Topsy-turvy roll thingies...

I am a great foodie-surfer. I have a penchant for flaky airy things to eat. I recently tried my hands (at last!) at apple strudel after reading every strudel recipe in my cookbooks (and there were several), looking at videos on YouTube, and finally settling on the recipe from The Daring Bakers Apple Strudel Challenge from May. The dough was amazingly easy to work with and my first try at pulling it to tissue-thinness was a success. Always wanting to push a little further I tried my own savory strudel- as Rachel would say, "yummo!" (Recipe later!) In my googling I ran across something called "povitica," which is an Eastern European nutroll of sorts. The filling sounded a bit too gooey sticky cloying to me so I adapted ( well, actually made up something that probably is light-years from povitica) a recipe for the dough that I use for cinnamon rolls and foraged in the freezer and pantry for ideas for fillings. I found a bag of leftover filling for rugelach that included chopped walnuts, raisins, and chocolate. From making a skillet apple cake this weekend I had boiled cider, and I had a bit of my home-made butter. Voila! I won't say that this first experiment went smoothly. I had in mind that I would roll the dough out into a strip 3" wide and who knows how long. My dough was too sticky but I finally wrangled it into submission and brushed it with a bit of butter, avoiding the edges so they could be pinched around the filling to seal the roll of dough once it was filled. I drizzled just a thin line of the boiled cider on top of the butter, then sparingly laid the rugelach filling down the center of the dough. I had divided the dough into thirds and as each long strip was pinched and sealed I coiled it into a round deep-dish pizza pan which had been sprayed with non-stick spray. It looks, shall we say, interesting. It is enjoying its final rise as I type. Now, if I can find my camera I will share the results with you. The ingredients in themselves are great- the sum total and the methodology- who can say? My daughter came into the kitchen and said it looked good, but then again she is easily amused....IF this works I shall have to name the concoction. More later...
Okay, it is later. Two hours later and my, my, my the experiment was a success! With a bit of tweaking and fine-tuning it will be over-the-top good and I will share the recipe. My daughter The Critic declared it danish pastry-like and cut into it before I had a chance to stop her. Not that I minded, but I do like to stand and admire my work before it is decimated. Cooking is funny that way, eh? We labor to make it perfect only to intentionally have it taken apart and consumed.
The taste is sweet but not overwhelmingly so and it has a subtle almost lemony tang that comes from the boiled cider. I know, I know, what a strange combination of ingredients, but trust me, it works! I know there isn't much satisfaction from reading about a recipe without visual aids, so I promise to make a diligent search for my camera.
All in all a good baking day.
Now to start some sourdough bread to take to my hairdresser tomorrow. This is one of those cases where you need to bear gifts on bended knee if necessary- I am returning to her after trying to find another hairdresser that could better fit into my crazy schedule. Big mistake....so tomorrow I am taking her a gift of bread from the heart. Hopefully she will work her magic again and forget my transgressions.,.
More later....