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German Apple Strudel

"This recipe was handed down to me by my Austrian-born Grandmother and I make it all the time, so please do trust me! I am sincere!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,586 recipes mention both. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

1 - 9x13 inch dish
Prep2 hr
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Whisk the 3 1/2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Make a well, add the beaten egg and 1 cup warm water, and mix into a dough.

  2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface about 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rest 60 minutes.

  3. Mix the 2 cups poppy seeds, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the diced apples in a bowl. Stir in the heavy cream until evenly moist.

  4. Heat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Brush a 9x13 inch dish with about a third of the melted butter.

  5. Roll the rested dough on a floured towel into a very thin rectangle, as large as you can get it.

  6. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Roll up from the long side, pressing the ends to seal, and place seam-side down in the dish.

  7. Brush the strudel with the remaining melted butter. Bake 45 to 50 minutes until deep golden and the filling is bubbling.

  8. Let cool in the dish 10 minutes, then cut into slices and serve warm.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cinnamon + appletop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Poppy seed + buttertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together257 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together43,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the poppy seed

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar, cinnamon, butter, apple, cream):

  1. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  2. Gingerbetter flavor fit
  3. Clovebetter flavor fit
  4. Poppy seedthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar, cinnamon, butter, apple, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).