Filo pastry comes in various sizes. If the one you buy is a different size, just adapt step 2, below, so that you have the same finished size.
This strudel is best eaten warm – the pastry will go soggy if left too long.
preparation time: 30 minutes
cooking time: 35–40 minutes
tin needed: 1 large baking tray
cuts into 6–8 slices
about 6 sheets of filo pastry
50 g (2 oz) butter, melted
25 g (1 oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
For the filling:
1 large cooking apple (about 350 g/12 oz peeled weight), peeled, cored and roughly sliced
finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
50 g (2 oz) demerara sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the icing:
Juice of ½ lemon
about 100 g (4 oz) icing sugar, sifted
1 Lightly grease a large baking tray. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5. Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
2 Place 2 sheets of filo, long sides together, side by side on a board or work surface, slightly overlapping them. Altogether they should measure about 36 × 30 cm (14 × 12 in). Brush with a little of the melted butter.
3 Top with another layer of filo, overlapping the long sides of the filo sheets again and placing them across the first two sheets. Brush with melted butter and then add the final two layers of filo, overlapping them vertically, like the first layer. Sprinkle the top sheets with the breadcrumbs.
4 Spoon the apple filling over one of the top sheets of pastry, about 5 cm (2 in) in from the long edge and the sides. Cut away about 2.5 cm (1 in) of pastry at the sides of the uncovered sheets of filo – this helps to prevent too much pastry being folded together.
5 Fold the sides in and roll the pastry up from the filling end into a sausage shape. Carefully lift the strudel on to the greased baking tray and brush it all over with melted butter. Bake for about 35–40 minutes, until the pastry is golden and crisp.
6 For the icing, mix the lemon juice with the icing sugar to make a thin icing. (Take care that it is not too thin, though, or it will slide straight off the strudel.) Drizzle the icing over the strudel. Trim the ends off at a diagonal angle (enjoy these as cook’s perks!), cut into slices and serve with crème fraîche or just cream.
