Alpine Apple Strudel
Time: 3 hours | Serves: 6 Nature: Warm | Flavor: Sweet
Recipe Source: Carol Field from the Italian Baker Cookbook
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups (450g) tart apples, peeled and diced
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 3/4 tsp (4g) lemon juice
- 3/4 cup (150g) turbinado sugar
- 3/4 cup (80g) bread or cake crumbs
- 1/2 cup (80g) raisins
- 1/4 cup (30g) walnuts, chopped
- 2 tbls (28g) apricot jam
- 3/4 tsp (2g) cinnamon, ground
- 1/4 tsp (1.5g) salt
- 1 package store-bought puff pastry, defrosted in the fridge overnight, OR 300g homemade rough puff pastry, cold
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tbls (15g) water
Directions
Prepare the Filling: Toss apples with lemon zest and juice to coat well. Add sugar, crumbs, raisins, nuts, apricot jam, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until well-combined and set aside until ready.
Shape the Dough: If using store-bought puff, unroll the sheets of pastry and overlap them on the long sides by about 1/2 inch. Use a little water to moisten the dough where the sheets overlap, and, using a rolling pin, flatten them into each other to make a sheet roughly 10x18 inches. With a well-floured work surface to prevent sticking, roll the dough slightly more to stretch the shorter length until you have a sheet about 11x18. Trim your final sheet to a rectangle 11x16. For homemade pastry, roll your 300g into a sheet 11x16. Trim into a sharp rectangle. Keep the scraps to bake dusted with sugar for a nice treat.
Transfer your rectangle to a lined baking sheet. Using a ruler, make a light indentation in the dough 2.5 inches in from each long side, creating 3 visible columns: 2.5 in wide then 4.5 in wide then 2.5 inches wide again. Spoon the apple filling into the middle column evenly, leaving a 1.5 in border at the top and bottom of your column.
Cut strips in the dough of your two outer columns, 1.25 in wide. Carefully separate the strips (Fig. 1). Starting at one end, tuck the tail of the center column over the fruit filling and then begin a modified braid, alternating the strips to cover the filling. Brush the underside of each strip with a little water where it contacts another strip to help it stay tight. At the other end, tuck up the tail of the center column over the filling and then tuck the last strips under the whole pastry to finish the braid (Fig. 2). Refrigerate for 1 hour. While pastry is chilling, preheat oven to 450°F.
Bake and Enjoy: Mix together yolk and water and brush over the top of the pastry. Bake on upper rack for 5 minutes. Reduce temp to 375°F and bake for 55 minutes or until deeply golden. If the pastry is browning too quickly, tent with foil to protect the pastry and reduce temp to 350°F. Cool completely on a rack.