Walnut strudel

A classic recipe for walnut strudel, just like our grandmothers and mothers used to make – soft, juicy, aromatic. Perfect for the holidays or a special Sunday. 

Walnut strudel – traditional recipe

🔸 Ingredients for the dough (for 1 large baking dish)

• 500 g white soft flour

• 20 g fresh yeast (or 7 g dry)

• 2 dl milk

• 80 g sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 egg yolk (for a lighter dough)

• 80 g butter (melted)

• pinch of salt

• 1 packet of vanilla sugar or vanilla powder

• grated zest of 1 organic lemon (optional)

🔸 Ingredients for the walnut filling

• 400 g ground walnuts

• 150 g sugar (to taste)

• 2 dl milk

• 1 packet of vanilla sugar

• 2 tablespoons of honey (or more sugar)

• 30 g butter

• 1 egg yolk (for binding)

• cinnamon, rum, raisins – to taste

🔸 Procedure:

🥣 Preparing the yeast:

• Add a little sugar and yeast to lukewarm milk, mix and leave for 10 minutes to activate.

🧁 Dough:

• In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, lemon zest.

• Add eggs, egg yolk, yeast mixture and melted butter.

• Knead a soft, elastic dough (you can do this by hand or with a mixer).

• Cover and let rise for 1–1.5 hours in a warm place until it doubles in volume.

🍯 Filling:

• Heat the milk almost to boiling, add walnuts, sugar, butter, vanilla, honey, cinnamon.

• Add rum and raisins if desired.

• When it cools down a bit, stir in the egg yolk.

• The filling should be thick and spreadable.

🍪 Rolling and stuffing:

• Roll out the risen dough on a floured surface into a rectangle (approx. 0.5 cm thick).

• Spread the filling evenly, leaving a 2 cm border.

• Wrap tightly into a roll and carefully transfer to a greased walnut strudel or baking pan.

🌿 Rising again:

• Cover and let rise for another 30–45 minutes.

🔥 Baking:

• Preheat the oven to 170–180 °C (regular).

• Bake the walnut strudel for approx. 45–60 minutes (cover with aluminum foil if necessary to prevent it from browning too much).

• Once baked, cool in the baking pan for at least 15 minutes, then turn out onto a board.

❄️ Sprinkle:

• Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy.

Tips:

• The dough should be warm, soft, not too hard – this is the secret to a juicy walnut strudel.

• Grease the walnut strudel well with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

• Let the walnut strudel cool completely before cutting it – so it doesn’t “fall apart”.