Traditional Austrian apple strudel from scratch, truly a work of calm. There are so many recipes online, some too overwhelming for me, others not as traditional, so I decided to test out a few.
The first recipe used regular all-purpose flour, and the dough tore more easily when rolled out. It also called for too much cinnamon, which overpowered all the flavors.
The second recipe pictured here was made with bread flour, which has higher protein so it develops more gluten holding the shape stronger and reducing tearing when rolled. It was an overall improvement, but I used too many apples and they were too bitter for my taste. Also, I much prefer and recommend thinly sliced apples instead of diced.
My third attempt was a balanced fine-tuning of all the above. I cut the recipe in half, because it’s a little more manageable for a beginner, and I also made tiny changes to my taste, such as adding vanilla sugar. As many traditional strudel doughs, no eggs were used. Stretching the dough see-through thin does take a little practice, but if you refrigerate it overnight there is a noticeable improvement, and it’s all part of the joy of baking, worth every effort. As read on a visited site: The key is fearlessness. If you’re scared, the dough will know.
Keep calm and enjoy!
Crisp Apple Strudel
Ingredients
Dough
- 150 g bread flour (1 cup)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 80 mL lukewarm water (about 1/3 cup)
Filling
- 50 g raisins favorite variety
- 80 mL apple juice warmed (1/3 cup)
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 60 g breadcrumbs fine, plain (1/2 cup)
- 500 g sweet-tart apples (4 apples, about 1 lb) favorite variety, peeled and cored
- juice of 1 fresh lemon
- 1 Tablespoon vanillin vanilla sugar, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3-4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
Additional
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted, for brushing dough
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Dough
- Add combined flour and salt to bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook.
- Add oil and lukewarm water to flour/salt mix, turn mixer on low setting and knead dough about 10 minutes or so. Check for doneness by stretching a small piece of dough without it ripping.
- Dough should be moist, not sticky or dry. It should come together and pull away from side of bowl, but this takes a little practice. If it's too sticky or dry, add 1-2 additional Tablespoons flour or water as needed to get dough to right consistency.
- Remove dough from mixing bowl and slam onto work surface 4-5 times to enhance gluten development, yielding a more elastic dough. Shape dough into a smooth ball.
- Brush a clean bowl with oil, place dough ball in bowl and coat all dough surface. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to stand at room temperature for 1-2 hours. You may also refrigerate overnight. Longer dough sits, easier it will stretch.
Filling
- While dough rests, soak raisins in warmed apple juice or water.
- Melt 3 Tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and add breadcrumbs. Toast breadcrumbs stirring constantly until golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Before stretching out dough, peel, core and slice apples paper thin. Toss apples in lemon juice to prevent browning. Do not add sugar to apples until dough is stretched because you don't want too much juice created, potentially resulting in a soggy crust.
Stretching dough
- Drape a clean large cloth over a kitchen island or table you may work around, lightly flour cloth and use a rolling pin to roll dough out.
- When dough stretches to approximately 30cm/12in diameter, pick it up and making two fists use the back of your hands and knuckles to stretch it same way pizza dough is stretched.
- Place your rectangle of dough onto floured cloth and use rolling pin to thin out dough a little more. This does not have to be a perfect rectangle.
- Carefully place your hands under dough on table with your knuckles facing upwards, and use your knuckles to stretch dough further taking care to stretch from the center out. Stretch until it starts to look translucent.
Final prep and bake
- Brush dough with 1 Tablespoon melted butter (see images below), sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over half the dough, leaving rest of dough uncovered.
- Now add sugar, optional vanilla sugar, cinnamon and raisins (minus any remaining juice) to your sliced apples previously tossed with lemon, combine and spread apple mix over breadcrumbs.
- Using the cloth, fold one long side of strudel dough over apples and the rest of the length of dough, then repeat on opposite side.
- Using the cloth, carefully roll short side of dough with apples all the way up to the end of the other short side of dough, making sure it's seam side down. It should all look similar to a baguette.
- Using the cloth, carefully transfer rolled strudel to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and brush with remaining melted butter.
- Bake in 200C/400F pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and crisp on top. If apples were sliced thinly as instructed you should not need any further baking time.
- Allow to rest for about 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Best served day baked.
Notes
