Apple strudel is an absolute classic Czech dessert, and it often appears on the table at weekends. With a cup of coffee in the company of your family or good friends, you can hardly get anything better than this piece of heaven!
What Is Czech Apple Strudel
Apple strudel is called jablečný štrúdl or závin in Czech; it’s a sweet pastry rolled in a loaf shape. Grated or thinly sliced apples are the essential component of strudel filling. Flavor the apples with cinnamon, sugar, and raisins to achieve an impressive result!
Besides apples, the Czech also bake strudels filled with poppy seed filling or quark (tvaroh) filling with some raisins or dried cherries. Here is my another recipe for poppy seed roll made with a yeast dough (Czech makový závin).
Strudel Origin
Strudel originally comes from Austria, a European country with a rich history. Apple strudel is best known from Vienna cafés, served with a scoop of whipped cream.
Because Czechs were a part of the Austria-Hungarian empire back in the day, we inherited this delicacy and adopted strudel to be a part of Czech cuisine.
If you travel into the Czech Republic, be sure to have a sample of apple strudel in one of many cafés in Prague!
TIP: Try Kaiserschmarrn, in Czech trhanec, an Austrian shredded pancake.
Dough
The heart of each strudel is its dough. The simplest way is to use a puff pastry bought in a shop. There is also a Czech version of strudel dough called “tažený štrúdl.” However, I recommend against using it if you're not skilled because this dough is supposed to be stretched into a long, thin sheet (without any tear in it).
I have our family recipe for strudel dough. It’s made in a flash, easy to work with. The dough is elastic enough to make an incredibly delicious apple strudel!
Ingredients
Strudel dough
- All-purpose flour; accurately weighed
- Water; must be warm (not hot, not cold)
- Vegetable oil; sunflower, or canola, don’t use olive oil while it’s too aromatic
- Vinegar; any ordinary vinegar, e. g, distilled white vinegar
- Baking powder; makes the strudel even softer
- Pinch of salt
✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.
Apple Filling
- Apples; in my opinion, slightly sour apples taste best for apple strudel filling
- Bread crumbs; they soak up the liquid released by apples while baking them
- Cinnamon; ground, this spice goes perfectly with apples
- Granulated sugar
- Raisins; add them plain or soaked in rum in advance
You will also need 1 egg for brushing the edges of rolled strudel dough.
Instructions with Photos
This is my trust and tried strudel dough, made with only a few ingredients. All you need is to mix everything in a large bowl and let the dough rest while making apple filling. This recipe is that easy!
STEP 1: Measure the all-purpose flour properly, the cup must be full and leaven! This recipe calls for 2 and ⅓ cups (300 g) of flour.
STEP 2: Place the flour mixed with baking powder and salt, warm water, vegetable oil, and vinegar in a bowl.
STEP 3: Start stirring with a fork, then use your hands and knead the dough well.
I always dump the dough on a kitchen worktop. If necessary, dust the worktop with a little bit of flour. Then, I press the dough alternately with a left and right hand until a smooth dough is created. It takes about 5 minutes.
STEP 4: Cover the dough with a warm plate and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes. Meantime, make the apple filling.
STEP 5: Peel and core apples, grate them roughly. I used my hand grater box. Here you will find more tips on how to shred apples.
Get on hand the ground cinnamon, sugar, and raisins.
Let’s move on and roll out the strudel!
STEP 6: Spread a clean kitchen towel over a worktop and dust the towel with a bit of flour. Divide the rested dough into two pieces. Set one-half of the dough to the side.
Roll the other half of the dough out using a rolling pin. Approximate dimensions should be 16x12 inches (40x30 cm). Flip the dough in the beginning while rolling a few times to prevent the dough from sticking to the pin. The dough should be thin but not entirely translucent.
STEP 7: Sprinkle ⅔ of dough with bread crumbs. Add a layer of grated apples. Sweeten the apples with granulated sugar. Dust with ground cinnamon and sprinkle raisins over apples.
STEP 8: Whisk an egg in a small bowl. Brush it on the perimeter of the dough. It helps to seal the strudel while baking, fewer juices will leak out on the baking sheet.
TIP: You can upgrade the apple filling by adding some roughly chopped walnuts.
STEP 9: Now, start rolling the filled dough into a strudel shape. The essential rule here: you have the dough on a towel, which helps you to roll the strudel easily, without any effort.
