Apple Strudel
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 6 - 8 servings
Often thought of as a German or Austrian dessert, apple strudel originated in the gulf of Trieste region, then a part of the Hapsburg Austo-Hungarian Empire, now split between Italy and Slovenia.
Apples, brandy-soaked raisins, cinnamon and pine nuts baked in a paper thin pastry crust. What's not to love about this fabulous dish?
The pastry in this recipe is a bit more work than I would normally take on, but once you get this right, you'll never look at store bought strudel again.
Ingredients
- 140g plain flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 70ml water
- 10ml olive oil
- 700g firm apples (about 3 large ones)
- 100g caster or golden caster sugar
- 60g butter
- 30g fine breadcrumbs
- 60g raisins, soaked in 30ml brandy for 20 minutes
- 20g pine nuts
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Nutmeg
Method
Working in a bowl, mix the flour, salt, water and oil, and bring them together into a firm dough. Knead until smooth, then cover and rest for 30 minutes.
Peel the apples, cut them into quarters, remove the core, then cut the fruit widthways into 3mm slices. Put in a bowl with almost all the sugar (save a tablespoons for the breadcrumbs later), the soaked raisins, pine nuts and spices, stir and leave to sit until the pastry is rolled.
Melt all the butter and mix half of it with the breadcrumbs and reserved sugar.
Lay out a large, clean cloth, dusted with flour, on a flat surface. Put the ball of dough in the middle and, using a rolling pin, start rolling any which way, until it is thin enough to read a magazine through. The idea of the cloth is that it stops the pastry moving around and pulling back into itself after rolling.
This video might help visualise how the pastry rolling is done - it's a vital part of the recipe to get right:
Leaving a 2cm margin all around the edge, brush the pastry with butter, sprinkle with the crumbs, then spread the apple mix over the top. Use the cloth to help you roll the whole thing up into a log, then tuck in the ends. Brush with more butter and bake at 200C (180C fan) for 30 minutes, until the pasty is nicely coloured and crisp on the outside.
You might also like ...
Lemon Tart
Apple Walnut Crumble Pie
Lemon, Rosemary and Olive Oil Cake
Try this recipe, you won't be disappointed!
