Strudel Dough AND Filling

I only remember having a strudel at McDonalds, once. Plus I was real little, like, I can barely remember this. So I kept hearing things about strudels. Strudel this, strudel that, etc. I finely got myself on the computer and found this. BUT, it didn’t come with a strudel filling recipe. So I went to Cooks.com, cuz (yes I’m using poor spelling) I had enough of allrecipes for right then. And I found an apple filling. I didn’t use apples. I used labu siam (chayote) which can be a substitute for apple whenever. Great, right? I got the strudel recipe from here, http://allrecipes.com/recipe/strudel-dough/. Apparently I can’t find the filling recipe on Cooks.com. But here it is anyway.

        Strudel Dough

2½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon white sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons oil

¼ cup water (maybe less)

        AND Filling

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ cup and 3 Tablespoons white sugar

3 cups uncooked labu siam (chayote)

·         STRUDEL DOUGH: In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix sugar, eggs, and 2 Tablespoons oil in a small bowl.

·         Mix in about half the water. Knead into a soft dough using more of the water if needed.

·         Cover the dough while you make the filling.

·         Roll the dough out into a rectangle, the long way away from you,

·         FILLING: Put the labu siam, sugar, and cinnamon in a pot. Put on the heat and stir til’ bubbling. Cool for a couple minutes before spreading on the rolled out dough.

·         Preheat oven to 225C (400F).

·         ***Spread the filling while making a straight line, leaving equal amount of room on either side. Now with a knife, cut lots of strips on one side. Repeat this on the other side. Now on the right side, take on strip a fold it over to the left side. Do the same with the left side. Repeat all the way up.***

·         Bake for 30 mins.

***** Tip. Do this on the pan you plan to cook it on so you don’t have to move it to the pan and watch it break in half. J   

Pizza

Pizza, pizza, pizza, when are you going to make pizza?’ my dad asks. ‘I don’t know.’ I answer. My whole family loves pizza. I do, of course. Which we are so lucky that there just happens to be a pizza restaurant on our island. But we all still love homemade. And it’s pretty “simple” minus the whole afternoon. So I’ll just go ahead and tell you, this is not Really Simple Pizza Dough. I read the recipe for the first time about 1 year ago. ‘I’ll make it’ I told my mom. It sounded real simple. Forget the ‘real simple’ it took all afternoon! And it’s kinda’ salty.  I have no idea where this came from, but here is what we do.

        “Really Simple” Pizza Dough

6 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon salt (this is a little less than the real recipe says)

1 pouch (1 Tablespoon) dry yeast

2 cups water biasa (room temp.)

4 Tablespoons oil

        Ibu Yenni’s Pizza Sauce

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

1 6oz can of tomato paste

1/3 cup oil

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 Tablespoons oregano

3 Tablespoons basil

6oz of water

        Toppings

2½ cups mozzarella cheese

pepperoni, optional

green peppers, optional

anything you want on your pizza

·         “REALLY SIMPLE” PIZZA DOUGH: Combine flour, salt, and yeast, in a large bowl. Add the water and oil. Stir til’ a dough forms. Dump everything that is in the bowl onto the counter on a floured surface and knead everything for 8 mins.

·         Lightly oil the bowl that you mixed the dough in. Dump the dough in. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 2 hours, undisturbed.

·         Re-flour the counter, dump the dough back on the counter, and gently press the air out of the dough. And let it sit in the same bowl under the plastic wrap for another 20 mins.

·         Preheat your oven to its top temp. Roll out the pizza dough,

·         PIZZA SAUCE: Mix tomato sauce, paste and oil together. Put on high heat; add salt, sugar, garlic powder, oregano, basil, and water. Mix well. Bring to a boil and boil 30 secs. Let cool a couple minutes before putting on the pizza.

·         BACK TO THE PIZZA MAKING: Put the dough on a greased pan. Spread as much pizza sauce as you want. Put the toppings you want on and then the cheese.

·         Bake for about 10 mins.