Apple Strudel is a traditional dessert from Trentino, made with a thin rolled dough filled with apples, raisins, and pine nuts. The strudel has Turkish origins, as it is a variant of baklava, made with phyllo dough, which was transformed and named this way by the Hungarians, then arrived in Austria and became known in Trentino during its dominance over Italy. Therefore, this fragrant and exquisite dessert has a series of different names and places, but in Italy, it has been recognized as a traditional Italian food product. Like all preparations, it has different variants, for example, for the dough, some use shortcrust or puff pastry, or for the filling, other types of fruit like pears, apricots, etc., or perhaps with a savory filling with cured meats and vegetables. Mine is the classic strudel dough recipe filled with apples. So all that’s left is for you to try!!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 35 room temperature water
- 2 tbsps peanut or seed oil
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 1/2 lbs apples
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tbsps clarified butter + 1 1/2 tbsps for brushing
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup raisins
- powdered sugar for decoration
- 1 grated lemon zest + juice of half a lemon
- 2 tsps ground cinnamon
Tools
- Parchment paper
- Baking dish
- Rolling pin
Steps
First, toast the pine nuts and set them aside.
Place the flour, egg, oil, salt, and water in a bowl, knead until you get a smooth and compact dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
Now prepare the filling. Soak the raisins, peel the apples removing the core, cut them into wedges and then into thin slices.
Add the lemon juice to the apples to prevent them from turning brown. In a saucepan, put 3 tbsps of butter, melt it, and add the breadcrumbs. It will take about 2 minutes to toast them.
Now mix all the ingredients. Add the drained raisins, pine nuts, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, sugar, and cinnamon to the apples. Mix well.
Take a dish towel and spread some flour on it, then take the dough and roll it out into a fairly thin sheet, as you can see in the photo, the design of the dish towel is visible through it.
Melt the remaining butter and brush it over the entire surface, then arrange the apples on top. With the help of the dish towel, roll the dough up, leaving the seam at the bottom.
Carefully move the strudel onto the baking dish covered with parchment paper, brush more butter onto the surface, and bake in a static oven at 392°F for 35 minutes.
Your apple strudel is ready!!
Let it cool slightly and dust with powdered sugar.
Storage
You can store the strudel at room temperature until the next day.
