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    Apple strudel grandma clar

    Makes 2 or 3 large strudels.

    Where it came from before Flora’s grandmother started calling it her own, nobody knows, but this is not a classic version of apple strudel. It is as unusual as it is tasty.
    When Flora makes this strudel, she makes double or more the amount given here, but not everyone has such an immense table on which to stretch the dough, so I’ve reduced the quantities a bit. You’ll still need a table about 5 feet long and 2 or 3 feet wide, covered with a clean sheet or smooth tablecloth, for preparing the pastry, and though you can do it alone, the whole process is more fun if you have a friend or two around to help. Stretching the dough is not as difficult as it sounds, and spreading all the sugar, cinnamon, nuts, coconut, jam, and apples over such a large surface is a complete delight. Flora says “when it starts to look like a Jackson Pollock painting,” you know you’re getting there.

    • 4 cups flour
    • 1¼ cups water
    • ½ cup corn oil
    • ½ cup sugar
    • approximately 2 tsp. cinnamon
    • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
    • 1 cup strawberry or raspberry jam
    • ¾ cup raisins
    • ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
    • 1¼ lbs. tart pippin apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced
    • additional sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top

    1. Put 3 cups of the flour in an ample bowl and gradually stir in the water until you have a sticky, pasty mass, a little more moist than a normal bread dough. Work it a little with your hands—just enough to get out the lumps but no more. Gather the dough into a ball and dust a little more flour over it, patting it smooth as you do, until it has a nice, even shape, dry and flour coated on the outside but very soft inside.
    2. Spread a clean sheet or smooth tablecloth over a large, preferably oblong table, and dust it evenly with the remaining flour. If the table is oblong, shape the dough gently into a loaf with proportions similar to those of the table top. For a round table, leave it in a ball.
    3. Put the dough down in the center of the table and flatten it slightly with a rolling pin. Turn the dough over and roll it out a little more, rolling always from the center to the edges. Continue turning the dough over and rolling it out, always making sure the area under it is well floured and keeping the shape as even as possible, until it is about ¼ inch thick. Now slide your hands under the dough, palms up, and begin pulling it out very gently and carefully, letting it slide off your hands as you draw them back out to the edge. This process is really nothing but a very light “stroking” of the sheet of pastry from underneath. Begin at the center and work your way around, pulling it out only a little at a time. Continue stretching the pastry this way until it is paper-thin and quite transparent. Try to avoid putting holes in it, but don’t panic if a little one appears here or there: They’ll disappear in the rolling up.
    4. When the dough is as thin and fine as a piece of silk (it should nearly cover the surface of the table), press out the inevitably bumpy edges with your fingers and then drizzle not quite ½ cup of corn oil over it. Spread the oil over the pastry with your hands until coated all over.
    5. This is where the real fun begins. Sprinkle the pastry sheet evenly with sugar, then sprinkle on about 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, or more if you like. Next sprinkle on the coconut, always covering the surface of the pastry as evenly as you can, and then drizzle or dab on the jam. After the jam, sprinkle on the raisins and the walnuts (it’s starting to look like a Jackson Pollock), and finally, the apple slices. You’re ready to roll.
    6. Oil 2 or 3 large cookie sheets very generously and have them ready, along with a very sharp knife. Starting at one of the narrow ends, lift up the sheet or cloth and shake it lightly to loosen the pastry so that it starts to roll up. Continue gathering up the cloth and lifting it evenly, rolling the strudel up until it looks about as thick as you want it: about 2 inches is good. Slice off the rolled up part with a sharp knife, cut into manageable lengths and transfer them with spatulas to the cookie sheets.
    7. Now gather up the cloth, lift, and begin rolling again, proceeding the same way until all the pastry is rolled up, cut, and on the cookie sheets. Sprinkle the strudels with a little sugar and cinnamon and bake them in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. They are done when the pastry is golden brown on top. Flora recommends cutting off a little slice and tasting the strudel to determine when it is ready, but I find it hard to maintain any objectivity about such matters when the first bite of strudel is actually in my mouth.
    8. If it is allowed to cool and then wrapped well in waxed paper, the strudel will supposedly keep for several days to a week—but I’ve never been able to keep any that long!