How to make Homemade Apple Strudel
This is my go-to recipe for traditional Viennese Apple Strudel. I use my homemade super-thin strudel dough recipe for this strudel, which is the traditional pastry for apple strudel. Prepare the strudel dough 1 hour (or up to 2 days) in advance since it needs to rest for 1 hour. You can use store-bought phyllo dough on a lazy day but a heads up: the result will not be as delicious ;-)
Yield: 8 servings (1 strudel in baking sheet length)
Ingredients
- 1 strudel dough (recipe here) (see infos in intro; store-bought phyllo dough is an ok substitute)
Toasted breadcrumbs:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (30 g)
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp fine, dry bread crumbs (70 g)
Apple filling:
- 2 lbs sweet-tart apples (e.g. MacIntosh) (900 g)
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar (65 g) (see note)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (use 1 teaspoon if you love cinnamon)
- 1/4 cup (25 g) chopped walnuts (even better if briefly toasted in a pan without oil)
- 4 tablespoons raisins (50 g)
- Optional: 3 tablespoons rum or lukewarm water for soaking the raisins
In addition:
- 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing the dough
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving (optional)
Instructions
Strudel dough:
- Start by making the strudel dough, if you want to make it from scratch. I've posted an article on how to make paper-thin strudel dough for apple strudel. The dough will take about 1 hour and 15 minutes to make (including 1 hour resting time).
Toasted breadcrumbs:
- Melt butter in a pan over medium heat, then add the breadcrumbs. Toast them, stirring constantly, until they are golden. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and let cool. If you leave the breadcrumbs in the pan, make sure the residual heat doesn't toast them too much or the strudel will taste scorched.
Apple Strudel Filling:
- Soak the raisins in rum (traditional, for a nice taste) or lukewarm water for about 10 minutes (only necessary if they are rather dry and not soft).
- Mix sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Peel the apples, quarter and core them. Chop every quarter into 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick slices. In between cutting, drizzle the slices with lemon juice to prevent the apples from browning.
Stretch the dough:
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a clean and lightly floured surface. Flour the surface and the dough every now and then while rolling.
- When the dough gets about 13-15 inch in diameter, pick it up then use the back of your hands, particularly your knuckles, to stretch it (remove all sharp jewelry first). This way you can straighten the dough like a pizza.
- When the dough gets larger and thinner, and thus difficult to handle, put it down on a lightly floured tablecloth, straighten out the wrinkles in both the tablecloth and the dough. Continue stretching the dough on the tablecloth using your hands.
- Gently stretch the dough paper-thin from the inside to the outside, working your way around the sheet of dough. Stretch it until it starts to look translucent. You should be able to read the titles of a newspaper placed under the dough (don't do this though, the ink would probably come off).
- When finished, the sheet of dough should be stretched into a rectangular shape, with the shorter edge fitting the baking sheet lengthwise. Thick edges should be cut off.
Fill the strudel:
- Brush half the dough with roughly half of the melted butter.
- Spread the breadcrumb-mixture evenly over the other half of the dough. One side is brushed with butter now, the other side is covered with breadcrumbs. Leave 1 to 1.5 inch to the edge. Spread the apples over the breadcrumbs. Evenly top with raisins (but not the remaining rum or water) and walnuts. Sprinkle everything with cinnamon sugar.
- Fold in the side-ends of the dough. Using the tablecloth, roll the dough, starting at the apple-topped end all the way. Then gently roll the strudel onto a sheet of parchment paper with the seam-side down.
- Transfer the strudel onto a baking sheet and brush it with the remaining melted butter.
Bake the strudel:
- Bake the strudel in the preheated oven (I use rack 2 of 4 from top) for 30-40 mins at 375 °F. When the crust turns golden, the Apple Strudel is ready. Take it out of the oven, let it cool slightly, cut it into pieces and serve dusted with confectioner's sugar. The crust is crunchy when hot and will soften once the strudel cools.
- Serve it with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if you like.
Notes
Sugar: The amount of sugar largely depends on your taste and the tartness of the apples used. I like apple strudel not overly sweet and rather give it a generous dusting of powdered sugar after baking. If you prefer it on the sweet side, add a little more sugar to the filling.