Apple Strudel

Origin

The oldest known Strudel recipe dates back to 1697 in a cookbook in the Vienna Town Hall Library.

It’s the National dish of Austria, but dessert gained popularity throughout the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The thin layer of the pastry seemed to be influenced by the thin layers of the Turkish baklava.

The word “strudel” means ” whirlpool” in German, referring to how the pastry goes around the filling.

The way of preparing it

The making of the Viennese pastry of the Strudel is a real work of art. The best bakers make the dough very very thin, pulling it using the top of their hands. The dough can be stretched out much more than we may think.

It said that the dough should be so thin to be able to read love letters through it.

I saw people stretching the dough throughout a big table and making a very long strudel. I thought it was very cool.

Apple strudel is often eaten with vanilla sauce or vanilla icecream on the side, but it’s delicious even eaten by itself!

Apple strudel is only one of the popular versions of the dessert but it can be filled with other fruits and seeing that the pastry is not sweet, it can even be savory.

Apple strudel

The national dish from Austria

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Ingredients

  

Pastry

• 210 g all purpose flour
• 45 g oil an oil with a very mild flavor like canola oil
• 95 g lukewarm water
• 2 g salt
• 1 egg

Filling

• 1.5 kg golden apples
• 25 g lemon juice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 75 g sugar
• 40 g chopped almonds
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 35 g raisins previosly soaked in rum or apple juice

Breadcrumbs

• 1 tbsp butter
• 100 g breadcrumbs

Instructions

 

• Mix he flour, salt, water, oil and the egg.
• Knead the dough for 5 to 8 min, cover it wih plastic wrap and let it rest for1 hr
• Peel and cut the apples in thin slices.
• In a bowl mix the apple slices, the drained raisins, the almonds, lemon juice amd vanilla extract.
• In a medium low heat pan add the butter and cook the braincrumbs until they become golden.
• Stand the dough with a rolling pin
• When the dough is thin, use the back of your hands under the dough to pull it out even more,
• Make the dough into a shape of a rectangle and place it on a kitchen towel
• With a brush add some melted butter all over the top of the dough
• Add al the breadcrumbs and spred them evengly
• Add the apple mix all over the dough
• Fold the sides of the dough inward to lock the apples inside the dough
• Starting from one end lift the towel to slowly roll the strudel towards the other end.
• Place the strudel on a bakin sheet and brush the whole top with melted butter
• Bake at 375 F for 30 min. At half way of the baking time, brush some more butter on top of the strudel.
• Let the strudel cool down and add powder sugar on top.
• Enjoy!