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Strudel Dough

4 servings

Ingredients

• 30 g wheat flour (fine)
• 1 piece egg or egg white
• salt (a little)
• 2 tbsp water (lukewarm)
• 0.5 tbsp rendered beef fat or butter

Instructions

1. Pour the wheat flour onto the pastry board.
2. Whisk the egg or just the egg white with a little salt and lukewarm, but not boiled, water.
3. Add to the flour and mix into a dough that initially still sticks to your hand and the board.
4. As soon as it loosens, sprinkle a little flour underneath, clean your hands and frequently dip them in flour; now knead in the rendered beef fat or butter.
5. Continue working the dough until it forms bubbles, brush with lukewarm water, and cover with a bowl, letting it rest for half an hour – use a cold bowl for soft dough, a warmed one for firm dough.
6. Afterwards, place a clean, floured cloth on the table, roll out the dough a little with a rolling pin, place it on the cloth and pull it out all around until it is almost transparent – start in the middle and pull towards the edges with floured hands.
7. Cut off the thick outer edge.
8. After spreading with the filling, carefully lift the cloth on one side so that the dough rolls up, twist the roll into a spiral shape, and place it in a buttered casserole dish for baking.

Modernized from a treasured 19th-century German cookbook.