Sour Cherry Strudel

Ingredients:

- 400 gr. of ready rolled puff pastry

- 1 tbsp. of flour (to flour your surface)

- 1 small egg

- 18 gr. corn starch

- 10 gr. of semolina

- 2 tbsp. of sugar

- a jar of 680 gr. of sour cherry compote ( 360 gr. of actual sour cherries including the stones)

Method:

First, let’s create the filling:

Remove the stones from the sour cherries. Place them together with the compote juice into a non-stick pot and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat, add the sugar, then sift in the corn starch and incorporate it using a whisk. Simmer everything for 1 minute. Add the 10 grams of semolina carefully, to avoid creating lumps. Simmer everything for another 5 minutes and after that remove the pot off the heat and allow the composition to cool properly. You can even keep it overnight in the fridge and build the strudel the next day.

!Note: Make sure the filling is cold before you spread it on to the puff pastry. Otherwise it will melt the dough and the flakiness of the puff pastry will be lost, while the bottom of the strudel might remain raw.

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.

Flour a clean flat surface (using one tablespoon of flour). Evenly spread the puff pastry dough using your palms or with the help of a rolling pin, just enough to fit a large tray (38x30cm). Just make sure not to spread it too thin.

Add the filing in the center from one end to another, and either braid the dough to get a really nice visual effect or just overlap the sides of the dough. Make sure the ends are nice and sealed, either using a fork or by pinching ends with your fingers - this applies if you overlapped the sides.

The idea is that store bought puff pastry is a little bit on the thick side. Therefore if you will then overlap the ends of the puff pastry, to encase your filling, it might result that the overlaps could remain raw during the baking process.

Beat an egg using a whisk or a fork and lightly egg wash the entire surface of the strudel.

Bake it at 200 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes. Then reduce the heat at 180 degrees Celsius and bake it for another 20 minutes.

If the top is browning too fast, cover it with aluminum foil.