Viennese apple strudel is a traditional Austrian pastry featuring paper-thin hand-stretched dough filled with spiced apples, raisins, and toasted breadcrumbs. It's baked until golden and served warm with whipped cream, vanilla sauce, or ice cream.
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To make the dough: Place the flour in a bowl with the salt and add the water, then the oil. Stir with a spoon until it comes together and you can work it with your hands. Knead the dough until it is smooth and tacky, but not sticky, about 5 minutes. If you need to add more flour, only add it 1 teaspoon at a time, and rework the dough after each flour addition (before adding more). Form the dough into a smooth ball, brush it with a little oil and place it back in the bowl for about 1 hour at room temperature. Covering the dough with plastic wrap is fine, too.
To Make the First Filling: Heat the butter in a pan until foaming and add the breadcrumbs. Toast them, stirring constantly, until they are medium brown. Let cool.
To Make the Second Filling: Heat the raisins for 30 seconds in microwave oven. Then soak raisins in rum (or orange juice); set aside until ready to use.
Peel, core and chop the apples into small pieces. Add the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place raisins in colander to allow excess liquid to drain. Add to apple mixture, and mix well.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured board to about 9 inches by 13 inches. Lightly flour a clean towel with no nap, place it over the dough, grab both (towel and dough) and flip over so towel is on bottom and dough is on top. Straighten both, as necessary. Using your hands, gently stretch the dough thinner on all sides, working your way around the sheet of dough. Stretch it until it starts to look translucent in spots. Let it rest a minute and stretch the areas you think are too thick, again. Brush dough with melted butter.
Spread the first filling (toasted breadcrumbs) over 2/3 of the dough and pat down evenly. Spread second filling (apple/raisin mixture) over the other 1/3 of the dough. With kitchen shears, snip off any thick edges of dough, so dough is more uniform. Using the towel, fold one side of the dough over the filling. Brush exposed dough with melted butter. Fold in ends of dough like a burrito. Fold other side of dough up and over filling to form a loaf. Brush with butter.
Use the towel to lift the strudel to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently roll strudel onto parchment paper so that the seam-side is down. Brush melted butter over the dough. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake for 40-60 minutes longer.
Remove strudel from oven, brush with melted butter again, then sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm. Transfer to a serving platter with a large spatula (or two). Cut into 1 1/2 inch wide slices with a bread knife or serrated knife. Serve with your choice of whipped cream, vanilla sauce, or vanilla ice cream.
Cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months. Reheat wrapped in foil at 350°F for 15-20 minutes until warm.
pastry brush · kitchen shears · serrated or bread knife · parchment paper
Yes, phyllo dough will work as a shortcut, though the texture and flavor of hand-stretched strudel dough is traditional and superior. If using phyllo, brush each sheet with melted butter as you layer them, then add the fillings.
Stretch it until it is thin enough to see light through it, almost translucent. It should be paper-thin but still intact. Work gently from the center outward, using your hands to support and stretch evenly.
Yes. Assemble the strudel, wrap it unbaked in plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to 12 hours or freeze up to 3 months. Bake from cold, adding 10-15 minutes to the total baking time if frozen.
Granny Smith and Gala apples are ideal because they hold their shape during baking. Avoid softer varieties like Red Delicious that break down too quickly.
Yes. Use apple juice, apple cider, or water if you prefer to omit alcohol. The liquid simply plumps the raisins, so any flavorful liquid works.
