Apple strudel recipe: Vienna's hand-stretched Apfelstrudel

This apple strudel recipe follows the Viennese Apfelstrudel method: a rested, unleavened dough stretched by hand until you can read through it, then rolled around tart apples, rum-soaked raisins and butter-toasted breadcrumbs. The crumbs are the technical key: they absorb the apple juice and keep the thin layers crisp.

The oldest surviving strudel recipe, handwritten in 1696, is held at the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Vienna's city library, and Austria lists Apfelstrudel in its register of traditional foods. Amuse Kitchen's version builds on the method the Vienna Tourist Board takes from The New Sacher Cookbook. It suits late September: new-season apples are in, while Austrian growers count a wine harvest at a decade low.

Ingredients

Stretch the dough until you can read through it; the crumbs keep it crisp.

• 250 g plain flour, plus extra for the cloth
• 1 pinch fine salt
• 130 ml lukewarm water
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1.2 kg tart, firm apples, such as Elstar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 80 g raisins, soaked in 2 tbsp dark rum
• 90 g caster sugar
• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 80 g dried breadcrumbs
• 130 g unsalted butter
• Icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. Knead the flour, salt, water, oil and vinegar for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and springy. Long kneading builds the gluten that lets the dough stretch without tearing.
2. Oil the ball, cover it and rest it for 1 hour at room temperature: relaxed gluten gives instead of pulling back.
3. Peel, core and slice the apples 2 to 3 mm thick and toss them with the lemon juice so they stay pale.
4. Toast the breadcrumbs in 50 g butter until golden. Melt the remaining 80 g and heat the oven to 190 °C (170 °C fan).
5. Flour a cloth of at least 80 x 100 cm. Roll the dough out a little, then stretch it over the backs of your hands from the centre until translucent, about 70 x 90 cm. Trim the thick rim.
6. Brush with butter and scatter the crumbs over the third nearest you. Only now mix the apples with the sugar, cinnamon and raisins and pile them on: sugared early, they weep.
7. Fold in the sides and lift the cloth so the strudel rolls itself up. Tip it seam-side down onto a lined tray and brush with butter.
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, brushing again halfway, until golden and a skewer slides through the apples. Rest for 15 minutes, dust with icing sugar and slice with a serrated knife.

Choosing the apples and serving

Use apples with acidity and structure, such as Elstar, the variety the Vienna Tourist Board recipe names, or Boskoop; soft dessert apples turn to purée and soak the pastry. Viennese cafés serve it warm with lightly sweetened whipped cream, Schlagobers, or with vanilla sauce.

Apple strudel recipe FAQ

Can I use filo pastry instead? Yes: layer 6 buttered sheets and bake about 5 minutes less. It comes out flakier but loses the soft inner layers of pulled dough.

Why does my dough tear? Too little kneading or resting, or stretching with the fingertips instead of the backs of the hands. Small holes disappear once it is rolled.

Can I make apple strudel ahead? It is best on the day. Unbaked and well wrapped, it freezes for a month; bake it from frozen at 190 °C for 50 to 55 minutes.