl sour cream
50 gr grated Gruyère cheese
2 tsp fresh sage, chopped
1,5 tbsp semolina
1/2 dl hazelnuts, roasted and chopped
salt and pepper

one homemade strudel dough or 4 phyllo sheets

30 gr melted butter for brushing the strudel

Dice pumpkin, add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. Brush the strudel sheet with melted butter and spread the filling along one short side, leaving a 5 cm empty edge and 5 cm on the two long sides of the strudel dough as well (see picture).

You can also make two thinner strudels if you prefer. Cut the dough in two and do the same as above.
Fold in the dough edges of the sides, and then roll the strudel with the help of the cloth until you use all the dough. Brush the strudel with butter on the top and bake in a preheated oven 200C for about 30 minutes.

Strudel dough

Strudel comes from Austria and the most popular version of strudel is with apples, Apfelstrudel. But strudel can be filled with both sweet and savoury, fruits and vegetables, meat and tofu...I have even heard about the strudel filled with sauerkraut, have not seen it yet but as soon as I do, I will document.

The dough and the shape is what makes it a strudel. The dough is slightly thicker then the phyllo dough, and I have seen countless recipes, some have eggs, some don't, some have vinegar, some don't...

I found this particular recipe in a German magazine called Landlust (March/April 09), they had a whole article about the strudel and how you make the perfect dough. I have made it couple of times so far and it has worked perfectly.

One of the most important things is to use a flour that forms strong gluten (bread flour) as all that elasticity and plasticity, that gluten provides, is needed to be able to stretch out the dough very thinly. You also need to use warm water and let the dough rest in the room temperature, the warmer the better.

Strudel doughmakes one strudel

100 gr bread flour (1,5 dl)

pinch of salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive)

4 tbsp warm water

Blend flour and salt, add oil and water and kneed the dough for about 5 minutes. The more intensively you kneed the better the gluten will develop and the better the dough will stretch out. Form a ball, the dough should be smooth and soft, something like this:

Sprinkle some flour on a big cloth, put the dough on it and brush it thinly with some oil, cover with a plastic foil and let rest for about 1 hour. After one hour the dough is just a little bit flatter, much more softer and looks like this:

Sprinkle some flour on the top of the dough and press with your finger tips until you have flatten it:


Roll out the dough as thinly as you can, just be careful not to make any foldings. I got a rectangle 35x45 cm:


Now carefully lift one side of the dough, and starting in the middle stretch the dough with your hands:


Stretch the dough from all sides until you have a very thin sheet, or something close to 60x70 cm. Cut the edges all around, about 5 cm, and you will have a dough that is ready to become a strudel.

Quince and pear strudel

Fall is one of my favourite seasons. And fall in Central Europe is really beautiful, all colours in the nature and mild weather is more than perfect. Then there are all delicious fruits of the fall, cannot be better.

One of my favourite fall fruits is quince. My grandmother used to make quinces in sweet syrup and I love that stuff. Taste is very aromatic and quince turns into a lovely red when cooked. So when I found the recipe for quince and pear strudel I had to make it.

But what I really was curious about was agave syrup that the recipe calls for. I have never used agave syrup before and thought this was a great recipe to try it. Agave syrup is made of agave plant so it belongs to the natural sweeteners, like maple syrup. It is very mild in taste, sweeter than sugar and it is thinner in consistency than honey.

Quinces cooked with agave turned out really great and strudel was excellent! So agave syrup has joined muscovado and whole cane sugar in my baking cupboard.

This time I made strudel with store bought phylo-dough, but next time will definitely be homemade. After all Bavaria is Germany's strudel-region and they definitely know their thing.