Apple Strudel
Our farm supplies a lot of bakeries with apples, including several German bakeries that use our apples in their strudels. These strudels come in a variety of styles and types, but one thing is sure; they all contain apples. Grainharvest Breadhouse is a local bakery that makes an excellent strudel.
A couple of years ago, our church held an international social for all ages, where there were at least ten different food booths to circle around tasting foods from other countries. Our people travel a lot and several have lived in other countries so we had a good pool to choose from. One of “our” Syrian families that we sponsored into Canada also had a booth with their national dishes. It was a fun evening.
Anyway, my contribution to the German table was this strudel. We have visited Germany and with my German contacts, I felt like this was something I wanted to try. A truly authentic strudel has a handmade dough rolled paper thin, but I needed to make a lot of them and it was a trial run, so I cheated and used puff pastry. It must have been good because I even had an eleven-year-old ask me for the recipe!
This weekend I made it again for a retreat we were at with friends and I decided it’s time to share it with all of you. You’re welcome.
First of all, you will need to thaw the puff pastry. This can be done in two hours at room temperature or four hours minimum in the refrigerator. The packages I buy have two sheets of pastry in the box.
I used Golden Delicious and Red Prince apples, but you can use pretty much any apple that holds its shape, yet will soften. Peel and chop the apples and toss them in a mixture of white sugar, flour and cinnamon. Let that sit while you prepare the rest.
While the apples are blending, you can be grinding the bread crumbs and walnuts together finely, then mix them with the brown sugar. I have a handy-dandy KitchenAid chopper that I use for this, but you could use your rolling pin, food processor or blender. Roll out the pastry sheets to a 10″ by 12″ size on parchment paper or a well-floured surface. Spread half the crumb mixture then half of the apple mixture down each pastry sheet. Try to stay back about an inch or more from the short edges. Give it a little more room than I did in the pictures; it was pretty tight. Spread the edges with the egg wash as a glue, then start rolling up the strudel from the long side, using the parchment as an aid. Fold in the ends and tuck them in as you roll.
When you’re finished, seal all the edges tightly and place it on a cookie sheet to bake, picking it up with the parchment and using the same parchment underneath it to bake. Make 8 shallow cuts in the top to allow steam to escape, then brush all over with the egg wash. These cuts can be your guides when you’re slicing it to serve. Sprinkle with fine or coarse sugar and bake.
The Red Prince and Golden Delicious are a good blend for this recipe because the first are tart and the second are mild, so the flavours enhance each other. They both cook and bake very well and are also excellent eaten out of hand.
As always, the recipe and stories are my own, sponsored by Martin’s Family Fruit Farm.
Combine the ground walnuts, both sugars and bread crumbs. Set this aside. Roll out both pastry sheets into two 10″ by 12″ rectangles on a well-floured surface or on parchment. Brush the perimeter of each roll with the egg wash for a glue. Sprinkle each with half the bread crumb mixture and half of the apples, leaving at least about two inches around the edges to seal. Begin to roll up the strudel from the long side, folding in the ends as you go. Pinch all edges tightly to seal. Turn it seam side down onto a cookie sheet, prepared with parchment. Cut eight slits in the top for steam to escape, then brush the top with the egg wash. Sprinkle with coarse or fine sugar and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The crust should be a nice golden brown and the filling should be starting to bubble out of the slits. Slice through the slits to serve. Each strudel will yield nine generous slices. Best served warm. Note: This strudel freezes well. To serve, thaw, slice and set slices on a cookie sheet and heat at 325 until warm, about 15 minutes.Apple Strudel
Ingredients
Directions
Peel, core and chop the apples into 1/2 inch cubes. Place them in a bowl and toss with the cinnamon, white sugar and flour. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the strudel. Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Line cookie sheets with parchment.
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