Kirschstrudel (Sweet Cherry Strudel)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large clean cotton cloth (a tablecloth works perfectly) for stretching
• •Rolling pin
• •Cherry pitter or sturdy chopstick
• •Wide pan (24cm) for toasting breadcrumbs
• •Pastry brush
• •Large baking sheet lined with parchment

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the strudel dough

   Mound the flour on a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Pour in the warm water, oil, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Work the wet ingredients into the flour with your fingers, pulling from the edges until a shaggy dough forms. Then knead. Really knead, for a good ten minutes, slapping the dough against the counter, folding it over, pressing it flat, again and again. The dough will go from rough and sticky to smooth, supple, and almost silky. When you press a finger into it and the indentation springs back slowly, you're there.

   The vinegar isn't for flavor. The acid relaxes the gluten, which is what lets you stretch the dough paper-thin later without it tearing. Don't skip it.

   Use griffiges Mehl if you can find it. Austrian coarse flour has a different texture from standard all-purpose, and it makes a more pliable, forgiving dough. If you're using regular plain flour, add a splash more oil.
2. 2

   Rest the dough

   Brush the surface of the dough lightly with oil. Place it on the counter and cover it with a warm, inverted bowl. Let it rest for at least thirty minutes. An hour is better if you have the time. The gluten needs to relax completely or the dough will fight you when you try to stretch it. This is not a step you can rush. Go pit your cherries.

   Warm the bowl with hot water before inverting it over the dough. A warm, slightly humid environment helps the gluten relax faster. Gretel always did this.
3. 3

   Pit the cherries

   While the dough rests, pit the cherries. A cherry pitter saves time, but the back of a chopstick pressed through the stem end works if you don't have one. You want the cherries whole or halved, not crushed. Let the pitted cherries sit in a colander for a few minutes so excess juice drains off. Too much loose liquid in the filling and your dough goes soggy on the bottom.

4. 4

   Toast the breadcrumbs

   Melt the 80g of butter in a wide pan over medium heat. When it foams, add the breadcrumbs and stir constantly. You want them golden, fragrant, and evenly toasted. This takes about five minutes. Watch them closely because they go from golden to burnt in seconds. Tip them onto a plate the moment they're done. They'll keep cooking from residual heat otherwise.

   The butter-toasted breadcrumbs are the secret architecture of a good strudel. They absorb the cherry juice during baking, keeping the layers of dough crisp instead of letting them turn sodden. This is the difference between a strudel that shatters when you cut it and one that slumps.
5. 5

   Mix the filling

   In a large bowl, toss the drained cherries with the granulated sugar, Vanillezucker, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Be gentle. You're coating the fruit, not making jam. Taste a cherry from the bowl. If it makes you want to eat the whole thing standing at the counter, you've got the balance right. Set the toasted breadcrumbs aside separately. They go onto the dough first, before the cherries.

6. 6

   Stretch the dough

   Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F). Lay a clean cotton cloth on your table and dust it generously with flour. Place the rested dough in the center and roll it out to a rough rectangle with a rolling pin, about 30 by 40 centimeters. Then put the rolling pin away. The rest happens with your hands. Slide your hands under the dough, palms down, backs of your hands supporting it. Working from the center outward, gently stretch the dough, moving around the table, pulling it thinner and thinner. Let gravity help. The dough should stretch willingly. If it resists or springs back, cover it again and wait ten more minutes. When it's ready, you'll stretch it until it's translucent, thin enough that you can see the pattern of the cloth through it. Trim any thick edges with scissors.

   Use the backs of your hands, not your fingertips. Fingertips poke holes. The backs of your hands spread the weight evenly and let the dough glide over your knuckles. You'll feel it thinning as you work.
7. 7

   Fill and roll the strudel

   Brush the entire surface of the stretched dough with about two-thirds of the melted butter. Scatter the toasted breadcrumbs evenly over the lower third of the dough, leaving a 3cm border at the edges. Spoon the cherry filling over the breadcrumbs in an even line. Fold the left and right edges of the dough inward over the filling to seal the ends. Then, using the cloth to help you, roll the strudel away from you in a firm, steady motion. The cloth does the lifting. Your hands just guide. Roll it seam-side down onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, curving it gently into a crescent if your tray isn't long enough.

   Don't panic if the dough tears in a spot or two. Once it's rolled, the layers overlap and hide everything. Strudel is forgiving that way. The Viennese grandmothers who taught Gretel didn't fuss about a small tear, and neither should you.
8. 8

   Bake the strudel

   Brush the top and sides of the strudel with the remaining melted butter. This is what gives you a golden, flaky crust. Place it in the center of the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The strudel is done when the top is deep golden brown and the layers look dry and crisp. You'll smell the cherries and cinnamon before the timer goes off. If the top is browning too fast, lay a sheet of foil loosely over it for the last ten minutes.

9. 9

   Rest, dust, and serve

   Let the strudel rest on the baking sheet for ten minutes. It needs that time for the filling to settle and the layers to firm up just enough to slice cleanly. Dust it generously with powdered sugar while it's still warm. Cut thick slices with a serrated knife, angling the blade so you can see the spiral of dough and fruit inside. Serve with a spoonful of lightly whipped Schlagobers (unsweetened whipped cream) or warm vanilla sauce on the side. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •This is a summer recipe. I mean it. Sweet cherries have a short season, roughly late June through August in most of Europe and North America. If you can't find ripe, dark, fragrant sweet cherries, make a different strudel. Apfelstrudel waits for no season, and it's always there for you.
• •Pit the cherries over a bowl if you want to save the juice. Reduce it on the stove with a spoonful of sugar until syrupy, then drizzle it over the sliced strudel at the table. That's a trick from my restaurant, not tradition, but Gretel would have approved.
• •Strudel dough freezes beautifully. Make a double batch, stretch both sheets, brush one with oil, roll it loosely around a floured rolling pin, wrap it in cling film, and freeze. Thaw in the fridge overnight and it stretches again like new.
• •If you truly cannot face hand-stretching the dough, use a single sheet of good-quality filo, brushed with butter between layers. I won't pretend it's the same. Hand-stretched strudel dough has a pull and chew that filo doesn't. But a good Kirschstrudel in filo is still better than no Kirschstrudel at all.

Advance Preparation

• •Strudel dough can rest for up to two hours at room temperature under the warm bowl. Longer resting only makes it easier to stretch.
• •Breadcrumbs can be toasted a day ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
• •The cherry filling should be mixed just before assembly. If the cherries sit in sugar too long, they release too much juice.
• •Baked Kirschstrudel is best eaten within three hours of coming out of the oven. It can be gently rewarmed in a 150°C oven for ten minutes, but it will never be as crisp as the first time. In my grandmother Eva's kitchen, leftover strudel was breakfast the next morning, eaten cold with coffee, and nobody complained.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 200g)