This Strudel Dough Recipe is a basic dough recipe which you can use for any Strudel recipe, such as Apple Strudel! The dough is made from scratch with just a few ingredients.
Learn how to make the strudel dough recipe easily and learn how to make the dough flaky and thin to hold the heavy filling without that it tears!
I am a big Strudel fan. Now it’s out, everybody knows my weakness! Wondering what a Strudel dough is and why it’s any different to other doughs?
What is Strudel Dough and Where is the Strudel originally from?
In a nutshell, Strudel is a stuffed pastry from Austria, which is also very popular in former Austrian countries (Hungary, Czech Rep. etc), Germany and Alsace (France).
A Strudel Dough is special because the dough is very thinly wrapped around a heavy filling.
Therefore, the ultimate challenge of a good authentic Strudel dough recipe is that it needs to be very thin and at the same time to be able to hold a heavy huge filing without breaking apart.
Also, the aim of a perfect Strudel dough is the flaky pastry with the various delicate layers. That makes a perfect Strudel dough and for a perfect Strudel in general, you need a great filling.
A stuffed Strudel can be either sweet or savory. That means that you can make a strudel dough recipe and stuff it with a savory filling and serve it as a weeknight dinner. This is a common dinner idea in Austrian homes! (see below recipe for savory Strudel suggestions)
A sweet Strudel is usually stuffed with fruit or something that we call Topfen (Quark in Germany), which is a fresh plain cheese (kind of like Ricotta). The most famous Sweet Strudel is the Apple Strudel, of course.
The Apple Strudel has always been the star of all Strudels, but thanks to the ingenious movie Inglorious Bastards, the apple strudel has dramatically gained in popularity over the years.
What is not a Strudel dough recipe?
Over the years another popular version of a Strudel pastry has become fashionable. There is a certain belief making it’s round that preparing a Strudel dough recipe from scratch is difficult and time-consuming. It’s not!
Therefore, a many have been using puff pastry or phillo dough to prepare Strudel because these doughs can be easily bought ready made in supermarkets. Whereas, a ready made Strudel dough is less common in stores.
So the belief has taken root that apparently a Strudel is originally prepared with puff pastry dough, which is completely wrong. The two doughs are different in the way they are made.
Puff Pastry dough VS Strudel dough recipe VS Phyllo dough
What’s the difference between Puff Pastry dough, Strudel dough, and Phyllo dough?
Puff Pastry dough is thought to be of French origin, although it was most probably inspired by the Arabic Phyllo dough. Butter layers are folded into the dough, and while baking the butter and steam create layers. Puff Pastry blows up and it’s flaky soft, it’s more sensible to the touch.
Strudel dough recipe consists of flour, water, egg and a lot of oil. So in a way, it’s prepared the same way as a noodle dough just that it calls for a lot of oil. In fact, the dough is left standing covered in oil. The oil and the egg make the dough super elastic so that you can roll and pull it out to a very thin layer. The Strudel is only a Strudel with a strong crunchy thin layer wrapped around the Strudel filling. Only the Strudel dough can take that much filling without breaking.
Phyllo dough is a Greek, Balkan and Middle Eastern crunchy thin dough. It’s prepared with water and flour, rolled out and brushed with oil or butter before being layered and baked.
So the difference is simple, it’s the fat! In the Puff Pastry the butter is folded in, in the Strudel dough the oil is part of the dough from the beginning and the Phyllo dough is brushed with oil before being baked.
The technique and the ingredients make the difference between these doughs and that’s why each has its purpose!
Now you know why you need to use a Strudel dough recipe to make a proper Strudel!
How to make Strudel Dough Pastry from scratch?
As I mentioned just above, Strudel dough just needs a few ingredients which you have in your pantry.
You will need flour, salt, water, oil, and an egg.
Strudel dough needs to be nurtured with a lot of oil. The aim is a stretchable dough, and the oil’s job is that.
So, to do that you prepare your dough as you always would, that means you add all the ingredients together and work it out into a smooth dough.
I have tried to make strudel dough by using a stand mixer, however, I noticed my Strudel dough would always come out better when I would make it by hand.
The reason for that can be your body warmth, which helps in activating the gluten in the wheat and this is especially important in the case of the Strudel dough recipe because Gluten makes things more stretchable and elastic.
Once you have prepared your smooth dough to cover it with a generous layer of oil and a warm bowl. Let rest and in the meanwhile, you can concentrate on making the filling.
Then roll out the dough the thinnest possible!
TIP: For that reason I like to create small batches of my dough before rolling it out because then you can roll out each batch and stretch carefully the rolled out dough a little further with your fingers.
