Strudel Day in El Granda, CA

Sunday December 23rd

Got rolling about 8:30, still raining and continued to rain at varying intensity throughout the trip.  It's about 130 miles to El Granada.  We went down I-680 on the E side of San Francisco Bay, then made a jog on I-580 to get over to I-880 then a short distance S to catch CA-92 which crosses the bay on the San Mateo Bridge and continues all the way to the coast.  

Beverly has a beautiful home about a half mile from the ocean; not high enough up the hill for me since I am tsunami sensitive.  We started off the days events by meeting the canine member of the household, Callie, an Australian Shepard mix.  Next was some eggnog and shortly thereafter we were watching Bev making strudel dough.  Making strudel often, would build up arm and shoulder muscles since there is a significant amount of kneading involved, necessary (I think) because the dough gets stretched to such an extent.  After a long time (45 min?) she cut the dough into three portions and each of us kneaded the smaller segments for about another twenty minutes.  When she deemed the dough "ready" she flattened the dough into a round shape about 10 to 12 inches in diameter, added a light film of oil to the topside of the dough and put it on a towel in a warm place.  

Next was preparing the fillings for the strudel.  I had the honor of grating the apples (10 Granny Smith) on the large-slot grater that Beverly has kept as a legacy of her mother's strudel making days.  The other filling is to be cottage cheese, to which she added some cinnamon.

While we waited for the dough to rest and warm, we had some snacks and watched football on TV.  

When the strudel process resumed, we placed a cotton bed sheet on the table as a non-sticky surface on which to place the dough as it is being stretched.  I remember the pulling process of going around the table and gradually stretching the dough until the edges are over the edges of the table.  But Beverly has a technique that I didn't remember; she uses the backs of her hands under the surface of the dough to pull additional dough out of the middle of the dough sheet.  Once the dough is stretched over the table the fillings are added; shredded apples, cinnamon, drizzle of oil, sugar and some Cream of Wheat to absorb extra moisture.  Then the thicker edges of the dough are torn off from around the edges of the table.  (The resulting dough ball was saved and eventually the dough remnants were combined to make a fourth dough for an additional strudel roll.)  

At this point the dough sheet is carefully separated from the bed sheet on the sides and ends  by lifting the sheet enough to roll the dough edge over on itself.  Once all the ends and sides are started the bed sheet is lifted from one side and rolled into a roll of dough and filling, which then is carefully curled into a zigzag shape and placed onto a baking sheet.  We made two apple batches and two cheese batches.  The results were everything that I remembered from many years ago.  

We stayed and enjoyed a great baked chicken dinner that Beverly put in the oven even before all the strudel was baked.  The meal was topped off with strudel and coffee and then we bid our adieus and headed back to Sacramento.  The trip back seemed shorter because it wasn't raining.