Bratkürbis (Pumpkin Strudel Filling) By Nick Tullius 
 

It is dough that is pulled and pulled until it is paper thin--like phylo dough. My mom would put her dough cloth (specially embroidered cloth that cover the table) on the table and the ball of dough would go in the center. She would walk around and around the table and lifting and pulling the dough on the top of her hands (couldn't do with bottom as the fingers would rip holes in the dough). She would do this until the dough hung below the edges of the table. She would then walk around the table pulling off the heavier dough that was still left after the stretching. Then she would sprinkle melted butter or lard over the dough, sprinkle on bread crumbs, and then spread out the filling--in our family it was cabbage, or apples, or cheese, or poppy seed, or ground up walnuts. Then she would give the end of the cloth a flip and the dough would roll up in a tight roll. She would put it in a large enamel pan in snake fashion (rounding at end and curving up until the roll fit in the pan). Oh, it was so glorious! So many layers of crisp dough with outstanding filling!

Strudel Making - Photos & Recipe Posted by: Eve Brown 22 Nov 2005

Making Strudel photos are from my scrapbook. This is my mother Eva (Dautermann) Sklena with my 2 daughters Alana and Alyssa.

Compared to the strudel she used to make this one (in the pic) was very small.  Either that or my table is much bigger than what she used.  I remember the dough hanging over the edge of the table.  I used to play under the table and pull the edges and eat the raw dough when I was a child.  I was in trouble for messing up moms strudel more than once.

• 2 cups flour

• ½ tsp. lemon juice

• 1 cup approx. water (add enough to get right consistency.
  
  Beat and knead well – let rest for ½ hour.

click images to enlarge

Stretch between both hands. Put in the center of a cotton tablecloth and begin to stretch carefully on both sides to edge of the table keeping the dough on the tablecloth. Should be transparently thin. Pull off excess dough all around and save for another. Adding the Filling:  Sprinkle filling choice over half of the thin pastry—then sprinkle with sugar, oil and spices. By picking up one side of the tablecloth at a time—fold the dough over on to itself in about 2 inch widths.  Go all around on each side over and over again until it is one long piece 2 inches wide. Place on a lightly oiled jellyroll pan. Filling 1 Grated squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes or apples Sugar 2 Tbsp. oil Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste Filling 2 Cottage cheese (with cream of wheat added to thicken) Sugar 2 Tbsp. oil Sprinkle filling choice over half of the thin pastry – than sprinkle with sugar, oil and spices. By picking up one side of the tablecloth at a time – fold the dough over on to itself in about 2 inch widths. Go all around on each side over and over again until it is one long piece 2 inches wide.

Place on a lightly oiled jelly roll pan.

Bake at 350° for approx. 30 minutes.

Preparing the cabbage:

Set out a 3-quart saucepan. Remove and discard wilted outer leaves, rinse, and cut into quarters (discarding core) and finely shred 1 head (about 3 lbs.) cabbage (about 3 quarts shredded).  Place cabbage in a large bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons salt.  Let stand ½ hour, mixing occasionally. Melt in the saucepan ¼ cup butter.  Squeeze cabbage, a small amount at a time, discarding the juice; put cabbage into the saucepan. Cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring frequently, 10 to 15 minutes or until just tender. Remove cabbage from heat and mix in ¾ to 1 teaspoon pepper. Set cabbage aside.

Note:  The recipe calls for making the strudel dough from scratch and stretching it over the whole table, so if you are using phyllo dough you will have to make adjustments to the quantity of ingredients used for each sheet of phyllo:

After Strudel dough is stretched and slightly dried, spoon over entire surface in small mounds ¼ cup thick sour cream. Carefully spread mounds of cream with spatula.  Sprinkle over the sour cream ¼ cup fine dry bread crumbs. Spoon cabbage in small mounds over the bread crumbs.
With spatula, spread mounds carefully. Roll, and bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 45 minutes until strudel is golden brown.

Using a large skillet, cook onions in 3 tablespoons butter for about 5 minutes over low heat. Add cooked ham, sauerkraut, beef consommé, caraway seeds, and brown sugar; stir to mix. Cook for another 5 minutes to blend, then stir in flour and heat until thickened. 

