Rétes — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Paper-thin hand-stretched pastry rolled around a filling of tart apples, cinnamon, and toasted breadcrumbs — the Hungarian art of strudel-making at its finest.

Ingredients

300g all-purpose flour
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
150ml warm water
Pinch of salt
1kg tart apples, peeled and thinly sliced
100g sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
100g breadcrumbs, toasted in butter
80g butter, melted
50g raisins
Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1 Mix flour, egg, oil, warm water, and salt into a smooth dough. Knead 10 min until elastic. Oil the surface, cover, and rest 30 min.
2 Toast breadcrumbs in butter until golden. Toss apple slices with sugar, cinnamon, and raisins.
3 On a floured cloth, roll the dough thin, then carefully stretch it by hand from underneath until paper-thin and translucent.
4 Brush stretched dough with melted butter. Sprinkle toasted breadcrumbs evenly, then spread the apple filling across two-thirds of the surface.
5 Using the cloth, roll the strudel tightly like a log. Transfer to a buttered baking sheet seam-side down. Brush top with melted butter.
6 Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35-40 min until golden and crisp. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Did You Know?

A Hungarian saying goes that true rétes dough should be thin enough to read a love letter through it.