Apple strudel is such a classic dessert in Slovenia. I dare to claim they offer it on the menu of every local inn and restaurant around here. It’s popular in some of the neighboring countries as well. This was my first time making it and I decided to do it all or nothing. So I made the filo pastry myself as well. Mostly because you can’t get spelt filo pastry in our stores (or I haven’t found it yet) and of course I didn’t want to use the store bought filo pastry made of white flour. My filo pastry making abilities could use some training but I’m really happy with the result for my first time.
The apples I used in the strudel are our homegrown apples which taste amazing. They have so much juice in them that I had to drain them before I made the filling. Result? Amazing filling and delicious fresh juice to go with the freshly baked strudel.
Ingredients:
Filo pastry (recipe from Zeleni ponedeljek):
250 g smooth spelt flour
1 egg
pinch of Himalayan salt
1,5 tbsp olive oil
juice of ½ lemon
1 dl warm water
Filling:
1 kg peeled and chopped apples
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp rum
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp spelt bread crumbs
50 g sultanas (optional)
1 tbsp rum (optional)
1 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp sour cream
Instructions:
1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and mix until they form a lump of dough. Transfer to a clean surface with some flour and knead by hand until you reach a completely smooth and elastic dough. Add some water or flour if necessary.
2. Form a ball of dough, place it in a bowl and cover it tightly with plastic foil not allowing any air to get to the dough. Let rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
3. In the meantime prepare the filling. Peel, de-seed and grate the apples. Squeeze the grated apples to drain any excess fluid. Add the brown sugar, rum, cinnamon and bread crumbs and mix until combined and evenly distributed.
4. If you want to add some raisins to your strudel, place the sultanas and a tbsp of rum in a pot and heat for a few minutes. Set aside and let cool down completely.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
6. Once the dough has rested for 1 hour, divide it into 4 even parts. Place a clean table cloth on the table and cover it generously with smooth spelt flour. Roll out one part of filo pastry dough as thinly as possible. Then, using your hand with your palm facing upwards, reach under the pastry and gently pull from the middle. Repeat until the pastry is almost transparent.
7. Cover 2/3 of the pastry with apple filling and sprinkle with raisins. Roll the pastry, starting on the side, covered with apples. Place on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Coat with melted butter and sour cream.
8. Repeat with remaining 3 balls of pastry.
9. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour. After 30 minutes, cover the strudel with a sheet of baking paper to prevent from burning.
10. Remove from the oven and cover with a kitchen cloth to let cool down or enjoy while it’s still a little warm.
Thank you for a lovely recipe. My whole family enjoyed it. It was my first strudel and my first phyllo dough, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. It was very simple to roll out and it wasn’t breaking at all. I used wholemeal spelt flour and wondered if it would make a difference, but everything was fine. I needed less water in the dough, and next time will be adding just a touch of some powdered sweetener in there, like a tsp of powdered xylitol or something. And I’ll put more apples next time definitely. I put greek yogurt instead of sour cream for the coating, because that’s what I had on hand, but I don’t know what the coating is for? Does it make the top more crunchy? Also, can the strudel be baked for less time? It seems quite long, 1h; to me it looked done after 40 mins. I can’t wait to make it again, it was gone in just a few hrs! Also, I think you may have made a typo: I think we’re supposed to cover 2/3 of the dough with apples, not 1/3, right? (judging on your pic, too, as well as logic:) )Anyways, I’ve been enjoying browsing through your blog, and will definitely be making some other recipes as well. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much for the kind words! and that you for noticing the typo – you are correct, we should cover 2/3 of the pastry – I edited the recipe accordingly 😀 Yes, I think xylitol would work great in the dough and there is never too much apples in my opinion! As per the baking time, I’m sure 40 minutes should be enough, I simply followed my mothers adivce on the baking and she likes to stay “on the safe side” and bake a little longer rather than not long enough 🙂 the coating is meant to make the top more crunchy and slightly more nicely browned 😉
what do you mean by: 1dl warm water?
It’s 100 mililiters or 0,422675 in US cups. I hope this helps and sorry for the late reply!
Just made your strudel. Turned out fantastic. Thankyou. Nice blog site. I just found you
Thank you, I am very glad you like it!
Oh, you’re welcome. I meant every word. And I’m glad I could help!
I’m just writing to say that I made it again already, this time mixing together apples and thawed sour cherries, and it was even better than 1st time. I hardly even got to eat a single peace! My dad keeps asking me to make it again! 🙂
A bit of powdered xylitol worked nicely in the dough. And I made it more “aromatic” by adding some powdered ginger, cloves and nutmeg, and some vanilla extract. It worked out lovely.
Oh, I meant that I added the spices into the filling, not the dough! 🙂
Sounds delicious, real winter-y spices! 🙂 I’ll sure be giving it a try next time I make it!
What is a ‘dl’????
Hi Joanna! It’s a deciliter, a metric unit of capacity, equal to one tenth of a litre 🙂