Follow instructions on Phyllo pastry package.  Assemble strudel using 1 sheet, double by using 2 sheets, depending on your preference in the thickness of the pastry.  Place sheets on a lightly greased flat surface and place a quarter of the filling mixture evenly at the narrow end. Roll up like a jellyroll and cut each roll in four equal pieces crosswise.   Place rolls, seam side down, on a lightly greased jelly roll pan.  Assemble remaining strudel.  Brush tops and sides of rolls with remaining butter.  Instead of using butter for brushing rolls, you may use an egg wash (1 beaten egg).  

Place pan in the oven and bake strudel for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.  Yield:  16 strudel appetizers.

Note:  It is important to work fast once you've removed the pastry sheets from the package, as they dry very fast. The instructions on the box suggest using up all the pastry once it is unthawed, but it is okay to refreeze it.  The main concern is to not let it sit in the open air, allowing it to dry out.  To keep the pastry waiting to be rolled moist, lay a moist cloth over top.

Chop one medium size cabbage and salt it well. Let it set for one hour.  Gently squeeze out the salty juice.   

Sauté in lard or Crisco till brown. 

Season to taste with black pepper.
(If you want it sweet, add sugar and leave off the pepper)  

Cool and sprinkle on the strudel tissue (phyllo leaves)  Form into rolled strudels.  

Bake as you would bake apple strudel—350° for 1 hour; baste with butter.

Note: If sweet, serve as a dessert; if peppery, serve as an appetizer,
or a course to go with soup or salad.  Serve warm, and enjoy!!

• 2½ lbs cabbage

• 1 tablespoon salt

• ¼ lb lard

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cut the cabbage in fine shreds, salt it and let it stand, covered, for 2 hours. Then squeeze it well to eliminate most of the liquid extracted by the salt. 

Heat the lard to frying temperature. Add the sugar and let it become light brown.  Stir while you do this. 

Add the drained cabbage.  Stir it immediately and cook it without a cover till cabbage is light brown. 

Place the cabbage on top of the stretched strudel dough.  Only then sprinkle the cabbage with pepper.

Roll up the strudel and bake for about 30 minutes.

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 5 teaspoons yeast

• 1 cup warm water

• 6 tablespoons butter/shortening

• 1 teaspoons salt

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup warm milk

• ½ cup sugar

• 7 cups flour (approximately)

Dissolve yeast in water with 2 teaspoons sugar.  Combine rest of ingredients adding enough flour to make a fairly stiff dough.  

Knead until smooth and elastic.  Let rise covered until doubled. Divide in half and roll each to ¼” thickness.  

Spread with half the filling.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Roll up and seal edges.  Place on greased baking sheet.

Let rise until doubled.  Bake at 375° F for approximately 50 minutes.

Filling

2 cups poppy seeds—they stay in bread better if you grind them.
2 cups sugar
2 cups milk, half and half , or cream

Combine and cook together on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until thickened.  Cool.

The Bratkürbis (German) or Brotkerbs (Schwowisch, Ah) was white on the outside, but yellow on the inside. As I remember it, the yellow inside resembled and had about the same taste as the inside of our Canadian yellow pumpkins. 

A common way of preparing it was to cut it in elongated slices, remove the seeds, place on one of the steel forms used for baking bread, and slide it into the big oven (the one used both for heating the house and also for baking bread). When done (and cooled), you ate it by spooning it out of the skin, leaving only the white exterior rind.

To put it into the strudel, the yellow interior part had to be grated. When the dough was stretched across the whole table, you covered it with a reasonable amount of grated squash, sprinkled with sugar, added a few splashes of melted lard (maybe melted butter would have been better, but we rarely had it in our house).  The strudel was then rolled up, placed in one or more greased forms, and placed in the oven. When it came out of the oven, it was not pale, but partially brown, where the sugar had caramelized.  A very nice winter dessert.

Sometimes other strudels would be made at the same time, with fillings such apple pieces, cottage cheese prepared with egg and sugar, or my favorite: sour cherries (straight from the tree in the summer; from the jar in the winter).
Guten Appetit!