Carla's Austrian Apple Strudel

carla's picture
carla

For the dough:
2 cups wheat flour,
1 whole egg,
1/4 cup oil,
1 tablespoon (wine) vinegar,
1 cup lukewarm water,
Salt.

in grams (for the serious baker):
300g wheat flour,
up to 200ml of water (note the "up to" - start with less!),
50g oil (or melted butter),
8g vinegar,
2g salt,
1 egg.

For the filling:
1kg apples,
1/2 cup sugar,
1/2 cup raisins,
1 lemon (juice and rind),
cinnamon ground,
rum (or essence).

1/2 cup bread crumbs,
1/2 cup butter melted,
1/2 cup milk.

Preparing the dough:
Mix flour, egg, oil, vinegar, water and salt and knead for at least 5 minutes.
The result should be a smooth, pliable dough.
Place the dough on an oiled plate and cover the surface of it with a little oil as well, then cover with plastic wrap or a glass bowl and put it in a warm place (40-45 degrees C).
Let it rest for at least 30 minutes; this is essential, otherwise the dough will break when it is stretched out thinly.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

The filling:
Peel and slice apples, add raisins, sugar, lemon, cinnamon and rum and mix.

Stretching the dough:
Take a clean kitchen towel and spread flour on it. Then place the
lukewarm dough ball on it.
Roll it out thinly with a rolling pin and then keep stretching the dough even thinner with the backs of your (floured) hands.
Work your hands with the backs up under the dough and start to stretch it in all directions (as you would do with a pizza dough!), until the dough is very thin. Once you can see the pattern of your kitchen towel through the dough, it is ready for filling.

Fill, roll and bake:
Brush the entire stretched dough with melted butter and spread bread crumbs over the dough, leaving a border all round free.
Put the apple filling over the crumbs.
Fold in the sides a little so the filling won't fall out the ends of the strudel, and then use the towel to help you roll up the strudel, place it on a baking sheet and brush the top with melted butter.
Bake at 180 degrees C for about 1 hour.
Then pour the milk over the strudel and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve it immediately, it is best eaten while still warm with a warm vanilla sauce, or in summer try vanilla ice cream.

Happy baking!
Carla

Method: 

 

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401 users have voted.

Replies

TeckPoh's picture
TeckPoh 2007 August 2

My dear Carla...nice to see you again. But, nope, no strudel yet. Have been too busy decorating cakes and baking breads. Will wait for a no-cake week to try out this formidable task. I just made individual molten chocolate cakes yesterday...had some guests over. It's really the easiest thing to do and delicious. lol....I made extras...still have one more for dessert tonite.

carla's picture
carla 2007 August 8

Hi TP,
Have been looking in here every so often and admiring all your handiwork. However haven't been baking anything NEW lately so didn't really post much. Same old same old but nice bread and buns. How is your little business coming along? Maybe the strudel would be just what you wanted to sell there?

TeckPoh's picture
TeckPoh 2006 October 16

I [size=24][b]LOVE[/b][/size] strudels! But the idea of making a pastry as thin as that is just too intimidating. Sigh...perhaps one day...

carla's picture
carla 2006 October 16

Don't worry TP!
It is really quite easy to get it thin.

The two main things are to keep the dough warm prior to rolling it out and to knead it vigorously before resting it.
I have made this dough many times - the best ones were indeed in the tropics - so you are well set do give it a go!

Once you have mastered the dough you can fill it with anything from leeks, cheese and apricots to meat, mint, pinenuts, parsley, garlic, raisins...
anything you like really!

I have made one with sauerkraut, caraway seeds and bacon one day and it was gobbled up in no time.

Give it a go!

Jeremy's picture
Jeremy 2006 October 16

Hi Carla,
When I used o work at MOMA we had an Austrian pastry chef work with us for a while during the klimt exhibiton, man that guy coul bake! Only thing was he said screw making home made strudel and used filo! His filo version was about as good or even more refined than the ones I ate when in Austria!
Never to be someone to walk away from challenge I tried the univerally well known version you have provided, probably not as good as yours though!
Still it was good reference on how to learn!
Go and try TP, mever hurts to jump in sink or swim,your in the water!

Oh yeah, the baguettes are going in!

Jeremy

bianchifan's picture
bianchifan 2006 October 16

Oh no carla, no egg.
Strudels aren't pastries
vinegar maybe, but only for "merde" flour, better is a special Strudel flour.
I assume you will get it in South Germany and Austria only

[url=http://www.cafe-schottenring.at/Neuer_Ordner/new/Rezepte/apfelstrudel.htm]Wiener Apfelstrudel[/url]

special for carla: [url=http://www.der-sauerteig.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8243&highlight=&sid=d02d296c41e31a4880d10568e9ddab46]Diskussion on the occasion of sunshines idea to make strudel with sourdough[/url] (extracted by wopa )

I have problems to make a Strdel by myself alone, I do need some help.
Always trying wrenching it alone I receive holes to repair, the result isn't any strudel but Pizza Calzone

@jeremy
Nevertheless I can't find filo at supermarkets, only at mail trading companies. In supermarket I can only get conserved dough, awful, real awful.

carla's picture
carla 2006 October 16

[quote="Bill44"]
Hi Carla, how much salt, cinnamon, and rum?
[/quote]

This is "to taste" - I would use lots of the 70% rum and cinnamon and a little bit of salt - but really it depends what you like. Can add some shredded almonds as well!

carla's picture
carla 2006 October 16

Have fun don!
And I am sure we will see pictures of the stretching and the filling and the baked product ???

donyeokl's picture
donyeokl 2006 October 16

Hi Carla,

Just want to confirm, is the dough very sticky, like a very thick batter? The water content seems pretty high. If I were to convert it to grams,

it looks something like that:

250g wheat flour
225g lukewarm water
50g oil
7.5g vinegar
1 egg

Thanks...

carla's picture
carla 2006 October 17

[quote="donyeokl"]
Just want to confirm, is the dough very sticky, like a very thick batter? The water content seems pretty high.
[/quote]

That is far too much water for the amount of flour you calculated!
The dough will be a little sticky but not too soft, otherwise it will tear.

I have actually made this recipe into cups for the NZ friends who wanted to bake it and don't have kitchen scales (amazing to not have kitchen scales - but then you don't need it if you eat mostly beked beans or spaghetti on toast I guess!).

But I will give you my original Recipe which is in grams (of course):

300g wheat flour,
up to 200ml of water (note the "up to" - start with less!),
50g oil (or melted butter),
8g vinegar,
1 egg.

So I will update the above recipe with grams for the serious bakers.
Sorry for the confusion!

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