How to bake a German strudel?

The German strudel is a delicacy that has been recognized not only in European countries, but also far beyond the continent. If you have to go to Vienna, be sure to try this unique pastry in local confectioneries. German chefs are proud of the fact that for the preparation of this strudel you need a remarkable skill. After all, the dough at this roll should be very thin and at the same time melt in the mouth. By the way, in Austria in ancient times, often the decisive reason for choosing a bride was her ability to bake a delicious strudel. But if baking is not liked by the groom's family, the wedding could easily be canceled.

German strudel derives its name from the word, which means "whirlwind" or "tornado", because this dessert is nothing like a roll of thinly stretched dough with stuffing. Strudel is most often prepared with fruit and berry stuffing, however, there are recipes for this dish, cooked with mushrooms, meat or cabbage. But nevertheless classical German baking is a roll with stuffing from apples and cinnamon.

In Austria and Germany, this dessert is extremely popular. It is served almost in all cafes, and in stores they sell semi-finished strudel, which remains only baked. But since we have such semi-finished products are rare, we will try to bake the German strudel ourselves.

So, we need about two hundred grams of flour, one eighth of water, a spoon of vegetable oil, one egg and salt. Also need to stock up flour and butter to lubricate the product.

To make the filling, we take a kilogram of sour apples, one hundred and fifty grams of breadcrumbs and sugar, eighty grams of butter, as many raisins without pits, half a spoonful of cinnamon, a bag of vanilla sugar and one hundred grams of powdered sugar. If the delicacy is prepared only for adults, then two tablespoons of rum or cognac can be added to the filling.

We pour out the flour with a slide, making a depression on the top. In warm water, stir the egg with salt and vegetable oil. Pour the liquid into the groove and knead the dough. Coat the ball rolled from the dough with vegetable oil and leave in a warm place under the lid for proofing.

Then spread a kitchen towel on the table and sprinkle its surface with flour. Roll out the dough on a towel in a thin flat cake and brush it abundantly with butter, which must be pre-melted. Give the dough a little to stand up in this form, and then stretch it with your hands in all directions, trying to make the cake as thin as possible. At the end of the process, you need to cut the edges of the dough, forming a regular rectangle from it.

For the filling, you need to peel the apples, removing the core and peel, then cut them with a thin "noodles", about three millimeters thick. Dissolve the butter in a skillet and fry the breadcrumbs on it until it is ruddy. Dry the biscuits and sprinkle the surface of the cake with them. Mix apples with raisins, cinnamon, plain and vanilla sugar. Then decompose the apple filling into the dough, leaving the edge of the flat cake about two centimeters wide. Then, helping yourself with a towel, roll the dough into a tight roll, tucking it into a free edge.

Carefully shift the strudel onto the baking sheet and once again lubricate it with melted butter. Cook the loaf at a temperature of two hundred and twenty degrees for forty minutes until it turns brown.

Serve the German strudel directly "from the heat with the heat," sprinkling it with powdered sugar. But even in a cold form this dessert is very tasty, especially if you offer him a ball of cream ice cream or whipped cream. Such strudel can be baked with other fruits, for example, with pears or apricots. Also in the filling can be added nuts - walnuts or cedar.

But if this recipe of the German strudel seems too complicated for you, you can prepare a simplified version of this dessert from the ready-made puff pastry. For example, with a cherry.

Take the package (500 grams) of frozen cherries and transfer the berries to a bowl (you do not need to defrost). Then add two hundred (and more) grams of powdered sugar and a full spoonful of starch. If desired, you can add cinnamon or vanillin to the filling.

Puff pastry is rolled into a rectangular layer and sprinkle one half of the resulting rectangle with breadcrumbs. Spread on cherry rusks and cover them on top of the free half of the dough. We fasten the edges of the cake and put it on the baking tray. Then, along the entire upper surface, we make frequent cross-sections and lubricate the cake with an egg. Bake strudel at a temperature of one hundred and eighty degrees for twenty minutes, served cooled. Of course, such a pie can only be called a German strudel with great stretch, but it is much easier to prepare and, at the same time, very tasty.