Yeast Strudel with Cheese-Strawberry Filling and Streusel

We had our first proper snow of the year this weekend, and the water has finally frozen over on the pond, which is a sign that winter is finally settling in after a relatively warm November. Right now it still all seems lovely, the powder-sugar look of the snow and the promise of Christmas (and winter break!) around the corner, but soon enough I'm sure I'll be fed up with it. After all, I hate the cold. Hate it. 

Anyways, I stay indoors as much as physically possible in the months from October to March, preferably in the nice, warm kitchen. I wanted to bake something nice with a slightly summery taste, but all the butteriness and warmth that winter demands. So I made a simple strudel with a filling of Polish fresh cheese (tvarog), lemon zest, and a thickened mixture of frozen berries picked in the summertime, sugar and lemon juice. The whole thing was topped with a very crumbly streusel and though it kind of exploded in the oven (too much filling; I've corrected for that in the ingredients list) it still tasted fantastic, with the flavour of the warmer months from the berries and the lemon zest to brighten things up. The cheese filling is very good, but would have been even better if I'd used a cheese with greater fat content- try to look for something creamy. The streusel gives some extra textural appeal.

The fruit filling can be highly variable, with fresh fruit being a wonderful substitution if available, and I'll be trying it with other berries in the future, rhubarb as well. I really like the dough- it's very soft and tender, and has just enough structure to hold up all the filling. This is the kind of cake you can even eat for breakfast reasonably, since it's got all your food groups. 

Until Christmas baking proper begins (all I've got thus far is Stollen) I eat my strudel and think of the long winter ahead.

You can't see it, but there's  a thin layer of snow on the deck.

Yeast Strudel with Cheese-Strawberry Filling and Streusel
Adapted from Moje Wypieki

For the Dough:
1 1/2 C. Bread flour
1/4 C. Buttermilk or kefir, warmed slightly
1 Large egg
2 TBSP Sugar, or vanilla sugar
Pinch of salt
30 g. Oil, or melted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tsp. Active dry yeast, or 20 g. Fresh yeast

Mix yeast and buttermilk/ kefir. Add sugar, vanilla and egg. Mix in flour and salt and knead until a cohesive dough forms (you might need more liquid). Add oil and knead until elastic. Let rise in a greased, covered bowl about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled. Punch down and roll into a 25 x 35 cm rectangle.

For the Cheese Filling:
200 g. Twarog/farmer's cheese
1 Yolk, white reserved
1/4 C. Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
Zest of one lemon
25 g. Butter, softened
3 TBSP 18% Sour cream, or 14% plus 1 Tsp. butter (if your cheese is lower-fat; if it's at least 10%, skip this step!)

Mix all together well. Use food processor for a smoother texture, or simply a spoon to keep the curds intact. If the mixture seems too liquid, add a small spoonful of cornstarch.

For the Fruit Filling:
200-300 g. Strawberries, from frozen, thawed
1 TBSP Cornstarch
1 TBSP Sugar
Juice of half a lemon

Mix lemon juice, cornstarch, and sugar. In a small pot, cook the strawberries until the juices run on medium-low heat. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir constantly until thickened. Let cool.

(For fresh strawberries, simply tossing them in the other ingredients ought to be enough)

To assemble, brush the dough rectangle with the reserved egg white, whisked until foamy, in a thin layer all over. In the lower half of the rectangle, spread the cheese filling evenly, but leave about 2 cm around the perimeters empty. Top with the fruit filling and fold the other dough flap over it, pressing down on the clean edges to seal them and tucking them under the roll. Transfer to a sheet lined with baking parchment and let rise covered for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190℃.

For the Streusel:
100 g. Flour
50 g. Sugar
1 Sachet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
60 g. Butter, melted

Crumble all together by hand or with a pastry cutter, or with two forks in a small bowl.

Before baking, brush the strudel with what's left of the egg white (if there isn't any, or you want a brighter coloured loaf, use a whole beaten egg with a tablespoon of milk). Use a very sharp knife to make a long cut lengthwise along the top of the strudel and sprinkle on the streusel.

Bake for 30 minutes and let cool before cutting. Powder with sugar if desired.

Kluski na Parze/Polish Steamed Dumplings with Berry Sauce and Sour Cream

Though my family regularly ate traditional Polish foods since I was young, we were typically limited to ready-made foods available in the GTA's numerous Central/Eastern European markets. That meant lots of pierogi, borscht from concentrate, potato dumplings with plums, and so on. But the first time that I had the steamed buns that were apparently quite common was at my aunt's home in Poland. She somehow had access to frozen ones, which made me wonder why I never saw them around Mississauga- maybe because I wasn't looking! But in any case, I wanted to try making them myself.

The sweet version I show here is not the only way that they can be served- a sauce made with meat or mushrooms is also an option, though according to my father nobody eats them savoury where he's from in the Southwest. It does bear some similarity to the Germknödel of Austria, so perhaps sweet main courses are typical of the more mountainous parts of Central Europe. 

The best way to serve these, in my opinion, is with a simple berry sauce made from pureed fruit only lightly sweetened, and some sour cream. There are many other ways to make steamed dumplings, such as by frying with butter and sugar and sprinkling with sweetened ground poppyseed or breadcrumbs, but this is ideal for the berry season. You can have them as a main course or dessert, and freeze the finished dumplings to steam again later on. 

Polish Steamed Buns
From Senses in the Kitchen

500 g. Flour
250 ml. Milk
3 TBSP Butter
2 Eggs
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 2 1/4 Tsp. Active dry yeast
2 Tsp. Vanilla sugar (or 1/2 Tsp. plain sugar for savoury buns)
1/2 Tsp. Salt

Berry Sauce
1 C. Raspberries
1 C. Chopped strawberries
1-2 TBSP Sugar
1 TBSP Rum

About 1/2 C. 18% Sour cream

Cook together the raspberries and strawberries. Add the rum and sugar to taste, depending on the sweetness of the berries. Let cook on low until slightly thickened and serve alongside buns, with vanilla sauce or sour cream.


Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Heat the milk until steaming and mix in the butter to dissolve. Let cool until lukewarm and dissolve the yeast. Add the milk mixture and eggs to the flour mixture and knead until smooth and elastic.

Let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled. Divide into 12 pieces on a floured surface and form smooth balls. Let rise covered for 20 minutes.

Heat a pot of water to boiling with a large colander or tearag secured on top. Alternatively, use a bamboo steamer. Place each bun on a square of baking parchment and steam about 3 at a time, covered with a a lid, or better, a lightly dampened tearag. Try and find a lid that minimized the chances of water dripping onto the buns, as this makes them sieze and become wrinkly- the tearag method works well for this reason.

Serve with sauce and sour cream while warm.