It’s good to be back! I haven’t posted anything since mid-April. I was knee-deep in work. Wish I could say I was away, spending my days and nights basking in the flavors of Provence or Florence, but I was right here, banging away furiously at my computer.
When deadlines loom large, the kitchen gets a break. Instead of churning butter and scalding milk, I was feverishly churning words and translating documents instead. When the folks at King Arthur Flour in Vermont sent me their usual blog, I was charmed by the picture of their cinnapineapanana – try saying that without twisting your tongue! This cinnapineapanana was inspired by Ricardo Neves Gonzalez’s Jewish Strudel. The winning combination of cinnamon, dried pineapple and fresh bananas was a palate pleaser. I’ve eaten a lot of strudles in my life and some of them leave that sticky, over-sugary feeling. Not this one.
After I read the instructions and looked at the pictures, I was convinced that this was something I had to try. I had never made a strudel before. With my tired mind awash in words, I needed to get my hands on dough and this recipe came at about the right time. Successful? You bet! Delicious recipe? Yes, yes, yes! It worked like a charm. You too can learn to make it, KAF explains the steps in detail. It may look complicated but I breezed through it. Get it here. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/05/02/lets-hear-it-for-cinnapineapanana/#more-15478
Here’s my version:
I should have taken shots of the slices but after our first bite, I forgot about the camera. The only changes I made to the recipe were:
- replaced the honey with 1/4 cup white sugar
- made my own cinnamon filling ) by mixing 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 tbsp of cinnamon, 3 tbsp of water and a knob of butter (as KAF suggested). I’m sure KAF’s cinnamon filling would give this strudel that extra oomph taste-wise.
- sprinkled a few almond slices on top
I think I will use the dough recipe as a master recipe for other sweet breads because the taste was perfect. And in spite of the 45-minute baking time, it came out soft and chewy. I was a tad apprehensive about the long baking time (as you can see some parts of it are too dark) so I’ll reduce baking time by 5 minutes the next time I make it.
This was a jewel of a strudel. Making it was also a stress-releaser. After my first slice, I was ready to start banging away at my computer again!
