AUSTRIAN APPLE STRUDEL WITH VANILLA SAUCE:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp. oil
2 ½ cups water, room temperature
pinch of salt
filling:
5 to 6
apples
1 tbsp.
lemon juice
½ cup raisins
½ tsp
cinnamon
¼ to ½ cup
brown sugar, or to taste
bread crumbs
melted butter for brushing
icing sugar for dusting
Peel, core and thinly slice apples into a large bowl
and toss them with sugar, raisins and cinnamon.
In a large bowl, mix flour and salt together and add
in ¾ of the total amount of water. Use a hand-held electric beater to beat
mixture vigorously until well-mixed and smooth. Add the rest of the water
gradually and continue beating until dough has a soft and sticky
consistency. Knead dough slightly to
form into a ball.
Transfer dough to a large oiled dish, turning dough
over to coat it with oil. Cover dough with an inverted large bowl and allow it
to rest for 1 hour. This is a crucial step to relax the dough. After resting,
the dough should have flattened out and become stretchy and pliable.
Cover the work table with a large floured cloth.
Transfer dough to the centre of the cloth. With floured hands, start stretching
the dough by lifting it up from the centre and pulling and stretching from the
centre outwards. Use the tip of the fingers in both hands to lift dough up and
stretch it all the way to the edge in every direction. Pinch any hole together that appears and
stretch the dough out to as thin as possible, allowing it to rest on the
floured cloth.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Divide stretched pastry
lengthwise into 2 rectangles. Brush each rectangle with melted butter liberally
and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Arrange apple mixture along lower half of the
rectangle and, using the cloth, lift up pastry and flip the whole thing over to
the other half of pastry. Trim edges. Repeat process with the other rectangle
of dough.
Lift and transfer strudel, using the cloth that the
dough is resting on, onto greased baking sheets, bending dough into an S shape
if necessary to fit. Brush strudels with
melted butter.
Bake in oven for 20 minutes, or until golden
brown. Cut into serving pieces, dust
with icing sugar and serve warm. Pastry
may be baked ahead of time, and warmed up before serving. Serve with Vanilla Sauce.
VANILLA SAUCE:
3 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
2 cups milk
½ tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean
1 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot
If using vanilla bean, split it open. Warm milk and
drop bean into it. Let it infuse for 30 minutes. Discard bean and strain milk
into a large microwavable jug or glass measuring cup. Cover with paper towel
and microwave on high for 2 minutes or until almost boiling. If using vanilla
extract, add into scald milk.
In a heavy saucepan, whisk egg yolks with sugar and
cornstarch/arrowroot. Pour a little of the hot milk into egg yolk mixture and whisk
well to mix. Pour this back into the
saucepan and add the rest of hot milk. Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring
frequently until bubbles form around the edges and sauce becomes thickened. Remove
from heat. Strain and serve hot if desired. Or cool and chill before serving.
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