Strudel

The best-known kinds of Strudel are Apfelstrudel (German for strudel with apple) and Topfenstrudel (with sweet soft quark cheese, in German Topfen cheese). Other Strudel types include sour cherry (Weichselstrudel), sweet cherry and poppy seed strudel (Mohnstrudel) or raisins. There are also savoury strudels incorporating spinach, cabbage and sauerkraut. Traditional Austrian Strudel pastry is different from strudels served in other parts of the world that are often made from filo or puff pastry. The traditional Strudel pastry dough is very elastic. It is made,[8] from flour with a high gluten content, egg, water and butter with no sugar added. The dough is worked vigorously, rested and than rolled out and stretched by hand very thinly. Pertaining to anecdotes, purists say, it should be so thin that a newspaper can be read through it. A legend has it that the Austrian Emperor's perfectionist cook decreed that it should be possible to read a love letter through it. The thin dough is laid out on a tea towel and the filling is spread on it. The dough with the filling on top is rolled up carefully with the help of the towel and baked in the oven.