She brought this strudel to a dinner party with my parents back in the 50's and was gracious enough to share the recipe with Mama. It became a staple of our Christmas, and the famous treat of the holidays in my family. I still have cousins who call me at Christmas for this recipe. Otherwise I'd probably never hear from them.
This dough is very rich. It can be used in both sweet and savory recipes. Mama used to roll up sausage links and hot dogs in it for appetizers, and apples, nuts, and raisins for desserts. It's an all purpose wonderful dough. You will want to peel it off of things and just eat it alone, I swear.
But, it's a dough that can't be made in any type of machinery. I tried to make it in my breadmaker dough cycle once and it was not pretty. It's ooey and gooey and you have to be in it up to your elbows. I promise, you will not regret the effort.
When you read these ingredients, you will say "A whole pound of butter? Are you trying to kill me?" But seriously, there are worse ways to die.
Mary Lou's Strudel Dough (with special thanks to June Dendak.) UPDATE - I just called her. She is 88. Her husband is gone, my parents are gone, but she is still here and actually remembered me. A sweet conversation.)
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cake solid yeast, ot the active dry yeast equivalent
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 lb butter
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup sour cream
Directions:
1) Place 5 cups of flour in large bowl. Add 1 cake of crumbled yeast, mix well. (With your hands! Get in there and feel it!) If you use dry yeast, do the same, make sure the yeast and flour are well blended.
2) Add 1 lb of butter and the salt. Mix well. (With your hands! Get in there and get flour and butter all over your fingers!)
3) Add the egg yolks, 1 at a time. Mix well. (Yes, with your hands again. Sticky egg yolk all up between your fingers! So good.)
4) Add 1 cup of sour cream. Mix well. (You guessed it, with your hands. Ensure the sour cream is mixed in and that there are no glops of sour cream that aren't incorporated into the dough.
5) Chill dough overnight. This is serious. Don't even try to use this dough before it's been chilled.
Divide into chunks, roll thin. Put filling either Savory (sausage links/hot dogs, etc) or Sweet (Apples, nuts, raisins, cinnamon, sugar.)
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.
