Around the World in Eight Students: German Apfelstrudel

This delicious Bavarian recipe comes from my mother. It smells wonderful and tastes even better with some vanilla sauce, whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream. Perfect for “Kaffe und Kuchen” (coffee and cake for all you non-Germanophiles) it’s an excellent afternoon snack, but it can also go as a meal for those of you who like it sweet. It’s not too hard to make Apfelstrudel and it contains just a couple of simple ingredients such as flour, apples, sugar and cinnamon. However, one thing you’ll need for this recipe is time and patience.

Ingredients

(This makes 1 large loaf or two smaller loaves)

For the dough:

2 ½ cups bread flour (300 g)

¼ tsp. salt

3 tbs. vegetable oil (30 ml)

¾ cups lukewarm water (200 ml)

For the filling:

5-6 large apples, sliced (apples such as Gala or Granny Smith)

¾ cups granulated sugar (150 grams)

4 tbs. dark rum (optional) or orange juice

½ cups raisins (60 grams)

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

1-2 tsp. lemon zest

4 tbs. lemon juice

Melted butter (unsalted) for brushing dough (almost a whole stick or ½ cup)

Powdered sugar for decoration

Preparation

To make the dough:

Place the flour in a bowl with the salt and add the water and then the oil. Knead the mix into a medium-firm dough. Let sit for 1 hour, room temperature.

To make the filling:

Soak the raisins in the rum (or orange juice if you don’t have rum). Peel, core and slice apples into small pieces. Add the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, raisins, and cinnamon and mix well.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured strudel sheet (or you can use a dishtowel), and then stretch the rolled dough on the sheet with the back of your hands. Stretch the dough thin on all sides until it starts to look translucent in spots.  Brush the dough with the melted butter. Spread apple filling over the dough but keep a little space around the edge of the dough. Tear off edges and shape the strudel into a roll by lifting the dishtowel. Place the strudel on a buttered baking sheet and brush with melted butter.

Bake strudel for 60 to 90 minutes in a 350 degrees F to 400 degrees F oven (175-180 Celsius). Bake with less temperature when making two small loafs. (350 F)

Serve with powdered sugar on top, and/ or vanilla ice cream.

An Guad’n! (Enjoy!)