Apple Strudel Bread

It is apple season again, one of the best times of the year. In MN we are blessed with a bevy of apple choices, which makes baking so exciting. When I make a recipe with apples I like to combine them for flavor, texture and color. In HBin5 we feature apples in our Strudel Bread, which combines all the flavors of the traditional Viennese pastry, with the easy and speed of our dough. Roll the filling into almost any dough and you have a bread that shouts “autumn is here!” Anyone who loves apples will fall head over heels for this loaf.

My eldest son is going through a NO nuts or raisins phase, which I hope to break him of soon, but in the mean time, I bake without them for his sake. Usually this loaf would be made with both of those delicious additions and I highly recommend you try that version. In order to make the loaf more interesting without the nuts and raisins, I replaced them with a sharp cheddar cheese. The loaf was gone within minutes of the school day ending, so I know he appreciated the effort. 

Apple Strudel Bread from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

1 1/2 pounds dough (I used the HBin5 Master p. 54, but Brioche dough p. 275 or Challah dough p.258 will be wonderful as well, actually most dough from either book works.)

2 medium apples, skin on, sliced thin and then chopped. (I used a McIntosh and a Cortland, pick your favorites)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)*

3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)*

1/4 cup raw sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for the top of the loaf

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Egg wash for brushing on top (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)

* I replaced the raisins and nuts with 4 ounces grated cheddar.

To make the Apple Strudel Bread:

Generously grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch Loaf Pan with butter.

Form the dough into a ball.

Mix together the apples, raisins, nuts, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Roll out the dough to an 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Cover the top with the filling, without any of the juice that may have settled to the bottom of the bowl.

Roll the filled dough into a log, starting with the long end of the rectangle.

Pinch the seam shut.

Fold the two ends in to meet in the middle.

Place the dough into the prepared pan, with the folded ends on the bottom.

Let the loaf rest, covered loosely with plastic wrap, for 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Paint the top of the loaf with the egg wash, then slash the top with a knife.

Sprinkle the cut loaf with the sugar.

Bake in the center of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until brown and firm to the touch.

Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool onto a wire rack for about 1 hour. If you cut into this loaf too soon it may seem under cooked.

 

87 thoughts to “Apple Strudel Bread”

  1. Oh, wow. That looks really good! I know what I’m going to try with all of the baking apples I bought from the farmer’s market!

  2. Thank you again for your wonderful ideas and especially your wet dough method. I nearly always have a tub of dough in my fridge and it has helped numerous times when I’ve been in desperation to know what I make for the next dinner. I hope this works alright with the ABin5 master recipe as well.

    As a general guideline, when using an unsweetened dough, do add or knead in anything different when making a sweet bread with it?

    1. Hi Beth,

      This bread has you adding quite a bit of sugar anyway, so you probably won’t need anything additional.

      Enjoy, Zoë

  3. Is there any way to prepare this the night before and do a cold rise in the fridge? I would want to make this first thing in the morning, but the prep time is over 2 1/2 hours, plus the rest time of one hour. I would have to get up at 4 am to get this going for breakfast. Thanks!

    1. Hi Karen,

      You can do everything ahead and just let the loaf rise overnight in the fridge, once it is in the loaf pan. Then all you have to do is bake it in the morning. You can make the dough way ahead, that way you always have it ready to go.

      Thanks, Zoë

  4. Thanks Zoe for getting back to me so quickly. One more questions, can I use white whole wheat flour (King Arthur brand) for the WW flour in the master recipe and can your original ABin5 master recipe be used interchangeably?

    1. Hi Karen,

      Yes, WWW can be used in place of whole wheat in any of the recipes, with no other adjustments.

      Thanks! Zoë

  5. About the cold rise: Do you have an estimate of how long this loaf would take to bake straight from the fridge? I, too, would love to have this baked for breakfast. Thanks so much!! It looks awesome, and I love the book HBin5. My kids think I am some kind of wonder mom for baking such amazing bread. So far, their favs are the Soft Whole Wheat for sandwiches and the Chocolate Espresso (which I have rising right now).

    1. Hi Laura,

      If you let it sit on the counter while the oven is preheating, about 10 to 15 minutes, it should take about 60 minutes to bake. It shouldn’t be much more than that, but you should test it, by poking the very center of the loaf to see if it is set.

      Enjoy, Zoë

  6. Sounds Wonderful…will make it this weekend! My kids love apples, walnuts and raisins!

    Thanks again for wonderful wet dough recipe……I always love to bake fresh bread and its a great hobby nowadays!

