Hand-Pulled Apple Strudel with Walnut Butter Crumbs
The Viennese café way: a homemade dough stretched so thin you can read through it, brown-butter walnut crumbs, rum raisins and soft whipped cream.
Method
Put the flour, salt, water, half the oil and the vinegar in a bowl, mix to a dough, then knead on the worktop for until very smooth and silky; when you press it, it should spring back slowly. The long kneading builds the stretchy gluten that lets the dough pull paper-thin without tearing.
Add in this stepBread flour (strong flour) 90 gSalt 1 pinchLukewarm water 55 mlNeutral oil ¾ tspWhite wine vinegar ¼ tsp
Shape the dough into a ball, rub it with the remaining oil, set it on a plate and cover with a bowl rinsed in hot water. Leave it in a warm spot for ; it relaxes and becomes easy to stretch. Meanwhile soak the raisins in the rum.
Add in this stepNeutral oil ¾ tspRaisins 25 gDark rum 1½ tbsp
Melt the butter in a 18 cm frying pan over medium heat and let it foam until it smells nutty and turns light brown. Add the breadcrumbs and walnuts and stir for until golden, then tip onto a plate to cool.
Add in this stepButter (for the crumbs) 25 gFine dry breadcrumbs 35 gWalnuts, finely chopped 20 g
medium heatPreheat the oven to 200 °C. Finely grate the lemon zest and squeeze the juice. Peel, quarter and core the apples, slice them 3 mm thin and toss with the lemon zest and juice, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and the drained raisins.
Add in this stepTart, firm apples (about 180 g each) 2Lemon (zest and juice) ½Sugar 35 gVanilla extract ½ tspGround cinnamon ½ tsp
Cover a table with a large cotton cloth and rub flour into it. Roll the dough out a little, then slide your floured hands, palms down, under it and gently pull from the centre outwards with the backs of your hands, walking round the table, until it is about 45×55 cm and thin enough to read print through. Small holes don't matter; cut off the thick outer rim. Brush the sheet with most of the melted butter.
Add in this stepPlain flour (for dusting the cloth) 15 gButter, melted (for brushing) 21 g
Scatter the crumbs over two thirds of the sheet, lay the apples in a strip along the edge nearest you, fold in the sides and lift the cloth so the strudel rolls up loosely. Roll it seam side down onto a lined tray (bend it into a horseshoe if it is too long), brush with the rest of the butter and bake for at 200 °C, until deep golden and crisp.
Add in this stepButter, melted (for brushing) 14 g
Rest the strudel for . Whip the cream without sugar to soft, floppy peaks, the Viennese way. Dust the strudel heavily with icing sugar, slice and serve warm with a spoonful of cream.
Add in this stepWhipping cream 80 mlIcing sugar 1 tsp
Cook's tip
If the dough keeps shrinking back while you stretch, it needs more rest: cover it and wait 10 minutes. Take off rings and watches before pulling, and work with flat hands, never fingertips. Bread flour stretches far better than plain flour.
Cooking it at camp
Stretching needs a large, draught-free table: outdoors the wind dries the sheet in seconds, so pull it inside a tent or kitchen shelter, or use bought filo. Bake the strudel curled into a ring in a lined Dutch oven with about 8 coals below and 14 on the lid, checking from 25 minutes. Whip the cream by shaking it hard in a cold jar.