Today, strudel is known to us as a dessert belonging to Trentino-Alto Adige, but the roots of this dessert trace back to Turkey. The Turks, who conquered Hungary in the seventeenth century, created a similar apple dessert called Baklava.
Subsequently, this recipe was modified and transformed by the Hungarians. The modified strudel reached Austria, which, in turn, dominated certain territories in Northern Italy for some time, where this pastry finally settled. Trentino-Alto Adige is now the keeper of the secrets of making strudel, which was very successful here due to the numerous apple orchards present in its territory. Apples are the main filling ingredient for this roll, along with raisins, pine nuts, and cinnamon.
Today, there is much debate about the type of dough used in this recipe, but I’ll leave the choice to you. Many use puff pastry, but connoisseurs insist on another type of dough—very thin and crispy, somewhat reminiscent of Turkish pastry. As for apples, it is recommended to choose the Renetta variety, but the choice is ultimately yours
You will need:
Dough:
- 130g Flour
- 30ml Water
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
- 1 Egg
- A pinch of salt
Filling:
- 650g Apples
- 60g Sugar
- 60g Biscuits
- 50g Butter
- 50g Raisins
- 25g Toasted Pine Nuts
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons Rum or Water
- Lemon Zest
- For the dough, mix all the ingredients together.
- Knead the dough vigorously.
- Add a bit of vegetable oil while continuing to knead for a couple more minutes.
- Now, cover it and set it aside in a cool place for 1 hour.
- Peel and cut the apples into small, thin slices.
- Soak the raisins in rum or water and set them aside.
- Add cinnamon, sugar, toasted pine nuts, lemon zest, and drained raisins (discard the excess liquid first) to the apples.
- Roll out the dough (it should be very thin).
- Brush the dough with melted butter.
- Sprinkle it with crushed biscuits. Spread the well-mixed filling.
- Now, roll it up and seal the roll (you can use a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, as shown in the video).
- Brush the surface with melted butter. Bake for 40 minutes at 200°C (392°F).
- Let the strudel cool slightly and dust it with powdered sugar.
