Hello everyone,  hope you are well and had a good weekend.  Feeling loads better, thank goodness.  Over the weekend, I decided to try my hand at making Apple Strudel.  Not something I have made before but man, was it yummy!!!!  I took this recipe from one of the Masterclasses on Masterchef Australia 2012 and am now so chuffed with this pastry, I want to use it on other deserts.  I hope you enjoy .......

  
Strudel pastry

225g plain flour, plus extra for kneading

1 whole egg

125ml warm milk

½ teaspoon salt

30g butter, melted

 

Apple filling

5 pink lady apples

60ml brandy

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ cup raisins

¼ cup flaked almonds

Zest of 1 lemon

¾ cup (165g) brown sugar

125g fresh sourdough breadcrumbs

60g butter, melted for brushing

Icing sugar, for dusting

 

Vanilla Custard

300ml pouring cream

200ml milk

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped

5egg yolks

¼ cup caster sugar

25g corn flour

 

Method for Pastry

• Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced.
• Place flour, egg, milk and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough paddle and beat at a low speed to combine.
• Drizzle butter into flour mixture, increase speed and beat to a smooth dough. Turn onto a lightly floured bench and knead until smooth, elastic and doesn’t stick. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rest for 35-40 minutes.

 Filling

• Peel, core and quarter apples. Roughly cut into medium chunks. Place in a bowl with brandy, cinnamon, raisins, almonds and lemon zest and toss to combine.
• Reserve 1/3 of each brown sugar and breadcrumbs and set to one side. Add the remaining brown sugar and breadcrumbs to the apple mixture, toss to combine and allow to sit, covered, for flavours to infuse.

 Assembly

• Sprinkle bench with flour, roll out dough to a rectangle approximately 40x60cm and very thin. Take a 60cmx80cm piece of cloth or clean tea towel and sprinkle with plain flour. Use a rolling pin to help you transfer the pastry onto the cloth and gently pull pastry by the edges until it is transparent. Ensure thick areas are worked to a similar transparency and dough isn’t sticking to the cloth.
• Sprinkle pastry with some of the reserved breadcrumbs and sugar, then spoon apple mix down the length of the pastry in a rectangular shape 3-4inches wide and piled up high. Sprinkle apple and pastry with the balance of the reserved breadcrumbs and brown sugar.
• To roll, use the cloth to fold the ends of the pastry over apples to encase, fold the sides of the pastry over to seal and roll up loosely into a thick, plump and elongated strudel shape.
• Transfer to a baking paper-lined oven tray and brush with melted butter. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden and pastry is crisp.
• Allow to cool slightly before dusting heavily with icing sugar.

 Vanilla Custard

• Place cream, milk, vanilla pod and seeds in a saucepan over a medium heat and just bring to the boil.
• Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale. Whisk in corn flour, pour half of the hot cream into egg mixture, whisking continuously. Pour into remaining cream mixture and return to a medium low heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon until mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Pour into a serving jug.    

To serve, cut strudel into thick pieces and serve with a drizzle of custard and a dollop of thick cream (if you would like, something I never did).

Tips

• Pastry - this pastry is so soft and light,  Bakes really well too, will definitely use this recipe again. Don't stretch it out too thinly ~ once you have your filling in, the pastry needs to cover this well, without the apples breaking it. 
• Filling - I used plain breadcrumbs and not sourdough breadcrumbs, works just as well.  I never used the full 60g melted butter as it is too much. 
• Custard - if you don't want a film to form on your custard whilst cooling, cover the custard with clingfilm, i.e. let the clingfilm rest on the custard whilst cooling.  When cool, remove and discard.