apfelstrudel

i have made a couple of strudel's here, but i never managed to make a decent apfelstrudel before. finally i have an excuse for making one: i am currently collecting austrian goodies to send of a parcel to the lovely kate in america. she kindly offered to swapp food and i could not be more thrilled about that. kate, if you read this: i know you sent off the parcel already and i should have mine ready over the next couple of days. just in case you want to make an apfelstrudel when the austrian parcel finally lands on your porch ... here's a recipe! i just phoned my mama to get the recipe for my grandmothers strudel dough.

strudel dough
250 g flour
salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
150 ml lukewarm water

these measurements actually yield one large or two small strudels. i divided the large ball in two small balls, using one for my apfelstrudel. i store the second one in my fridge (wrapping it in plastic wrap) and make a savory strudel tomorrow

filling
400 g peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples
4 tbsp of sugar
2 teaspoon of cinnamon
a hand full of raisins (my mama never uses rasins, she hates them!)

• sift the flour into a large bowl
• add a pinch of salt
• pour in the oil and lightly scramble with a fork.
• slowly add the lukewarm water (you might need less or more than 150 ml, it depends on your flour)
  
  
  
• knead until soft and smooth
  
  
  
• brush with a little oil
• cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rest for at least one hour

my mama always lets the strudel dough rest for a couple of hours. i think that does the trick, because elasticity is developed by all the gluten, and that takes a little time! she often makes the dough in the evening and prepares the strudel the next day.

when you stretch your strudel by hand it should be paper thin! my grandmother always said "you should be able to read a newspaper through it". the best way to stretch it is if you put a large towel or an old table cloth on your table and you should be able to easily move around the table to stretch it evenly on each side

apparently stretching strudel is an art of it's own. don't worry, mine always has some holes in it on the edges ... only my mama can do that propperly (and my grandmother could, of course), i am just not that experienced yet :D my sister is also mastering this art quite nicely. she made a strudel the other day when i visited, check out the pictures i made that day:

• brush the stretched strudel dough with melted butter
• add the filling but leave some space on the edges
• sprinkle apples with sugar, cinnamon and raisins
• some recipes also require toasted breadcrumbs. if you want to add that, just toast 50 g of breadcrumbs in a little butter and sprinkle them over the filling too
  
• lift up the table cloth to roll the strudel
  
  
  
• make sure that you roll the first layer pretty tightly, otherwise it will get bent out of shape
• put your strudel in buttered a casserole, the seam should be on the bottom
• brush with melted butter again
  
  
  this one looks a bit like a catterpillar, don't you think?
  
  
• put in the oven and bake at 200 °c until the surface is golden brown. the apples will be tender then

i let the studel cool down completely because i had to leave for work while the strudel was still in the oven. and coming home to a nice plate of this delicious treat is indeed very lovely!