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    Wiener Apfelstrudel

    Apfelstrudel

    Viennese apple strudel: a plain dough of flour, water, oil and salt stretched by hand on a cloth until it is thin enough to read through, filled with sliced apples, raisins, cinnamon and butter-fried crumbs, rolled and baked. This is the Alt-Wiener version of the Austrian chef Alexander Hübler.

    Viennese apple strudel on a white oval plate,with a cut slice showing apples,raisins and crumb filling inside thin golden pastry dusted with icing sugar.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    4
    Preparation
    1 h
    Cooking
    40 min
    Resting
    1 h
    Total
    2 h 40
    Difficulty
    Involved

    Equipment

    • Large table and a clean strudel cloth (or old bed sheet), floured
    • Rolling pin; pastry brush
    • Frying pan
    • Baking tray with baking paper
    Servings4

    Ingredients

    • Strudel dough

    • Filling

    • Butter crumbs and finishing

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Put the flour and salt on a clean work surface, make a small well and pour in the oil and water. Knead by hand until smooth and compact. Shape into a ball, brush with oil, wrap in cling film and rest at least 1 hour at room temperature.

      Why The rest relaxes the gluten so the dough will stretch thin without tearing. The Vienna Tourist Board's recipe rests it overnight in the fridge.

      Timer · 1 h60:00

    2. Peel, core and finely slice the apples, sprinkle with lemon juice, then mix in the sugar, cinnamon and drained raisins.

    3. Melt the butter in a pan, add the sugar, cinnamon and breadcrumbs and toast until golden. Leave to cool.

      Timer · 5 min5:00

    4. Spread the strudel cloth on a large table and flour it. Roll the dough out flat, then lift it on the backs of both hands and stretch it gently from the centre outwards until it is paper-thin. Cut off the thick edges.

      Why Vienna's tourist board says it should be thin enough to read a newspaper through.

    5. Scatter two thirds of the crumbs over the top third of the dough. Mix the rest of the crumbs into the apples and pile the apples on the crumbs. Scatter the walnuts over.

      Why The crumbs soak up apple juice so the pastry stays crisp.

    6. Drizzle the rest of the dough with melted butter and roll the strudel up, lifting the cloth. Tuck in the ends and roll it seam down onto a lined baking tray. Brush with melted butter.

    7. Bake at 190 °C (fan) for 35–45 minutes, until golden. Dust with icing sugar.

      Timer · 40 min40:00

    Substitutions

    • Breadcrumbs → Sponge-cake crumbs (the Vienna Tourist Board's choice).
    • Rum-soaked raisins → Raisins soaked in warm water or apple juice, for an alcohol-free strudel.

    Common mistakes

    • Cold, tight dough: it tears when stretched. Rest it well and keep it warm.
    • Watery apples: Vienna's tourist board prefers dry rather than juicy apples so the strudel stays crisp.

    Storage & reheating

    Best warm on the day, with whipped cream or vanilla sauce. Keeps a day loosely covered; re-crisp in the oven.

    Allergens

    Gluten · Milk · Tree nuts

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    vegetarian

    A Viennese dough

    The Vienna Tourist Board publishes apple strudel among its recipes of Viennese cooking. Hübler, cooking for Austria's public broadcaster ORF, calls his version Alt-Wiener, old Viennese. Both start from the same short list: 250 g of plain flour, about 125 ml of lukewarm water, a little oil and salt.

    [1][2]

    Stretching by hand

    The dough is kneaded until smooth, oiled and left to rest, an hour for Hübler and ideally overnight for the Vienna Tourist Board, until it is relaxed and silky. It is rolled out on a floured cloth and then stretched over the backs of the hands, working from the centre to the edge of the table, until it is transparent. Butter-fried crumbs go under the apples to absorb juice, and the cloth is used to roll the strudel up.

    [1][2]

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