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Hungarian Apple Strudel – Almás Rétes

What is strudel?

Strudel is a type of thin, flaky layered pastry with a filling that is usually sweet, but savory fillings are also very popular in Hungary, my favorite is the cabbage strudel. Strudel became popular during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, however, the oldest known strudel recipe is from 1697. Strudel is part of Austrian cuisine but is also common in other Central European cuisines as well, and it one of the most beloved traditional pastries among Hungarians, apple strudel is favorite filling.

What Pastry is Used for Strudel?

If you are an experienced baker, you can make the dough from scratch, or you can just make it using pre-made phyllo dough.

The traditional dough is very simple to put together, the tricky part is when you have to stretch the dough to make it paper thin. You have to gently pull and stretch the dough paper-thin from the inside to the outside, working your way around the sheet of dough.

To make things simpler and to save time, this version calls for refrigerated or frozen phyllo dough, your strudel will be done in less than an hour.

What are the Best Apples to Use for Apple Strudel?

Hungarians love the use shredded apples when making apple strudel or apple pie, I prefer using tart apples, such as Granny’s Smith, Pink Lady, Jonagold.

Once you shredded the apples, add some powdered sugar, ground cinnamon and a little lemon juice. Let is sit for a couple minutes, you will experience that the apples release a nice amount of juice that you have to drain. Also, you can squeeze the juice out using your hands, just take handful of apples and, with your hands clenched, squeeze out most of the juice.