The thinner the Strudel dough is spread out the better as this will result in an equal delicious filling vs dough amount with each bite.
Then you just need to fill, close and bake the Strudel.
For the full detailed step by step instructions please see the recipe card below. Of course, you are free to switch the filling. This is a traditional apple Strudel filling from Austria.
Strudel Dough Recipe below:
- 150 grams White Flour or 5.3oz
- pinch Salt
- 50 milliliter luke warm water 1.7oz
- ½ Tablespoon Oil to prepare the dough mixture + 1 Tablespoon Oil to spread on the resting dough
- 1 Egg
- In a mixing bowl add the flour and salt, mix well. Make a well in the center and add the warm water, oil, and egg. Mix the ingredients well to a dough.
- Take the dough to a floured working surface and knead it well and smash it if you are in the mood. The more you knead the strudel dough, the better since the gluten gets activated with the water, force, and warmth. That will help the dough to stretch well. To test if your dough is ready, take it up into your hand and if it drops quickly it's good. Make a smooth ball. Add the remaining oil onto the surface of the dough and spread it evenly all around the ball of dough. Then keep the ball in one place and cover with a warm mixing bowl (I just place a nonmetal bowl into the micro for a few seconds to get warmish).
- Prepare your Strudel filling.
- To make individual mini Strudel grab your resting dough and turn it into 8 equal sized balls. For a full regular sized Strudel simply use one whole dough. Take one of the balls and keep the others aside to proceed.
- Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius/ 400 Fahrenheit.
- Roll out the dough to a square shape as thin as possible. Try to roll it out to the maximum possible and you can even stretch it a bit with your hands. It should be nearly transparent.
- Spread the filling over ⅔s of the stretched out dough, spread the remaining melted butter over ⅓ of the stretched out dough.
- Fold in the down part and the sides and gently roll in the strudel so that the closing is down.
- Place the strudels onto an oven rack with oven paper and brush them equally with melted butter. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 200 Celsius (400 Fahrenheit) or until they turn golden brown on the outside.
- To serve, sprinkle some powdered sugar over the Strudel and serve with freshly whipped cream, vanilla sauce or ice cream.
Savory Strudel dough recipe ideas
- Strudel stuffed with a mix of Vegetables
- Topfen Strudel – Fresh Cream Cheese Strudel
- Potato Strudel
- Meat Strudel
- Sauerkraut Strudel
Sweet Strudel dough recipe ideas
- Strudel with pears instead of apples
- Zwetschkenstrudel aka Strudel stuffed with a Plum filling
- Pumpkin Strudel
- Cherry Strudel
How to serve Strudel?
For a savory Strudel serve with a salad. You can also have a soup as a starter and then a Strudel with a green Salad or beans Salad or sausage Salad.
For a sweet Strudel serve with Whipped Cream or with Vanilla Sauce (homemade is the best!).
More Austrian sweet delicacies to make at home!
- Kaiserschmarren – scratch pancakes with blueberries
- Marillenknödel – sweet dumplings stuffed with apricots
- Erdbeerenknödel – sweet dumplings stuffed with strawberries
- Buchteln stuffed with Hazelnut Paste and served with Vanilla sauce
- Poppy seed paste Stollen
Dear Reader, what are you planning to make with the Strudel Dough Recipe?
Let us know in the comments below!
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Oh Helene, I am soooo impressed! I dream of being able to make strudel dough (and strudel) but the time it took you to perfect it – oy – sounds too daunting! Yay for you for mastering this delicate skill. And your strudel looks as fabulous as it must taste! Kudos!
OMG..you made strudel from scratch…AMAZING. Never entered that territory as yet, but would love to.
Your strudel look yummy.
I know!! It’s one of the hardest things to make! Strudel is very famous in South Tyrol! The first time I made strudel with a strudel dough, it was a disaster… so many holes! hahahaha But practice helps and I like it so much more than the puff pastry version! Great job! 🙂
Oh Helene, my mother always made her own strudel dough… she had a metre long rolling pin and sometimes her dough would stretch across the entirety of our kitchen table. I am delighted to see you share your recipe here… now may I have a slice with my morning coffee please?
Wow, Beautiful!!!! I still need to learn how to make puff pastry, and to add to my list, this lovely apple strudel!!! How exciting, your recipe looks gorgeous! Hugs, Terra
I don’t think I’d pass the school test on this one. Can I make a request that you make this when we (eventually) see each other in person? and Salzburger Nockerl too. 🙂
I love strudel!! Can’t believe you made it homemade. Amazing.
we adore strudel of all kinds, we love the fruity deliciousness of apples in all desserts we have tasted, so this is an absolute winner for this weekend’s dessert list, thanks for sharing:-)
Oh, heavenly! They look ever so tempting. Austrians are the absolute Strudel masters.
