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Luscious strudel. Yes, you can!

Can any season be better than July? I don't think so. Particularly when you factor in cherries. July IS cherries: delectable Raniers, dark and delicious Bings, small sweet Queen Annes. When it comes to these delightful stone fruits, I love 'em all.

It wasn't always like that. My first encounter picking cherries was 'way less than wonderful.

I was 7 or 8 when I discovered a gone-feral cherry tree on my grandfather's block, and helped myself to a tin bucket full of its aromatic bunches. When I got my prize home, my mother asked if I'd tasted any. I had not - I'd been too enthusiastically harvesting. So I took a bite, and a fierce sourness assaulted my tongue. They were hideous! How could something that looked and smelled so good taste so bad?

My mother chuckled  "They're pie cherries!" she explained. "So?" I thought. "You have to cook them," she added. Which she shortly did. In a pie, of course.

Thus unfolded one of my first lessons in the transformative power of baking. Mixed with sufficient sugar and encased in a fat-and-flour pie crust, what had been inedible was suddenly a flavorful, sweet yet subtle wonder. 

Such is the case with dessert fruits. The more sour, the better. Flavor is wound around those sour-tasting acids, a potent yin awaiting the liberating force of sugar's yang. Fats bind and hold the results and your saliva sets a taste reaction in motion.

I've made dozens of cherry pies since that long-ago Ohio July, and loved each and every one. These days, however, pies aren't high on my favorites list. They're too big, and the crust a bit too fatty for two diners who've each lost their gallbladder. But I'll never stop working with sour cherries.

My go-to desserts now involve thin layers of less-fat dough. The kitchen these days is always littered with dusting flour, rolling pins and bench knives, and evening meals end with something puffy and crunchy and tender. Like Strudel.

Sour cherries make wonderful Strudels, which are quite easy to produce. All that's needed are the cherries, pitted and simmered with sugar and spice, and Phyllo pastry.

Phyllo pastry is dough rolled thin as onion skin and brushed with a fat, usually melted butter. Most gluten-free bakers avoid even the thought of making Phyllo, because typical all-purpose GF flour blends won't make a stretchy strong dough. My Perfection All Purpose flour mix is a whole different matter. It works beautifully.

In addition to the flour mix you'll need liquids: egg, sour cream and whole milk. Potato starch is the dusting flour of choice, although corn starch or tapioca starch will also work. A perfectly smooth rolling surface is essential, as is enough room in the kitchen. You'll be making a sheet 10 inches wide by 30 to 40 inches long. A look at Phyllo technique from my previous newsletter is a good idea.

After rolling the dough (wheat dough is stretched by pulling to make Phyllo - a technique that won't work here), the thin sheet is brushed with a mixture of melted, unsalted butter and coconut oil. These two fats pair beautifully with the cherries and their spices.


So hurry off to your local grocery or farm market soon, before July's bounty ends. Get those sour pie cherries. Don't try them raw, but do make them into Strudel. You won't regret it.
 

Cherry Strudel
 
Yield: One10 inch by 3 inch Strudel. Serves 4.
 
Ingredients

For the cherry filling:
2 pints sour pie cherries
1 small cinnamon stick
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar (more to taste)
1 TBLS cornstarch
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup chopped almonds

For the dough:

1 cups + 1 1/2 tsp (150 grams) Luce's Gluten-Free Artisan Bread Perfection All-Purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp (10 grams) sour cream
1/6 cup (40 grams) whole milk
2 TBLS unsalted butter, melted
2 TBLS virgin coconut oil, melted
approximately 1/2 cup potato starch for dusting work surface and rolling

Powdered sugar (optional)

Procedure:

1) First, cook the cherries. Pit and stem all the cherries and place into a 2 quart saucepan. Add the sugar and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to produce a moderate simmer. Taste, and add sugar if desired. Put the cornstarch in a small bowl with 2 TBLS of water and whisk to form a paste. Add this to the cherries, stir well, and continue simmering until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh, reserving the syrup (which is great on yoghurt!). Allow cherries to cool. (This step can be done several days in advance. Seal cooked cherries and store in the refrigerator.)

2) When you are ready to make the strudel, preheat the oven to 400 F. Place a rack in the center position. Place a sheet of parchment in a 9 inch X 13 inch baking tin. Set out the dough ingredients, a smooth rolling surface, a rolling pin, a bench knife or spatula and a whisk.

3) Place Perfection All Purpose Flour and the sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Place the egg, sour cream and milk in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the liquids to the flour and stir until dough stiffens and stirring is difficult. Turn dough out onto potato-starch-floured surface and knead, turning, folding and pressing, until a smooth, not-sticky dough forms.

4) If you have a large work surface you may be able to roll the dough into a single long piece about 30 - 40 inches long and 10 inches wide.  Otherwise, divide the dough and roll it into smaller pieces, then seam these together and press the seams with a rolling pin. After dough is rolled out, brush with a combination of the butter and coconut oil, reserving a small amount for brushing onto the baked dessert.

5) Add the almond extract and the chopped walnuts to the cherries and stir until combined. Spread the cherries along one end of the dough sheet, allowing a 2 inch border on three sides. Fold the short border over the fruits then fold both side borders over the fruits. Gently roll the strudel up, tucking the border in as you go. Place the strudel on the parchment, seam side down. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the dessert is golden brown with a few darker spots.

6) Remove to a cooling rack and brush with the remaining butter. Allow dessert to thoroughly cool before dusting with confectioner's sugar. Serve warm, preferably with a dollop of ice cream.

Special Note: I will be on vacation July 22 - August 11.
Mixes ordered from my website between those dates will ship on Wednesdays only.

Copyright © 2018 GF Creations LLC d.b.a. Luce's 9 Grains, All rights reserved.


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