Apple strudel with vanilla sauce
Ingredients
Method
- Dough: mix the flour, salt, water, oil and lemon juice. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and supple. Oil the ball, cover and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Toast the breadcrumbs in 40 g of butter for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring. Peel the apples, slice them thinly and mix with the sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice, raisins and walnuts.
- Preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F). Roll out the dough on a large floured cloth, then gently stretch it with the backs of your hands, from the center outward, into a rectangle about 60 x 80 cm (24 x 32 inches), so thin you can see the cloth’s pattern through it. Trim the thick edges.
- Brush the dough with melted butter. Scatter the breadcrumbs over two thirds of the surface, then spread the apples in a log along the nearest edge, leaving a 5 cm (2 inch) border.
- Fold in the sides, then roll up the strudel by lifting the cloth. Slide it onto a lined baking sheet, seam side down, and brush with butter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, brushing again halfway, until deep golden.
- Vanilla sauce: heat the milk with the vanilla. Whisk the yolks with the sugar, pour the hot milk over, return to low heat and stir until the custard coats the spoon, without boiling. Serve the strudel warm, dusted with powdered sugar, with the vanilla sauce.
Notes
Paper-thin pastry that crackles under the fork, soft cinnamon apples, raisins, walnuts, buttery golden breadcrumbs and warm vanilla sauce poured over the slice: apple strudel is the signature dessert of Vienna’s cafés. It is eaten in the afternoon with a Viennese coffee at a marble table. Here is our step-by-step apple strudel recipe, with real hand-stretched dough, vanilla sauce and a quick version for busy days.
Apfelstrudel, a traditional Viennese dessert
The oldest known strudel recipe is a Viennese manuscript from 1696. The stretched-dough technique comes from further away: it is inherited from the very thin pastries of Ottoman cooking, those of baklava, which arrived via Hungary. In Vienna, the dough met the apples of Austrian orchards, and Apfelstrudel became the traditional Viennese dessert par excellence. Today it is the Austrian specialty found on every menu, alongside its cousin Kaiserschmarrn. It is also very popular in Bavaria, where people simply call it “Strudel”.
Strudel dough
Strudel dough (Strudelteig) has nothing to do with puff pastry: it is a very simple dough of flour, lukewarm water, oil and a drop of lemon, with no butter or egg. The secret is long kneading, which develops the gluten and makes it elastic, then a 30-minute rest. It is then stretched over a large floured cloth with the backs of the hands, walking around the table. It must become so thin you could read a newspaper through it: that is the test of Viennese pastry cooks. If it tears a little, don’t panic, the holes disappear when you roll it.
Buttery golden breadcrumbs
Buttery breadcrumbs are the detail many people forget. They soak up the apple juices during baking and stop the pastry from going soggy. Toast them in butter in a pan until they smell nutty, and scatter them over the dough before the filling.
Which apples for apple strudel?
The best apples are tart varieties that hold their shape a little: Bramley, Granny Smith mixed with a sweeter apple, or any good baking apple. Slice them thinly and evenly rather than dicing them, so they cook at the same pace as the pastry. Mix them with the sugar at the last minute, or they release too much juice.
Spices for apple strudel
Apple strudel uses few spices, and that is its charm. Cinnamon leads, with lemon zest and juice mixed into the apples to brighten them and keep them from browning. Vanilla goes into the sauce. Some add a hint of nutmeg, but that is not traditional. If you love cinnamon and pastry together, try Swedish kanelbullar too, and explore all our spices in the spice guide. For a quicker apple dessert, try our British apple crumble, ready with just 20 minutes of prep.
Raisins, walnuts or pine nuts?
Raisins are a must for the Viennese; you can plump them for 20 minutes in a little rum for a richer strudel. For crunch, walnuts versus pine nuts divides opinion: walnuts are the most classic in Austria, pine nuts are a South Tyrolean variation. Both are delicious.
Vanilla sauce
In Vienna, strudel is served warm with whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or, most often, Vanillesauce. It is a slightly thinner custard: milk, yolks, sugar and vanilla, cooked gently until it coats the spoon. Make it while the strudel bakes.
Apple strudel with puff pastry: the quick version
No time to stretch dough? Apple strudel with puff pastry is a very common shortcut: one sheet of puff pastry, the same filling, 30 minutes in the oven at 200 °C (400 °F). The result is more like a turnover, thicker and more buttery, but it is still a great Austrian apple cake for Sunday. Buttered, stacked filo sheets are a good compromise, closer to the original.
Frequently asked questions
How do you make apple strudel without tearing the dough?
Knead for a long time, respect the rest, take off your rings and stretch with the backs of your hands rather than your fingertips. A few small holes won’t show once it is rolled.
Can it be made ahead?
Yes, traditional apple strudel keeps for 2 days at room temperature under a cloth. Reheat for 10 minutes at 160 °C (325 °F) to bring back the crispness.
