Recipe Requested Your Oma’s Strudel recipe

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Okay, I love apple strudel and I’ve been trying a few different recipes that haven’t really hit the spot for me, so I want to hear from anyone with any variety of strudel recipe that they cook and love.
Many thanks in advance!

 

[Corradobrit1]

Don't have the recipe but this is easily the best apfelstrudel I have ever tasted. Courtesy of Die Butterhanne in Goslar. I will make 20 mile pilgrimages just to experience it. Nothing I've found in Hannover comes anywhere close.

Not quite as convenient for you though.

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Man that looks good. Okay, I can still learn despite the tyranny of distance. Questions for you:
1) Are they roasted flaked almonds or walnuts in with the apple mix in the photo?
2) is the pastry flakey layers or just crisping on top?
3) rum soaked raisins in the apple mix too?
4) Spices? Cinnamon, I’m guessing, but any others? Cloves? Allspice? Nutmeg? Mixed spice?
5) Have you seen any interesting variations on presentation? I’ve seen a couple that do flaked almonds and powdered sugar on top to try and sex it up a bit. Have you seen any with fancy pastry work?

 

[Corradobrit1]

Man that looks good. Okay, I can still learn despite the tyranny of distance. Questions for you:
1) Are they roasted flaked almonds or walnuts in with the apple mix in the photo? Walnuts
2) is the pastry flakey layers or just crisping on top? Flaky layers but soft. May have been crispy when baked but softened over time on standing.
3) rum soaked raisins in the apple mix too? Not sure but they are plumped
4) Spices? Cinnamon, I’m guessing, but any others? Cloves? Allspice? Nutmeg? Mixed spice? Cinnamon and nutmeg for sure. Not sure about the others but I will find out
5) Have you seen any interesting variations on presentation? I’ve seen a couple that do flaked almonds and powdered sugar on top to try and sex it up a bit. Have you seen any with fancy pastry work? This is served with whipped cream, ice cream and a creamy sauce. Not noticed any fancy pastry work at other cafes. This wins out as its a perfect balance of pastry and filling. Most I see are too dry or they are stingy on the filling.

Next time I am there I will get some definitive answers. I'm curious if its made in-house.

 

[jaydee]

Don´t have a strudel recipe but a good friend makes a really (to me) mind-blowing apple crumble.
The (dried,ground) spice mixture should work with 1kg of sour apples (bramley or so):
½ tspn. cinnamon, ½ coriander, ¼ ginger, nip nutmeg, nip cloves, salt.

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Don´t have a strudel recipe but a good friend makes a really (to me) mind-blowing apple crumble.
The (dried,ground) spice mixture should work with 1kg of sour apples (bramley or so):
½ tspn. cinnamon, ½ coriander, ¼ ginger, nip nutmeg, nip cloves, salt.

Ginger is a nice addition.
Yeah, a good apple crumble was one of the first things I learnt to cook and I rate it higher than most fancy desserts, but I guess that’s mainly my nostalgia.
“Appy Cwumby” as my kids have coined it, is a bit of a gateway drug to the harder stuff like the strudel above…

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Next time I am there I will get some definitive answers. I'm curious if it’s made in-house.

Thanks for the answers!
Yes, done well, it’s spectacular, but if the balance is off, it’s pretty mediocre. I’ve made and eaten a lot of subpar strudels in search of a decent on out here.
Putting aside the cream / ice cream / white sauce / custard, how sweet is that version? Is there still a noticeable tartness to the apples?
I had been doing almonds in mine, but roasted walnuts sounds like a step up.

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Next time I am there I will get some definitive answers. I'm curious if its made in-house.

Also - it looks like the apples are quite chunky?
I had most success with thin mandolin sliced raw apples in my versions, as my attempts a par boiling ended up soggy and then the bottom fell out of the pastry roll…. No one likes a soggy bottom….

 

[Corradobrit1]

Thanks for the answers!
Yes, done well, it’s spectacular, but if the balance is off, it’s pretty mediocre. I’ve made and eaten a lot of subpar strudels in search of a decent on out here.
Putting aside the cream / ice cream / white sauce / custard, how sweet is that version? Is there still a noticeable tartness to the apples?
I had been doing almonds in mine, but roasted walnuts sounds like a step up.

