Apfelstrudel

Ingredients

Strudelteig (dough)

• 250 gstrong white flour
• 125 mllukewarm water
• 2 tbspsunflower oil, plus more for coating
• 1egg yolk
• 1 tspwhite wine vinegar
• ½ tspsalt

Filling

• 1.2 kgtart apples, such as Boskoop, Bramley or Elstar, peeled, cored and sliced 3 mm thick
• 100 gcaster sugar
• 2 tspground cinnamon
• grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 80 graisins, soaked 30 minutes in 3 tbsp rum
• 80 gfresh white breadcrumbs
• 80 gunsalted butter, for the crumbs
• 50 gground walnuts (optional)

To finish

• 80 gunsalted butter, melted, for brushing
• icing sugar, to dust
• whipped cream or vanilla sauce, to serve

Directions

1. Knead the flour, water, oil, yolk, vinegar and salt for a full 10 minutes until the dough is completely smooth and springs back at once. Shape it into a ball, brush it all over with oil, cover with a warm bowl and rest 45 minutes at room temperature. The long knead and rest are what make it stretchable.
2. Fry the breadcrumbs in the 80 g of butter over medium heat for 5–6 minutes until golden and nutty, then cool. These crumbs absorb the apple juice and are the reason the base does not go soggy.
3. Toss the apples with the sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice, drained raisins and walnuts, but only just before assembly, as standing draws out a great deal of juice.
4. Spread a large clean cotton tablecloth over the table and flour it. Roll the dough out as far as you can, then work your floured hands, backs upwards, underneath it and stretch it gently outwards from the centre, walking around the table.
5. Keep going until the sheet covers about 70 by 50 cm and is so thin you could read a newspaper through it. Trim off the thick edges. Small holes can be ignored; large ones should be patched with a trimming.
6. Brush the whole sheet with melted butter, scatter the buttered crumbs over the third nearest you, and pile the apple mixture on the crumbs, leaving a hand’s width clear at each side.
7. Fold the side flaps in over the filling, then use the cloth to roll the strudel away from you into a tight log, letting the cloth do the lifting so the dough is never stretched or torn by hand.
8. Roll it seam-side down onto a buttered tray, curving it slightly, brush all over with butter, and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 40–50 minutes, brushing with butter twice more, until deep golden and crisp and the juices bubble at the ends. Rest 10 minutes, dust heavily with icing sugar and serve warm in thick slices with cream or warm vanilla sauce.

Technique

• The stretched strudel dough came to Vienna from the Ottoman and Hungarian tradition of paper-thin pastry, and is a relative of yufka and filo rather than an invention of Austrian baking.
• Vinegar and the egg yolk both relax the gluten so the sheet stretches without snapping back; skip them and you will tear the dough every time.
• Use a genuinely tart, firm apple. Sweet dessert apples collapse to sauce and make the strudel wet and cloying.
• Warm the bowl you rest the dough under. A cold dough will not stretch, and this is the single most common reason home strudel fails.

Substitutions

• Short of time or nerve, use 6 sheets of shop-bought filo, layered and buttered. It is what many Viennese households do on a weeknight, though the texture is flakier and less chewy than true strudel dough.
• Rum can be left out and the raisins soaked in apple juice instead, for a version children can eat.

Variations

• Topfenstrudel, filled with sweetened curd cheese and raisins instead of apple.
• Millirahmstrudel, apple and curd strudel baked in a vanilla custard bath.
• Mohnstrudel, filled with a sweet ground poppy seed paste.

History

The oldest strudel recipe is a handwritten manuscript of 1696 held in Vienna; the paper-thin pastry descends from Ottoman layered dough.

Frequently asked questions

What is Apfelstrudel?

Apfelstrudel is a dessert from Austria: paper-thin strudel pastry around spiced apples and raisins. The oldest strudel recipe is a handwritten manuscript of 1696 held in Vienna; the paper-thin pastry descends from Ottoman layered dough.

How long does Apfelstrudel take to make?

Apfelstrudel takes 50 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Apfelstrudel?

Yes, within limits. Short of time or nerve, use 6 sheets of shop-bought filo, layered and buttered. It is what many Viennese households do on a weeknight, though the texture is flakier and less chewy than true strudel dough. Rum can be left out and the raisins soaked in apple juice instead, for a version children can eat.

What is the most important thing to get right in Apfelstrudel?

Brush the whole sheet with melted butter, scatter the buttered crumbs over the third nearest you, and pile the apple mixture on the crumbs, leaving a hand’s width clear at each side.