Bake it Yourself: Apple Strudel

Apple strudel

My grandmother makes the best apple strudel in the world. I can still remember how as kids we would stare into the oven, waiting for it to finally be ready to eat. The whole kitchen was filled with the smell of apples and cinnamon. I met up with Reinhard Hacker from the Café-Konditorei Hacker in Rattenberg and asked him to share with us his recipe for traditional Austrian apple strudel. It may not be quite as good as my grandma's, but it's pretty close!

Ingredients

For the dough

• 440g flour
• 2 small eggs
• 60g oil
• 1 pinch of salt
• 160g handwarm water

For the filling

• 1,200g apples (sour variety)
• 120g sugar with a pinch of cinnamon
• 250g breadcrumbs
• Melted butter
• Handful of raisins
• Dash of rum

For the decoration

• Icing sugar

Ingredients for apple strudel.

Preparation

To make the dough, mix the flour, eggs, oil, salt and lukewarm water and knead. The dough needs to rest for at least half an hour. It is best to prepare the dough the day before and leave it in the fridge overnight.

When working the dough, stretch it out with your hands. To do this, form both hands into a fist and turn the dough in a circle. Continue until it is the right size and almost transparent. Then place the dough on a floured tea towel and brush the bottom part with melted butter.

For the filling, peel the apples and cut into pieces, fry the breadcrumbs in butter and soak the sultanas in rum. Mix everything with sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Then add the filling to the top of the pastry. The more filling, the better.

Then roll up the dough using a tea towel. Place the rolled up apple strudel on a baking tray. The edge must be at the bottom, otherwise it will become very hard during baking and cannot be cut. Brush the strudel with melted butter and place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes at 200°C and a further 30 to 45 minutes at 180°C. The apple strudel is ready as soon as some of the apple juice runs out of the strudel. The baking time depends on the type of apples used. Sprinkle the finished strudel with icing sugar and enjoy warm.

Step 1: Mix the flour, eggs, oil, salt and warm water.

Step 2: Knead the mixture.

Step 3: Leave the dough to rest for at least half an hour, ideally overnight.

Step 4: Work the dough with your hands until it is thin and even.

Step 5: Place the dough on a teatowel covered with a thin layer of flour. Brush melted butter onto the lower section of the dough.

Step 6: Peel the apples and cut them into pieces.

Step 7: Warm the breadcrumbs in the pan and place the raisins in the rum. Mix everything together with sugar and cinnamon.

Step 8: Place the filling on the upper part of the dough. The more filling the better!

Step 9: Roll the dough up using the tea towel.

Step 10: Brush melted butter onto the strudel and place it in the pre-heated oven.

Step 11: Dust the finished strudel with icing sugar.

Gutes Gelingen!

Die Café-Konditorei Hacker findet ihr direkt in der Fußgängerzone von Rattenberg. Das Kaffeehaus wurde im Jahr 1774 als Lebzelter-Haus gegründet und ist seitdem gesellschaftlicher Treffpunkt in Österreichs kleinster Stadt.