Definitely on the tart side and the apples are a cooking variety and maintain some structure after cooking. The combination of spices would be good to know as some are more subtle than others. Cinnamon is the easy one to pick up on.

 

[MarcelNL]

I have the recipe from a grandmother, it's just not my grandmother....she lived in Vorarlberg Austria in a small mountain village and made like her mother etc...will look it up and post it. Made it several times and it's not that hard as long as you roll out the dough on a floured tablecloth or similar. You need to be able to catch enough air under it so that it billows up like a tru and large balloon, and coat in enough butter to drown a calf.

 

[MarcelNL]

this the recipe, there are various versions of course.
It's all in the apple variety, a firm sourish apple is used. I know the recipe so that molten butter is used to baste the dough before rolling it up.

Google translate should do the trick.

https://www.bregenzerwald.at/aktivitaet/rezept-apfelstrudel/

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

this the recipe, there are various versions of course.
It's all in the apple variety, a firm sourish apple is used. I know the recipe so that molten butter is used to baste the dough before rolling it up.

Google translate should do the trick.

https://www.bregenzerwald.at/aktivitaet/rezept-apfelstrudel/

Thanks mate! I’ll give it a try!

 

[e30Birdy]

Apfelstrudel

This channel i really like. It is German but his recipe is in the description and shares his secrets why people think Austrian applestrudel tastes like marzipan and what is actually used is breadcrumbs. He isn't a fan of raisins and that's why he doesn't put them in there. But one can put rum soaked raisins in there instead of adding it to the apples as he does. He does some cool recipes

 

[SirCutAlot]

I asked my girlfriends grandmother.

She just said "you are a chef, have to know, don`t bother me". She makes a really good one. It is basically a ultra thin (you have to read newspaper through it!) Noodle recipe. Just Floar and water and a little salt. The thing is hit and throw it on your "cold" working place. Stone working surface is best for this. then roll it till it is less then 0,1mm thick. Give the apples a good shot of Rum and cinammon, coat the noodle with sour cream, egg and Sugar and then the apples , roll. Put much yellow eg sugar and vanilla and cream mixed on top and let it go to the oven, ohhh man!

SirCutALot

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Apfelstrudel

This channel i really like. It is German but his recipe is in the description and shares his secrets why people think Austrian applestrudel tastes like marzipan and what is actually used is breadcrumbs. He isn't a fan of raisins and that's why he doesn't put them in there. But one can put rum soaked raisins in there instead of adding it to the apples as he does. He does some cool recipes

Thanks! I’ll check it out!

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

I asked my girlfriends grandmother.

She just said "you are a chef, have to know, don`t bother me". She makes a really good one. It is basically a ultra thin (you have to read newspaper through it!) Noodle recipe. Just Floar and water and a little salt. The thing is hit and throw it on your "cold" working place. Stone working surface is best for this. then roll it till it is less then 0,1mm thick. Give the apples a good shot of Rum and cinammon, coat the noodle with sour cream, egg and Sugar and then the apples , roll. Put much yellow eg sugar and vanilla and cream mixed on top and let it go to the oven, ohhh man!

SirCutALot

Thanks for the recipe!
So just a thin membrane of pastry to hold it like a balloon? Does the pastry go crispy or flakey?

 

[MarcelNL]

Thanks for the recipe!
So just a thin membrane of pastry to hold it like a balloon? Does the pastry go crispy or flakey?

yep, the dough needs to get thinner than you can imagine, Granny always said you should be able to read the small letters in a newspaper through it.

It goes in between flakey and crispy, more crispy outside more flaky inside.

You roll/pull it and put it on a floured cloth so you can use the cloth to roll it up, the dough would shear off because it's so thin.


this video gives an impression of the thickness, thinner is better!

 

[Jovidah]

Whenever I make apple-things... I like throwing in some lemon. Juice or zest... just to give that note of freshness. Probably not very traditional but it works for me.
If you want something different than raisins, cranberries also work quite nicely.

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

yep, the dough needs to get thinner than you can imagine, Granny always said you should be able to read the small letters in a newspaper through it.

It goes in between flakey and crispy, more crispy outside more flaky inside.

You roll/pull it and put it on a floured cloth so you can use the cloth to roll it up, the dough would shear off because it's so thin.


this video gives an impression of the thickness, thinner is better!

Wow. Now that’s a challenge!
I need to source some cloth.

