Appel Strudel
Appel Strudel or Apfelstrudel is a typical and beloved Austrian dessert. Appel Strudel is believed to have originated during the Austro-Hungarian Empire that ruled around 1867-1918. Though it originates from Austria and aswell is their national dish this pastry is enjoyed by many countries across Europe.
Traditionally it has a filling of grated apples, bread crumbs, sugar cinnamon and raisins. The dough should be stretched until paper thin, so thin that one should be able to read a newspaper through it. This thinness is what gives the strudel its characteristic crispiness when it´s baked.
Picture: Appel Strudel (´Apfelstrudel´)
The Recipe
Ingredients
The Strudel dough
1/3 cup (80 ml / 80 g) lukewarm water
1 Tbsp + ½ Tsp (15 g) neutral tasting vegetable oil
½ Tsp vinegar (or lemon juice)
1/8 Tsp table salt or fine sea salt
145 g (1 cup) bread flour
½ Tsp vegetable oil for brushing the dough
Flour for dusting
The filling
- 3 Tbsp (40 g) unsalted butter
- 2/3 cups (80 g) fine bread crumbs
- 5 Tbsp (65 g) granulated sugar
½ Tsp ground cinnamon - 4 Tbsp (50 g) raisins
- 3 Tbsp rum or lukewarm water for soaking the raisins
- 2 lbs (900 g) sweet-tart apples (e.g. MacIntosh)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp melted butter for brushing the dough
- Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, custard or vanilla sauce for serving (optional)
Instructions
Heat the oven to 190 °C.
The Strudel dough
Mix lukewarm water, oil, vinegar and salt in a big bowl. Stir in approximately half the flour with a spoon until well combined, then slowly add the remaining flour until it comes together and you can work it with your hands. Knead the dough until smooth for about 10 minutes. If the dough is too sticky to knead, add a little more flour about 1-2 Tbsp.
Shape the dough into a smooth ball, put it into a bowl that you have brushed with oil and brush the dough also with the oil. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and let it sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
The filling
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and add the breadcrumbs, stirring constantly, until they are golden. Remove from the heat and let cool. Mix sugar and cinnamon together, then add it to the buttered breadcrumbs and stir well. Set aside.
Next soak the raisins to make them soft for about 10 minutes in rum or lukewarm water (optional). Peel the apples and chop every quarter into 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick slices. Cover the apple slices with lemon juice to prevent them from getting brown.
Now add the soaked raisins to the apples (don´t add the remaining rum or water though) and mix well.
Stretching the dough
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a clean and lightly floured surface. Flour the surface and the dough every now and then while rolling. When the dough gets about 13-15 inch in diameter, pick it up and use the back of your hands to stretch it like if you were making a pizza.
When the dough gets bigger and thinner put it down on a lightly floured tablecloth, straighten out the wrinkles in both the tablecloth and the dough. Continue stretching the dough on the tablecloth using your hands.
Stretch the dough untill it gets paper-thin into a rectangular shape, with the shorter edge fitting the baking sheet lengthwise. In the end cut off thick edges.
Add the filling and roll the dough
Brush half of the dough with half the melted butter and spread the breadcrumb-mixture evenly over the other half of the dough. Leave 1 to 1 ½ inch to the edges. Spread the apples over the breadcrumbs.
Fold in the side-ends of the dough. Using the towel, roll the dough, starting at the apple-topped end. Then gently roll the strudel onto a sheet of parchment paper with the seam-side down.
Put the dough onto a baking sheet and brush it with the remaining melted butter.
Baking the Appel Strudel
Put the baking sheet in the middle of the preheated oven and bake it for half an hour at 190°C or until the crust turns golden.
After you take the Apple Strudel out from the oven let it cool a little bit, than cut it into pieces and serve dusted with confectioner’s sugar.
Enjoy ☺