Name: Viennese Apple Strudel (Wiener Apfelstrudel)
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 160 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Austrian
Ingredients: 125 g plain flour (type 550); 1 pinch salt; 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 60 ml lukewarm water; flour (for rolling out); 50 g breadcrumbs; 25 g butter (for toasting the breadcrumbs); 500 g tart apples (e.g. Bramley, peeled, cored and thinly sliced); 70 g raisins; 40 g flaked almonds; 60 g sugar; 2 tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp rum (optional); 50 g butter (melted, for brushing); icing sugar (for dusting); vanilla ice cream, vanilla sauce or cinnamon cream (to serve)

Preparation

Knead the flour, salt, oil and lukewarm water into a smooth, soft dough until it comes away from your hands and the work surface. Shape into a ball, brush with oil and leave to rest for about 40 minutes under a warmed bowl (rinsed with boiling water).
Toast the breadcrumbs in the butter until golden brown. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and combine with the apples, raisins, lemon juice and, if you like, the rum. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (conventional) and grease a baking tray with butter.
Dust a tea towel with flour, roll out the dough on it and stretch it paper-thin with the backs of your hands until you could read a newspaper through it. Trim off the thick edges and brush the dough with melted butter.
Scatter the toasted breadcrumbs over the dough and top with the apple mixture and flaked almonds. Fold in the sides and roll up the strudel using the towel, press down lightly and roll it onto the tray.
Brush the strudel with melted butter and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown, then brush with butter once more straight away.
Leave to rest for about 30 minutes before slicing, dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream, vanilla sauce or cinnamon cream.

Drink with it

Sweet wine · excellent match
Riesling Auslese or Austrian Beerenauslese, well chilled
Sweetness and acidity meet the freshness of the apple, and the residual sugar keeps pace with the sugar in the filling.
Which wine goes with dessert? Comparing sweetness deliberately
Fruit brandy · excellent match
Apple eau-de-vie, neat, lightly chilled
The spirit brings back the fresh apple aroma that fades in baking and gives the sweet filling a dry counterpoint.
What is Calvados? Apple brandy with origin
Cognac and brandy · good match
VSOP Cognac, neat after dessert
Dried fruit, vanilla and wood spice go with cinnamon, raisins and butter.
Cognac and Armagnac: Two Origins for Brandy
Aged rum · good match
Aged rum, neat
There is rum in the filling already; caramel and dried fruit meet the raisins and the buttered crumbs.
Drinking rum neat: how to get to know a bottling

Preparation

Knead the flour, salt, oil and lukewarm water into a smooth, soft dough until it comes away from your hands and the work surface. Shape into a ball, brush with oil and leave to rest for about 40 minutes under a warmed bowl (rinsed with boiling water).
Toast the breadcrumbs in the butter until golden brown. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and combine with the apples, raisins, lemon juice and, if you like, the rum. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (conventional) and grease a baking tray with butter.
Dust a tea towel with flour, roll out the dough on it and stretch it paper-thin with the backs of your hands until you could read a newspaper through it. Trim off the thick edges and brush the dough with melted butter.
Scatter the toasted breadcrumbs over the dough and top with the apple mixture and flaked almonds. Fold in the sides and roll up the strudel using the towel, press down lightly and roll it onto the tray.
Brush the strudel with melted butter and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown, then brush with butter once more straight away.
Leave to rest for about 30 minutes before slicing, dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream, vanilla sauce or cinnamon cream.

Drink with it

Sweet wine · excellent match
Riesling Auslese or Austrian Beerenauslese, well chilled
Sweetness and acidity meet the freshness of the apple, and the residual sugar keeps pace with the sugar in the filling.
Which wine goes with dessert? Comparing sweetness deliberately
Fruit brandy · excellent match
Apple eau-de-vie, neat, lightly chilled
The spirit brings back the fresh apple aroma that fades in baking and gives the sweet filling a dry counterpoint.
What is Calvados? Apple brandy with origin
Cognac and brandy · good match
VSOP Cognac, neat after dessert
Dried fruit, vanilla and wood spice go with cinnamon, raisins and butter.
Cognac and Armagnac: Two Origins for Brandy
Aged rum · good match
Aged rum, neat
There is rum in the filling already; caramel and dried fruit meet the raisins and the buttered crumbs.
Drinking rum neat: how to get to know a bottling

Viennese Apple Strudel (Wiener Apfelstrudel)

Preparation

Drink with it

Riesling Auslese or Austrian Beerenauslese, well chilled

Apple eau-de-vie, neat, lightly chilled

VSOP Cognac, neat after dessert

Aged rum, neat

This pairs well too.

American Apple Pie with Shortcrust Lid

Apple Crumble

Baked Apple in a Nut Coating (Bratapfel)

Baked Apples with Vanilla Sauce (Bratapfel)

Viennese Apple Strudel (Wiener Apfelstrudel)

Preparation

Drink with it

Riesling Auslese or Austrian Beerenauslese, well chilled

Apple eau-de-vie, neat, lightly chilled

VSOP Cognac, neat after dessert

Aged rum, neat

This pairs well too.

American Apple Pie with Shortcrust Lid

Apple Crumble

Baked Apple in a Nut Coating (Bratapfel)

Baked Apples with Vanilla Sauce (Bratapfel)