Bring your prepared baking tray close and scrunch the ends of the tea
towel (dish towel) to make a taut sling for the strudel (J). Flip-flop the
strudel so it lands seam side down on the tray (K–L). Straighten up
the strudel to a straight log.

Take a slightly open pair of scissors and push them into the dough on
top. Snip to make six to eight small steam vents. Brush the top with
clarified butter and lightly sprinkle with the caster sugar. Bake for
20 minutes, then spin the tray, reduce the temperature to 180°C
(360°F) and bake for another 15–20 minutes until viscous juices are
bubbling out the top vents.

A back-up doneness test is to inspect the layers around the cuts on top.

Do a little investigative dig – the two layers just under the top layer should
look cooked. The layers closer to the fruit will look pale and soft, and that
is good.

When cooked, remove from the oven and carefully slide the strudel off
the baking tray onto a cooling rack. Remove the baking paper so any
butter can drain off, maintaining a crisp underside (no soggy butt).

Cool for a minimum of 20 minutes before dusting with icing sugar.
Eat with an improperly sized scoop of whipped cream or a chilled jug
of Vanilla malt crème anglaise (page 262).

* If stretching the strudel dough is giving you grief, a packet of filo can step in.

Lay four sheets out on a floured towel. Paint with melted clarified butter, strew
the streusel, place the fruit filling on and roll up. This bakes a little differently,
but will save you from dessert disaster.

Adaptrix
If you substitute other fruits, keep
the fruit amount to 400 g (14 oz)
and adjust as follows:
Pears
Apples are your classic strudel fruit,
but pears are better because they
hold shape and moisture. Peel and
core pears to meet the prep weight.

Add all the same filling ingredients
above, but add a pinch of freshly
ground cinnamon too. Coarsely
chopped toasty hazelnuts or a
handful of fresh blackberries
are freundlich add-ins.

Other stone fruit
Plums (bloods especially), peaches
and cherries are also strudel worthy!
Remove the pits and cut the larger
fruit; keep the cherries whole. All the
other filling ingredients can remain
the same.

No berries or rhubarb please
I steer my strudel away from an
all berry or rhubarb filling because
they explode too much juice when
heated. I may add a little blackberry
to a pear filling, but only in a very
minor supporting role.