Simply begin from the long side with apples, fold the dough over apple filling. Then lift the towel and roll the strudel until a nice loaf is created. End up with a seam side down.
STEP 9: As the final step, close the ends of a strudel, fold them down.
STEP 10: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 340 °F (170 °C).
STEP 11: Transfer the strudel carefully onto a baking sheet, seam side being down.
Repeat the whole process with the remaining half of the dough.
STEP 12: Bake the apple strudel in a pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. The surface of strudels should be lightly golden.
My tip: Be patient and don’t remove the strudel too early from the oven, else the pastry inside might still be raw.
Serving
Cut the strudel into slices while it is still warm. Czechs love their apple strudel best simply dusted with icing sugar.
The fancy variant is adding a scoop of vanilla ice or whipped cream to a serving plate. The classy option is to serve a piece of strudel with ice cream and whipped heavy cream in one go!
More Czech apple recipes:
- Žemlovka – apple bread pudding
- Carrot-apple salad – an easy salad made with grated apples and carrot
- Apple slice – Czech famous sheet cake called "Hraběnčiny řezy"
FAQs
We use apples that are visually not so excellent but still good inside. Of course, they can’t be rotten. I like best the slightly sour apples, not too sweet in terms of taste.
Apples release some juicy liquid while baking. Breadcrumbs will absorb most of this liquid, and not too much juice will leak out of the strudel.
Recipe card
Easy Czech Apple Strudel
Ingredients
Strudel dough:
- 2 and ⅓ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (120 ml) warm water
- ½ cup (120 ml) vegetable oil sunflower, canola
- 2 Tbsp vinegar
- 1 Tbsp (13 g) baking powder
- pinch of salt
Apple filling:
- 8 apples mid-sized
- 3-4 Tbsp bread crumbs
- 6 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 handfuls raisins
Misc.:
- 1 egg
- icing sugar to dust the strudel
Instructions
- Before you start baking, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 340 °F (170 °C).
Strudel dough:
- Place the flour mixed with baking powder and salt, warm water, vegetable oil, and vinegar in a bowl. Start stirring with a fork, then use your hands and knead the dough well. I always dump the dough on a kitchen worktop. If necessary, dust the worktop with a little bit of flour. Then, I press the dough alternately with a left and right hand until a smooth dough is created. It takes about 5 minutes.
- Cover the dough with a warm plate and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes.
Apple filling:
- Peel and core apples, grate them roughly, eg, with a hand grater box.
- Get on hand the ground cinnamon, sugar, and raisins.
Making strudel:
- Spread a clean kitchen towel over a worktop and dust the towel with a bit of flour. Divide the rested dough into two pieces. Set one half of the dough to the side.
- Roll the other half of the dough out using a rolling pin. Approximate dimensions should be 16x12 inches (40x30 cm). Flip the dough in the beginning while rolling a few times to prevent the dough from sticking to the pin. The dough should be thin but not necessarily translucent.
- Sprinkle ⅔ of dough with bread crumbs. Add a layer of grated apples. Sweeten the apples with granulated sugar. Dust with ground cinnamon and sprinkle raisins over apples.
- Whisk an egg in a small bowl. Brush it on the perimeter of the dough. It helps to seal the strudel while baking, less juices will leak out on the baking sheet.
- Now, start rolling the filled dough into a strudel shape. The essential rule here: you have the dough on a towel, which helps you to roll the strudel easily, without any effort.
- Simply begin from the long side with apples, fold the dough over apple filling. Then lift the towel and roll the strudel until a nice loaf is created. End up with a seam side down.
- As the final step, close the ends of a strudel, fold them down.
- Transfer the strudel carefully onto a baking sheet, seam side being down.
- Repeat the whole process with the remaining half of the dough.
- Bake the apple strudel in a pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. The surface of strudels should be lightly golden.
- Cut the strudel into slices while it is still warm, dust with icing sugar.
Notes
- Makes 2 loaves of strudel.
- Measure the all-purpose flour properly before you start making the strudel dough. The cup must be full and leaven!
- You can upgrade the apple filling by adding some roughly chopped walnuts.
DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:
Conversion chart
Kristin Jay
I grew up in Western MA...very New England town. My grandparents were from the "old country " Czech/Hungarian. My mother always made her apple pie in this rolled fashion...placed in pie pan in horseshoe shape. She did not use raisins and sliced the apples thinly rather than grated. When young, i thought this was the true apple pie ( and it's still my favorite). I am pleased to try your recipe! I imagine my mom's version was a just a bit quicker version. Her crust used a stick of butter and no baking powder and is easy to work. Your recipe confirms my mom's heritage in it's similar content, thank you!
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Kristin, thank you for your lovely comment! I like very much to read memories connected to Czech food. Your note regarding the shaping of apple strudel to horseshoe form is interesting. I've already seen a few recipes presented rolled strudel "half-bent." In the region where I live (northern Bohemia), we bake only straight loaves. I would be glad if you let me know how this recipe works for you! Best wishes, Petra
Peggy Dolezal Lindquist
My Mother was Polish and my Father was Bohemian. My Bohemian Grandmother taught my Mother how to bake this strudel. She, too always made it in a horseshoe shape. She also added poppy seed. I’m now teaching my Granddaughter how to bake these ethnic dishes and we enjoy each week’s new adventure. We’ll be trying this strudel next! Thank you for the recipe!
chris crowe
Luv these amazing goodies.
So, I am trying my hand at fruit kolaches and Strudels.
Once I have perfected these recipes, opening a very small 100% authentic Czech bakery.
Starting with simple items - hopefully we can stay in touch - chris
Petra Kupská
Oh Chris, having a bakery with typical Czech pastries is a beautiful idea! The apple strudel is delicious; if you would like a straightforward recipe, try baking it with puff pastry. Conversely, a more sophisticated version of štrúdl is baked with dough that is stretched so that it is almost transparent (in Czech called "tažený štrúdl"). If you want any help with anything, feel free to contact me. If I know, I'll be happy to help.
Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale
My grandmother, together with other Czech women in the Jan Masaryk Society in NYC made a small recipe book of Czech pastries which I was gifted for my wedding in 1966. It contained 3 apple strudel recipes since they couldn't decide amongst them which was the truly authentic Czech strudel! applies were sliced (not grated) in all of them. My husband (non-Czech heritage) says he decided to marry me the weekend he came to visit and tasted my grandmother's apple strudel.
Petra Kupská
Oh, that cookbook with Czech recipes must be a real treasure! I have to smile at the remark about your husband deciding to marry you because of your grandmother's strudel - you certainly don't get bored in a marriage with a man like that. About the apples for strudel: I used to grate them, but lately I've been slicing the apples. I find it better, they don't leak as much juice, and the strudel has a better texture; the apples are more noticeable inside. Our grandmothers had a lot of experience with cooking, and we can learn from them 🙂
Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale
No recipe for vanocka (sorry, my computer doesn't have the option for any accents)? All the Czech matkas that I knew made a pound cake in the shape of a lamb for Easter. They called it velikonocni beranek (again, no access to accents). Is this really a Czech tradition or unique to the community of immigrants that I grew up in?
Petra Kupská
Yes, the veličkonoční beránek cake is a traditional pastry that is also baked at Easter in the Czech Republic today. As you say, it is a pound cake that is baked in a lamb-shaped mold. The finished lamb is dusted with icing sugar, has raisins or blanched almonds instead of eyes, and has a bow around its neck in spring colors: either yellow, green, or red. You can find the recipe here: Velikonoční beránek
Patricia
Love recipes reminds me of my grandma and her love of her warm kitchen smelling of fresh breads and goodies. I thank you very much.
Petra Kupská
You are very welcome! 🙂
Marta
Hi Petra,
Your recipe sounds delightful. Would you please give me the approximate dimensions to which the dough should be rolled?
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Marta, thank you for your question. The dimensions should be around 16x12 inches (40x30 cm). I am sorry for omitting this piece of information in the recipe; going to fix it! 🙂
Marta
Petra,
would it be possible to use 2 tablespoons of lemon instead of vinegar?
Marta
Petra Kupská
Vinegar is the best option because it supports the stretchability of the dough - especially important for strudels.
Susan Verk
I am 80 yrs old, 10% Czech. My grandma was an excellent baker and I try to emulate her. I am so happy to have found your website and will continue to check it out periodically.
Petra Kupská
Thank you, Susan, I hope you find some good inspiration on my web!