How to Cook Apple Strudel
Makes: 12-16 pieces
Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients needed to make apple strudel:
For the dough:
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp + 1 tsp neutral oil
- ¼ tsp salt
For 1st filling:
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 100 gms butter
For 2nd filling:
- 6-8 cups baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
- ½ cup raisins
- 1-2 tsp lemon zest
- 4 tbsp rum
- Juice of half a lemon
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- Powdered sugar, for decoration
- ½ cup melted butter
Cooking instructions for apple strudel:
- To prepare the dough, stir a dash of salt into the flour and pour in water.
- Drizzle the oil over them and stir well with a spatula until they form a mixture with dough like consistency.
- Knead the dough with your hands for about 5 minutes or till they become soft and pliable but not sticky.
- Shape the dough into a ball, paint it with 1 tsp oil and transfer it to a bowl.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for an hour.
- Meanwhile, to make the first filling, melt butter in a sauce pan until it starts bubbling and throw in the breadcrumbs.
- Stir them together to mix well and toast them until they brown slightly, while stirring continuously; set aside to cool.
- To make the 2nd filling, drop the raisins into a small bowl of rum and soak them until they swell up.
- Place the chopped apples in a bowl and add the soaked raisins to it.
- Sprinkle the sugar, lemon zest as well as cinnamon over it, followed by a splash of lemon juice.
- Toss them well until properly blended, drain and set aside.
- Once the dough is ready, dust the working surface generously with flour and roll the dough out into a 9’’x 13’’ rectangular log.
- Dust some flour on a clean towel and spread it over the dough.
- Hold them together firmly and turn them over.
- Straighten them out and start pressing the dough to stretch it on all sides.
- Continue to do so until it becomes thinner and several translucent spots appear on it.
- Leave it untouched for a minute and then trim off thick edges.
- Smother the dough with a lashing of melted butter and top 2/3 of it with the first filling.
- Spread them evenly and press gently to smoothen them out.
- Spread the 2nd filling across rest of the dough and fold one edge of the dough over the stuffing.
- Paint the exposed portion with more melted butter and fold its ends to resemble an envelope.
- Wrap the other edge of the dough over the first one to make a roll and brush more melted butter on it.
- Wrap it up in a parchment paper and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F.
- Lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for another hour.
- Remove from the oven and pour rest of the melted butter over it.
- Dust powdered sugar over the strudel and place it on a serving platter.
- Slice it into 12-16 pieces, each about 1 ½’’ wide.
- Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