  7. Hey guys,
    I’ve started making bread from your book for communion at my church. After trying a number of loaves, I went with the 100% whole wheat bread with olive oil. It works ok, but it’s just a tiny bit too crumbly – my church does it where people tear off small pieces of the loaf and dipping in wine, and this requires tearing off slightly bigger pieces so it holds together. Any suggestions on modifications, or other recipes that might work better?
    Thanks!

  8. I made this last night– mine didn’t look nearly as pretty as Zoe’s, but my son pronounced it “amazing”. Great recipe!

  9. Made this using 100% whole wheat and flaxseed bread dough from HBin5 book — yummy! Our family loves your bread. Thanks for all the delicious and healthy recipes.

  10. Made this yesterday from 1/2 recipe of Challah from ABin5. Baked 2 round loaves (shaped as you described, however) in 2 small PC round stone bakers. Worked perfectly!!! Definitely a “keeper”!

  11. I made this bread over the weekend using a slow rise in the refrigerator so that I could bake it early in the morning. It came out great! I used a 1/2 batch of the HBin5 and used a larger bread loaf pan. I also used dried cranberries and chopped walnuts. Next time I think I’m going to slice the roll into rounds and bake them like cinnamon buns – perhaps in individual muffin pans so that all the buns have the crusty edge. Thanks for all your advise in my previous posts.

    1. Doreen, Karen: So glad this recipe worked well for you– nice to see these kinds of variations. Karen, could try a longer rest and see if that gives you a little more rise. Jeff

  12. I also wanted to say that I did use white WW flour and I let my loaf rest on the counter for about an hour before baking. My loaf didn’t get the high dome like yours, but rose a bit over the edge of the pan.

  13. This bread looks wonderful, I can’t wait to try it! I would love to use the Brioche dough from ABin5, but is there a way to cut out some of the eggs and some butter (to make a lighter dough) without losing the correct texture/wetness and flavor? Also, can I make this loaf as a free-form loaf with brioche (light or not) dough? Looking forward to having this bread warm up our kitchen soon!

    1. Hi Lori,

      I think the perfect dough for you will be the Challah dough, which has less eggs and butter, but is still lovely and rich.

      Thanks, Zoë

  14. Zoe/Jeff,

    I’ve been a big fan of your breads since your first book has come out. An earlier question reminded me of a similar one that I want to ask. The master recipe in ABin5 has one having to form the dough and letting it rest/rise for 40-60 minutes and then putting it in the oven. For those of us that come home from work late, this can be a challenge. Is there a way to let this rise in the fridge and stick it in oven as soon as I come home?

  15. Totally excited to try this. One question though – to make it wheat free, could I substitute the flour for spelt flour? Or how would I have to adjust the rest of the proportions to accommodate?

    Thanks,

    1. Penny: Flax absorbs less water so you’ll have to decrease– will need to experiment. Assume you’re using vital wheat gluten? Which of the books do you have, there’s more on this in the 2nd book https://bit.ly/3wYSSN Jeff

  16. I made a variation of this with the Challah bread recipe from the first cookbook. I added a couble tablespoons of flax meal, and it was absolutely delicious. The dough had been in the fridge for a couple of days and I let it rise for a long time so that it was light and airy when I baked it.

  17. This looks great – it will be the next one I try.
    Right now I am working on the WW Banana Bread – do I need to make slashes in the loaf (or any other loaf baked in a pan) before baking as I do for the free form loaves? Also, is it best to slash before resting or right before going into the oven? Thanks

    1. Hi Sue,

      It is not necessary to slash loaf breads, but I often do it when there is something rolled up inside, like this apple bread. The slashing will make the top of the loaf open up more beautifully and reveal the goodies within.

      Thanks, Zoë

  18. Thanks to this bread and the monkey bread, my husband insists that I have a batch of brioche always on hand in addition t whatever else I am working with. I have never gone through so much flour and yeast before.

  19. I love your books and have tried many recipes, my favorite being Betsy’s seeded oat bread so far. My next one to try is cracked wheat bread, page 109 of “Healthy Bread”. It mentions blending cracked wheat with white whole wheat and traditional whole wheat but the recipe doesn’t call for the latter, just white whole wheat and unbleached all-purpose. Was that an oversight or have I misunderstood something? Thanks, Penny

    1. Hi Penny,

      It was our error. They behave the same way, so you can use either white whole wheat or regular whole wheat, or use a combination of the two.

