Preparation

• Streudel starts with dough that's paper thin, very much like Greek phyllo. Indeed, store-bought phyllo leaves were often advertised as streudel dough. Streudel dough must be pulled into a large sheet that can be 8 feet long and 4 feet wide, or almost large enough to cover a bed. Making streusel is simple and not labor intensive. A good recipe for streusel is three quarter cup of all purpose flour, one quarter cup of sugar and one quarter cup of softened butter. This is put into a bowl and mixed until it's crumbly, then a tablespoon or so of ginger or cinnamon is thrown in and further mixed.

Equipment

• The secret to making homemade streudel dough is to handle it with the backs of the hands. The dough should not be pulled and stretched with the fingertips. Fingertips will weaken the dough and sharp or rough nails will ruin it. The dough should also be put on an often washed sheet of damask. The damask, being nubby, with a raised woven pattern, will grip the dough and keep it from sliding. If damask is not available a good clean bedsheet will do. Streusel can be prepared in any large, sturdy kitchen bowl. The ingredients can be mixed with a pastry cutter, a pastry blender or even a fork.

Complications and Variations

• Small tears in streudel dough can be left alone because rolling up the pastry will cover them. Large holes can be repaired with a piece cut with kitchen scissors from the end of the sheet of dough. Along with the basic flour/sugar/butter recipe, nuts like almonds, walnuts or pecans can be used for streusel.

Cooking

• The best known streudels are apple streudel, cherry streudel and streudel with raisin cream cheese filling. Before the fillings are added, the stretched dough is brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with dry bread crumbs. Streusel is generally not put on the baked good at first. The cake or muffin is cooked for a while, removed from a 350 degree oven and the streusel is sprinkled on top. Everything is then put back in the oven for another half an hour or so. If the streusel is used as a pie crust it can be covered with aluminum foil to prevent scorching.