We just had our first strawberries of the season and oh my goodness were they tasteless! My wife bought them couple of days ago, import from US. They have appealing shape and color and that is perhaps their selling point, but the taste….there is no taste. They have no scent nor any flavor! If I was to put them in my mouth and presumably I didn’t see what it is, I wouldn’t be able to identify it by its taste or texture. It tastes like a blob of semisweet water. Wow! I don’t know what she has paid for them, but after this experience I wouldn’t take them even if they were giving them away for free!
On a positive side, I made a strudel, or Viennese Apple Strudel to be more precise.
Viennese apple strudel is at the top of my favorite apple cakes and I love anything with apples. Apples, cinnamon, rum soaked raisins, roasted walnut and bread crumbs…how can you go wrong? It is not very rich dessert but for sure it is a very tasty one. Unlike most of pastries, apple strudel has relatively small amount of fat and sugar. The whole strudel has only 60 grams of sugar and 65 grams of butter, yet it is so flavorful and exactly that is what made it; a world renowned pastry.
It does take 2-3 hours to make but as I said many times before that is what takes to make outstandingly good dessert or meal. You don’t have enough time? Wouldn’t you want to have an amazing experience every time you sit at the table as opposed to once in a while when you stumble across some good restaurant meal? Just think about it, joy every 4 hours, every single day of your life. Still have something better to do?
This strudel originated in the territory of Austro-Hungarian empire in early 1800s. It is one of the glories of the Austro-Hungarian kitchen and for a good reason. It consists of very thin unleavened pastry filled with apples and bread crumbs helping to soak all the juices during cooking. It can be served alone dusted with sugar but it goes great when paired with vanilla ice cream or dollop of vanilla flavored whipped cream. Truly delicious dessert. The recipe is inspired by “Little Vienna” food blog run by Austrians, Ursula and David.
I made Viennese apple strudel several times and every time it seems to get better. The bread crumbs get toastier, the dough is easier to stretch, the apples are tastier. More often you make it, it only gets better. Don’t fear stretching a paper thin dough for the pastry. It is very easy to do even if you have never done it, it is almost fool proof. The added benefit is ones you know how to make it you can change the type of filling. Instead of apples you can use cheese, mushrooms or any other kind of filling. The dough does not contain any sugar so it goes equally well with either sweet or salty fillings.
| Prep Time | 1.5 hours |
| Cook Time | 35 minutes |
| Passive Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
servings
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- 80 g water lukewarm
- 15 g vegetable oil + some for brushing
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 145 g all purpose non bleached flour + some for dusting
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 70 g dried bread crumbs toasted
- 65 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 50 g raisins
- 3 tbsp golden Rum or lukewarm water
- 25 g coarsely chopped walnuts toasted
- 900 g tart apples peeled, cored and cut into 5 mm (1/4") slices
- 1/2 lemon for drizzling
- 25 g unsalted butter for brushing
- confectioner's sugar for dusting
Ingredients
Strudel Dough
Strudel Filling
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- In a medium size mixing bowl, add water, oil, salt, lemon juice and about half of the flour. Mix with wooden spoon until a batter like consistency forms. Add the rest of the flour and continue mixing with spoon until it comes together and can be kneaded by hands.
- Knead for the next 10 minutes in order to develop required gluten structure that will allow for thin stretching of the dough. The dough should be moist but not sticky. Add flour if necessary but not more than 2 tbsp. Don't rush to add more flour until you try to knead the dough first. Often pick the dough and throw it firmly at the unfloured work surface. Don't hesitate to throw it hard. It will stick to the work surface like a play dough. This will greatly help with gluten development which in turn will make the dough very elastic.
- Shape the dough in a smooth ball and coat it completely with oil. Put in a small, plastic covered bowl and let it rest at room temperature for about 1 hour.
- Melt butter in a medium size pan over medium heat, 5 out of 10. Add bread crumbs and toast stirring constantly to prevent burning. Once the bread crumbs are golden brown remove from the heat and transfer into a cool bowl, set aside.
- Mix raisins and rum in a small bowl and set aside for minimum 10 minutes.
- In a different bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
- Toast walnuts for about 7-8 min. in a dry pan over medium heat, 5 out of 10. Keep pan shaking to avoid burning. Transfer to a cool bowl and set aside.
- Peel, core, quarter and slice apple into 5 mm (1/4") thick slices. Occasionally drizzle cut apples with lemon juice to prevent browning.
- Roll out the dough with rolling pin on a lightly floured counter. Once stretched dough is about 30 cm (12") diameter pick it up and start stretching it with backs of your hands. Put knuckles of both hands in the middle and as dough is draped over your hands gently stretch it outwards buy spreading your hands apart. Rotate the dough after each stretch. Once the dough becomes too big to handle put it down on a floured tablecloth. Keep stretching the dough by going around perimeter and by gently puling it with your hands at a very low angle. Once the dough is thin and approximately 60 cm (23") diameter it is done. Trim the thick edges and discard.
- Brush the half of the stretched dough that is farther away from you with roughly half of melted butter.
- Spread the toasted breadcrumbs evenly on the half of stretch dough that is closer to you. Don't cover it all, leave about 30 mm (1"-1 1/2") space around the edge.
- Spread the apples evenly over the bread crumbs.
- Top evenly with drained raisins and chopped walnuts.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
- Fold in stretched dough 3 sides along the edges that are kept clear of filling. Each fold is about 2.5 cm (1").
- Using a table cloth roll the strudel by starting from the apple filled side and continue all the way to the other end.
- Transfer the strudel to a baking pan lined with parchment paper. You can transfer the strudel with table cloth and just roll it off to the baking pan. Make sure you put the seam side at the bottom. Brush the strudel with the remaining melted butter.
- Position the rack in the upper third of the conventional oven and heat to 205 ºC (400 ºF). Bake until the strudel is deep golden brown or 35-40 minutes. Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
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