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. I mixed it up yesterday using 2 C white whole wheat, 2 C whole wheat, 2 C unbleached and 1 C cracked wheat and with the 4 1/4 C water it is very “gloppy”. I don’t know if the cracked wheat should have absorbed more of the water or what. I have a “blob” in the oven now but wonder if there’s any way to salvage the rest of my dough–add more flour or what? Help.

      2. Hi Penny,

        Yes, you can add more flour to the mix and then let it sit so the flour can absorb the excess water. I would add more all-purpose flour to get the stretch in the dough. Have you had success with other doughs? If so, you can add more flour, until it looks like the others doughs.

        Thanks, Zoë

  20. This recipe looks way too good to pass up just because I’m gluten-free. Can you recommend one of your gluten-free recipes to use as a substitute? Thanks!

    1. Hi Marilyn: You should be able to succeed with the Gluten-free Crusty Boule dough, or the Gluten-free Brioche. Try to keep the loaves smallish or you may struggle with underbaking at the center. Jeff

  21. I have a question about the Milk and Honey Raisin Bread in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day Book. Can I integrate some cinnamon into that recipe? My wife loves raisin/cinnamon bread and this recipe looks perfect except for the cinnamon. A personal note, I am a recovering cancer patient taking control of what I put into my body. Your bread recipes and the great therapy of baking the bread have been a true joy to me. Thanks

    1. Mike: Nice to hear, thanks for the feedback.

      Cinnamon would work great here, and the amount is up to you. If you enjoyed the cinnamon level in “Honey Graham Bread” a few pages before that recipe in the book, you could start there. Otherwise, just try a little (or a lot) less, depending on how much you like cinnamon. Jeff

  22. Could I use apple cider or apple juice in the master mix of dough, that I make to make this bread. I am thinking it would ramp up the apple flavor if it would work.

    Thank-you so much for all the two of you do for us out here

    Suzie

    1. Hi Suzie,

      Yes, it would be amazing! The extra sugar will ramp up the fermentation process, so it may be quite sour after a few days, so plan to use it up, unless you like that sour quality.

      Thanks, Zoë

    1. Thanks Suzie,

      Enjoy the pizza book! We are always inspired to create new recipes, so we hope to start working on another book soon! 😉

      Cheers, Zoë

  23. Is there anything that would prevent me from adding the diced apples etc to the dough mix and making hand formed loaves? I hate the extra step of rolling out to incorporate the add in’s. I had wondered if doing that would cause the apples to oxidize or something.

    1. Hi Vicki,

      I love the idea of an Apple Pie Bread, but I’m not sure this one is as sweet as you are expecting? You may want to add a bit more sugar? I will have to go to Breadsmith and do a little research! 😉

      Thanks, Zoë

  24. Hi,
    I’ve a bag of bread flour and was wondering if I could use that in your bread recipes? Also would I still keep the rest of the recipe the same or do I add/delete some ingredients? Thanks

  25. As a follow up to my earlier question:
    I have been using the Challah recipe and incorporating the apples and cheese into the recipe. Using another commenter’s idea, I have subbed the water with apple juice. I am having a problem with it spreading too much after i put it in the oven. Should I just use more flour or something else? it already has so much flour in it already! Leave out an egg?

    Thoughts…

    Thank you!

    1. Beth:

      Hmm. Can’t figure out why apply juice would cause more spreading, I’ve used sweet juices in non-enriched recipes without needing to adjust liquids.

      But you’re going to have to– I’d decrease the juice. Actually now that I think about it I always go half-and-half on the water-juice ratio. Could try that first. OK to work more flour into it at the outset if it appears too wet. Jeff

      1. Wow, thanks for the quick response! The first time I made the recipe, I did 2:1 apple juice/ water, but my tasters said “more apple flavor!” so that’s when I upped it. I was still getting quite a bit of spread then too, but I do think it’s worse since going all juice. I may just switch out to the master loaf like Zoe originally wrote about, and see if a non-enriched loaf has the same outcome.

  26. I mixed some Challah the other night and made the Apple Strudel bread from it this morning. There was too much of the apple mixture for my liking so I believe I will cut it back some. It just seemed to have too strong an apple taste–almost like an apple pie. The Challah is fantastic though and I think I will bake a braided loaf with some of the dough.

