Apple Strudel – Stretching More Muscle Than Yoga

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There's still time to bake a delicious dessert dish, following this easy recipe by the Aubergine Chef Around this time of the year, I always get asked about apple pies. It’s just something about the warm embrace of brown sugar and cinnamon that make the holidays extra cozy. But over the years, it seems that apple pie has overshadowed its fun cousin apple strudel. In reality apple strudel doesn’t really take much more time to make than apple pie – that is if we’re making them completely from scratch. Both recipes have apple filling and as long as the filling is cooked, you could use it in either recipe. The major difference is how the filling is contained, whether it’s in a pie shell or wrapped in dough. In the case of apple strudel, we’re wrapping the cooked apple filling within layers of ultra thin dough. This creates a crisp napoleon-like pastry with layers of butter and cinnamon sugar. Preparing the dough for the strudel is a lot of fun, but you do need a light touch. We make the dough with bread flour to make sure we have plenty of strong gluten to work with. Then with ingredients like oil, vinegar, and eggs, which all
help make the gluten stretchy plus actually allowing the dough to rest, we can actually stretch the dough so thin we can read through it. To stretch the dough I recommend using the back of your hands. Using your fingers too much can create uneven stretching, and you risk poking holes in your dough. The stretching of the dough is difficult to explain; that’s why I’ve included a video demonstration showing you how the whole process works. It’s easier than you think, and it’s a lot of fun to see kids light up when they see how thin the dough gets.  The dough recipe is pretty versatile as well.  Try using it for all kinds of fruit fillings!

Apple Strudel

Dough

Ingredients

Makes 1 Strudel

1# 9 3/8 oz

Makes 2 Strudel

3# 2 ¾ oz

Makes 3 Strudel

4# 12 1/8 oz

Bread Flour

12 ½ ounces

1# 9 ounces

2# 5 ½ ounces

Oil

2 ½ ounces

5 ounces

7 ½ ounces

Salt

Pinch

Pinch

Pinch

Whole Eggs

2 ½ ounces

5 ounces

7 ½ ounces

White Vinegar

3/8 teaspoon

¾ teaspoon

1 1/8 teaspoon

Lukewarm Water

4 3/8 ounces

8 ¾ ounces

13 1/8 ounces

Additional Ingredients for later:

Oil

Bread Flour

Unsalted Melted Butter

Cake or Bread Crumbs

Powdered Sugar

For Bowl(s)

For Tablecloth

1 ½ ounces

2 ounces

For Finishing

For Bowl(s)

For Tablecloth

3 ounces

4 ounces

For Finishing

For Bowl(s)

For Tablecloth

4 ½ ounces

6 ounces

For Finishing

 

Filling

Ingredients

2# 3 ¼ ounces

4# 6 ½ ounces

6# 9 ¾ ounces

Granny Smith Apples (pre-peeled and cored)

1# 8 ounces

3#

4# 8 ounces

Ground Cinnamon

¼ ounce

½ ounce

¾ ounce

Granulated Sugar

4 ounces

8 ounces

12 ounces

Seedless Raisins

3 ounces

6 ounces

9 ounces

Chopped Walnuts

3 ounces

6 ounces

9 ounces

Unsalted Butter

1 ounce

2 ounces

3 ounces

Vanilla Extract (optional)

2 teaspoons

4 teaspoons

2 tablespoons

Starting with the dough
  1. Mix using the straight method: Place liquid ingredients in first, then dry on top and mix on speed 2 (based on Kitchen Aid’s system) with a dough hook.
  2. Continue mixing for 9 – 13 minutes depending on size, checking for a gluten window. Be sure to scrape after about a minute of mixing or so to be sure all ingredients are incorporated.
  3. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, then place in a warm area for at least 60 minutes. If you press into the dough, your indentation should remain.
While dough is resting work on the filling
  1. Peel and core apples. Then cut into ½” slices, then cube them.
  2. Melt and brown the butter in the saute pan. Place the apples in, and sprinkle with ¾ of the cinnamon and sugar (save the last ¼ for the dough). Also, add the raisins (or dried fruit). Cook until apples are par cooked (when they are soft but still have a crisp center.) Stir in the vanilla, if using.
  3. Place on a sheet pan lined with plastic and allow it to cool.
Roll out the dough
  1. Prepare a whole table with a lightly floured tablecloth. Stretch the dough rectangular (just enough to get you started), and place the dough so it aligns with the table (short sides to short sides)
  2. Roll it out with a rolling pin until it is about 6” – 12” away from the edge of the table.
  3. Stretch the dough out until it is up and over the edge of the table. Do this using a backwards harp motion (stretch the dough with the back of your hands), pulling towards the corners of the table. Stay away from thin spots, you don’t want it to tear. Be sure to cut off the edges that are over the table with your bench scraper.
  4. Brush most of the cooled melted butter onto the dough and spread it evenly.
  5. Season with the cinnamon sugar left over from the filling.
  6. Place crumbs 5” away from the edges in a rectangle (about 7-8” wide) and place fruit on top of the crumbs.
  7. Roll the dough over the fruit, gather the tablecloth and roll it to the opposite end.
  8. Brush it with the remaining butter, and cut vent holes every 4-5” with scissors.
  9. Bake at 420 degrees F until done.
Storage: Room temperature – 24 hours Refrigerated – 10 days Freezing not recommended Contact Jason Shriner, the Aubergine Chef for private or group baking classes, and check out recipes and tutorial videos on his website.  
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