Cheers,
Rosa
Woah!! Beautiful!! I love these too!
This is something new to me & yet looks very tempting & beautiful !
A fantastic Austrian classic, Helene. Amazing that you even made the dough from scratch.
Lovely Apfel Strudel!
I have limited patience for this kind of dough making, so I’ll be buying fillo pastry! But this is such a great tutorial – very through with great explanation. Your strudel looks terrific! Super post – thanks.
Aha…love eating Strudel…but making it is what keeps me away. Wonderful tutorial Helene.
Oh my – your pictures make me wanna sink my teeth into these! Simply heavenly! Thanks so much for shairng
This would be great with tea, Helene!
I’m a big Strudel fan too so this recipe makes me so darn happy I could skip down the street. Definitely will be trying this!
the dough just looks perfect! So buttery and crispy but chewy. I love it and that apple filling sounds so warm and inviting
Great story about culinary school and the strudel dough! It sounds quite complicated but it looks so light and flaky. I can smell it. In fact I can smell this apple filling as well. I’m very, very impressed with your skill, but mostly your patience. I’ll have to wait and have you make these for me. 🙂
My Mother-in-law makes amazing strudels.. I have to yet master this art. Thanks for the recipe those look amazing.
Another fabulous recipe!
I made strudel dough only once, and I loved it. It´s such an accomplishment! This is a gorgeous recipe Helene! Now, I´m dying to make strudel again. Which is good, since it´s winter here, and baking is the thing to be doing.
Well, your Wednesday mornings surely sounded like a nightmare, especially if you had to eat all the strudels after that… 🙂
Strudels were my favorite to order food through most of the teens and university years, especially as they were always served with custard and ice cream. Wonderful recipe!
Oh Helene! This is perfection! THanks for sharing what I thought to be a daunting dessert. I live for strudels but could never muster enough courage to make it 😀
That should be in front of me right now….
Helene, I loved it! I have never made apple strudel at home and this recipe is a killer! Thanks, esp. for sharing the dough recipe, dear. Your strudels look so perfect, another feather in your cap! (Note: Please add this to your list of to-do’s when I visit Goa to meet you! ;)… )
I am a huge strudel fan as well. There’s a German restaurant in town that makes the best I’ve ever had. It has a cream sauce over the top that brings it to a whole new level. Yours looks wonderful. I’ve never made it before so now that you’ve shared your recipe I think I will have to give it a whirl.
This looks like an amazing strudel. I would love to take a big bite. 🙂
PS.. just figured out to sign up for emails so I won’t miss any more recipes. 🙂 I know I’m so slow when it comes to all this computer stuff. 🙂
I’m not sure if I can ever make strudel from scratch (you are so inspiring and amazing!) but I love learning the traditional cooking and thanks for sharing the process! I would love to visit you have these over tea. 😉
Thanks for sharing one of my memorable pastries! I used to live in Austria, and now there is this amazing bakery that makes amazing vegan strudels and a lot of German pastries! Now I’m in the U.S., and I have to make my own…hopefully in vegan versions! 🙂
Super impressive your skill at strudel dough making. I was just thinking this week heck I am not about to make phyllo dough from scratch for this recipe I am about to make and then your post here puts me to shame. 🙂
Good article.I want know can i replace egg with dry yeast & how much for same measures as per your recipe. Pleasure help me if you can. Thank you with regards
Hi Pradeep,
Thanks for asking. To turn this recipe into an egg less version just keep out the egg. That means prepare the dough with the ingredients listed above and just ignore the egg. The dough won’t be that stretchable but it will work to a certain limit while stretching the dough to a thin layer before filling. Do not add any yeast, yeast would alter the dough and doesn’t work for a strudel.
Hope that helps and if you have any more questions let me know.
What’s high gluten flour ? We don’t get it in india
Just use all purpose flour aka Maida
What a coincidence, I am posting a ricotta and apple strudel recipe on November 11! I didn’t make the dough this time, but I have made strudel pastry before on the blog.
So you are mixing Topfen and Apple into A Strudel! naughty and daring Eva! XD I wish I could have a bit of yours, it must have been a delight!
Oh yumm yumm!! I had my first Strudel in Vienna (duh) won’t count the sad ones I ate in Delhi earlier. Love your pics 🙂
O wow ….now that I know literally all about Strudels,I am gonna try this out from scratch and thanks for letting me through that reply to Pradeep.. that it can also be made sans eggs!