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Whenever I make apple-things... I like throwing in some lemon. Juice or zest... just to give that note of freshness. Probably not very traditional but it works for me.
If you want something different than raisins, cranberries also work quite nicely.

Yeah, I totally agree. I was using orange peel previously, but I think I’ll swap back to lemon peel / juice as it will help sell the zestyness of the apple.

 

[MarcelNL]

Wow. Now that’s a challenge!
I need to source some cloth.

it looks a lot harder than it is, I think I botched one batch of dough and got reasonable results the second time with improvement every next time...basically the same as with making a Pizza without a rolling pin as to preserve the puffy outer ring

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

it looks a lot harder than it is, I think I botched one batch of dough and got reasonable results the second time with improvement every next time...basically the same as with making a Pizza without a rolling pin as to preserve the puffy outer ring

Do you use strong (high protein) plain flour for the dough? Or just normal cake flour (low protein)?
Just thinking the protein might help it stretch a bit better, but potentially less of a soft pastry though?

 

[MarcelNL]

At the time I made my first Apfesltrudel I had no clue that there are flours with different protein content and I haven't baked one in several years, so I must have been using plain baking flour. I can imaging a high protein flour could help.

I'll try the Caputo Pizza flour next time, the memories of Apfelstrudel are so strong I'll have to bake one soon!

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

At the time I made my first Apfesltrudel I had no clue that there are flours with different protein content and I haven't baked one in several years, so I must have been using plain baking flour. I can imaging a high protein flour could help.

I'll try the Caputo Pizza flour next time, the memories of Apfelstrudel are so strong I'll have to bake one soon!

Yeah, I know what you mean. I only discovered different protein content flours when I started making breads, and I had one of those dumb ah ha moments.
In Australia the general purpose flour here is mid level protein, but to my taste, my cakes are softer and my biscuits crumblier with lower protein flour and I just couldn’t get my bread to do anything decent until I found a high protein flour I could commit to. Prior to that discovery, my cakes were hard and my bread was soft. Not what anyone wants!

 

[Michi]

In Australia the general purpose flour here is mid level protein, but to my taste, my cakes are softer and my biscuits crumblier with lower protein flour and I just couldn’t get my bread to do anything decent until I found a high protein flour I could commit to.

My preferred bread flour by far is Caputo Manitoba Oro. Readily available Down Under, and very nice quality.

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

My preferred bread flour by far is Caputo Manitoba Oro. Readily available Down Under, and very nice quality.

Interesting. I love their Caputo Pizza flour for Pizza dough, and their semolina is great to. I haven't found the Manitoba locally, that's the USA wheat blend? Have you found that better than the others?

 

[MarcelNL]

I have tinkered with the Manitoba for Pizza, yet found that it works really well but for long proofing doughs and that takes a bit of pre planning (get the fridge drawer emptied out etc)

I like to add like 10-15% to a shorter proofing pizza dough (4-6hrs) for additional 'stretchiness' but if not long proofed it does not do me well.

Manitoba is indeed a US wheat.

 

[Michi]

Interesting. I love their Caputo Pizza flour for Pizza dough, and their semolina is great to. I haven't found the Manitoba locally, that's the USA wheat blend? Have you found that better than the others?

I use Manitoba for my breads. It has 14.5% protein, which is great for gluten development.

I have no problems sourcing that flour locally. There are quite a few shops that stock it in my area.

If you can't find it locally and are in a Harris Farm delivery area, you can get it from there. Victoria's Basement also have it.

 

[NameAlreadyTaken]

This afternoons attempt testing different filling method and combinations.
I reckon I’ve nailed the filling.

@Corradobrit1 - the walnuts were what I was missing. The almonds are just for show, the roasted walnuts are in the mix for the taste.

@Jovidah - a little bit of lemon peel and juice is really good to balance the sweetness and sell the tartness of the Granny Smith apples.

@jaydee - I went with a “mixed spice” spice mix in the end that had a bit of all of those spices and it’s really good.

Okay, time to fess up on the pastry. I used a butter puff pastry roll that I had in the freezer while I was testing the filling. It wasn’t half bad, flakey but held everything together. I’ve got to work up the guts to give the newspaper thin pastry on a tablecloth a crack. Might not be this weekend though. I’ll report back though.

 

[MarcelNL]

it does not have to be 100% authentic to be good IMO!

looks great!