Strudel is a pastry made of thin layers of dough filled with sweet or savory ingredients, rolled into a log shape. Popular in European countries, such as Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, apple strudel is the most common type. The dough is traditionally made from gluten-rich flour and rolled thin enough to read a love letter.
A strudel is a type of pastry, typically sweet although savory versions are also quite popular, that consists of several layers of thin dough topped with filling and rolled into the shape of a log. Apple strudel is perhaps the most common type, especially in some regions such as the United States (USA), although a number of different strudels are common and popular in European countries such as Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. A strudel is often made with phyllo dough or puff pastry, but traditional Austrian strudels are often made with a slightly different type of dough.
The name “strudel” is a German word meaning “whirlpool,” which refers to the dish’s appearance from the front, where the rolled layers of dough and filling create a somewhat spiral shape. Both sweet and savory versions are quite common, with many strudels’ specific German names indicating the filling used in the preparation. Apfelstrudel is made with apples, topfenstrudel uses a soft cheese known as quark or topfen in German, weichselstrudel is made with black cherries, nussstrudel uses a nut filling, and fleischstrudel typically refers to a strudel with a filling of meat. The pastry was quite popular throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire and especially prevalent in the court of the Habsburg dynasty.
A filling is typically made by simply mixing your favorite ingredients together. Apples are commonly combined with ingredients such as cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, while ground beef could be combined with salt, pepper, garlic and savory spices. The dough is then prepared by rolling it out into a thin flat sheet. If filo dough is used, several of the thin sheets are layered on top of each other with melted butter brushed between each layer. Traditional Austrian recipes often call for a slightly different dough made from gluten-rich flour and laboriously kneaded into very lean dough.
Austrian tradition dictates that the dough should be thin enough to read a love letter before use. The filling is placed on top of the dough and the dough is then carefully rolled with the filling inside. This is then baked until the strudel dough is golden brown and crispy, while the filling is warm and soft. Various strudels have been made for hundreds of years and are likely an Austrian interpretation of Middle Eastern dishes such as baklava. Strudel has also become very popular in other regions and is the official pastry, along with sopaipilla, of the US state of Texas.
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