MY BEST APPLE STRUDEL (in English only) - Muj Nejlepsi Jablecny Strudl (pouze v AJ)

I have published many different apple strudel recipes in my blog (Czech language only) that my friend sent me by e-mail already. But, the strudel on this page is my own, which, over time, I adjusted to American ingredients.
Many of my American friends ask me for recipe of  apple strudel I serve them. Even strangers ask me for it. Do you remember that horrible Hurricane Catrina? Well, several mothers, I and our daughters decided to do a bake sale. All of us baked yummy stuff at home: cookies, brownies... I baked my famous-among-my-American-friends apple strudel. I started early in the morning, so it would be very fresh. It smelled all over our local YMCA where we were allowed to do our bake sale. We made quite a bit of money that day and I was happy we sold every piece of my strudel. Several strangers found courage to ask me for the recipe.

So, here are Step-by-Step Directions of how I bake my Apple Strudel in America.

The secret of my strudel is in the dough. It must be done just right to be fairly fluffy and great tasting. This recipe is for 4 strudels. I usually make that many because they never last. If I make just two of them they are gone in one day. If I want them to last 2-3 days I have to make at least 3 strudels.

4 cups All Purpose Flour - I use THIS kind
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour - I usually use THIS kind
2 tsp salt
2 TBSP sugar
16 oz. (4 sticks) Unsalted Butter - if you use salted butter, then use only 1/2 - 2 tsp salt
2 cups iced water

Granny Smith Apples (it depends how many strudels you will be baking that day)
Sugar
Pumpkin Pie Spice Seasoning
egg

Now this is very important: Sift the flour, add salt and sugar. Grate the butter on the coarse grater (the one you see in THIS image) and as you are adding each grated stick of butter, mix it immediately with flour, so the butter doesn't stick together when it gets soft.

Now this is very tricky part:
slowly add the iced water, and as you are adding the water work it into a dough FAST. I have done it two ways: by hands and by machine. If you do it by hands do not kneed it too long, otherwise it won't be fluffy; it will be just a regular, not so good tasting dough. When I use machine I run it at the most 15 seconds on high speed. Machine is very fast, so do not over mix! Remember - you still must see many tiny pieces of the butter in the dough, when you roll it out. Then you know you did good job on the dough.

Divide the butter into 4 pieces and one by one roll them out. If you want to bake only one or two strudels, you can freeze rest of the divided dough.

After you roll out your dough, toss it with 4 coarsely grated apples (grated on the same grater as you grated butter). Make sure you squeeze the juice very well, otherwise it will run out. Sprinkle the grated apples with 1/2 cup of sugar and with Pumpkin Pie Spice Seasoning. Brush with whipped egg around the edge. Roll the strudel into a roll.  The egg will help you keep the strudel together . Squeeze the ends, brush more eggs on the ends and roll them up. Move the strudel to your baking sheet and brush entire strudel with the egg. Bake in preheated oven at 375 F for 50 minutes.

When it cools off cut up your strudel into slices and serve. You can sprinkle the strudel with powdered sugar or serve it with your favorite ice cream.