    Your book is great! Easily understood by this beginner bread baker. I’m contemplating baking mini-Panettone to give to neighbors for the holidays.

    1. Hi Mike,

      So glad you tried the bread, and we encourage you to make the adjustments to the filling that suit your tastes.

      Enjoy! Zoe

  27. Hi, the brioche dough and cinnamon/sugar/apple combination is to wonderful!! I decided to try another persons idea and slice it down in cinnamon roll sized rolls. ended up making 18 rolls in silicone cupcake pans and 1 small free form bread. The free-form bread didn’t make it past an hour after it cooled.

    My question is: Can I freeze these apple strudel rolls until Thanksgiving? What suggestions do you have on freezing/thawing/reheating your breads? what would be the time limit to freeze (no longer than X days/weeks)? I’d love to bring them do our big family dinner as a surprise.

    thanks for your wonderful cookbooks!

      1. Zoe,

        I am hoping to freeze the already baked rolls.

        Is it really better to just try to make them fresh on Thanksgiving day? or maybe make up another batch cinnamon roll style and freeze the uncooked rolls? guess I’m worried that freezing them uncooked will somehow kill the yeast.
        thanks!

  28. Thea: You can always freeze already-baked stuff, but it starts to pick up freezer burn and the like after about a week. Our doughs can be frozen after shaping, including formed cinnamon rolls. It doesn’t kill the yeast, just puts it to sleep.

    Limit that freezing to about a week and you’ll be happy. Jeff

  29. Love your books (the first one is home while the second one is at the school where I am the librarian.) Question-any tricks for making bread from home ground wheat berries? It’s not easy.

    1. Thanks Rachel! It’s not easy, primarily because home-ground or even commercial (but fresh-ground) flour is not standardized in terms of moisture content and fineness of grind. So you have to experiment with the hydration– sometimes it takes more water, sometimes not; see my post on this at https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1165 See our videos (tab above) and match the final consistency of the mix to what you see on the video. Jeff

  30. Hi,

    I have a question about the Brioche Filled with Chocolate Ganache from AB in 5 Minutes a Day. I’d like to bake it in advance of a brunch I’m hosting and freeze it. Do you think it’s freezable? Also, do you think it’s OK if I simply leave it out on the counter overnight to thaw or do you think it would be better to heat it in the oven to thaw it?

    Thanks,
    Ingrid

    1. Hi Ingrid,

      Yes, I think you can bake it ahead and freeze it, just be sure to wrap it very well before freezing. You can let it sit out overnight to defrost, still wrapped. In the morning you can bake it for a few minutes if the crust is soggy.

      Enjoy, Zoë

  31. Made this dough for Tu Bishvat (fruit/tree festival)- delicious!!!! I ended up just grabbing a hunk of dough from my the dough in my fridge and adding the apple ingredients (without the nuts and with the cheese) by rolling it by hand into the centre of a large roll I made. Yum yum!!!!

  32. I was unable to find a 9″x4″x3″ loaf pan to bake the Cinnamon-Raisen Bread, using the Buttermilk Bread Dough (pages 207-2010 in ABin5), so I used an 8.5″x3.5″x2.5″ and of course it was delicious, but how would it be better using the size suggested? I’ve looked all over the Internet & have not yet located the 9x4x3, although King Arthur Flour now offers a special one 9″x4″x4″ pan they say is especially good for high rising doughs that need support, like gluten free doughs? Would that work? Where else might I find the size loan pan you suggest for the Cinnamon-Raisen Bread?

    1. Hi Vicki,

      I don’t think you will see much of a difference in the loaf using the slightly larger pan. I would just stick with the one you have!

      Thanks, Zoë

  33. Love your books so much. I love making bread and this is soooo easy! 2 questions. On the Apple recipe you say to center the loaf in the oven, can I bake two at one time or should I do it in the center one at a time? Also, Can I use WW pastry flour in place of the WW. I have a lot of it. Thank you

    1. Hi Terry,

      You can bake more than one loaf at a time.

      WW pastry flour has less gluten, so produce tender cakes and pastry, so you can’t switch it out for regular WW flour. If you want to use it up in bread recipes, you can just add more vital wheat gluten to the mix and that should work. You may want to add 2 teaspoons per cup and see how that works for you.

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. Thank you so much! I made the Apple Strudel bread with the regular AB master recipe and it was to die for!!! My whole family was so impressed, they loved it. I am going to try a cream cheese mixture with raspberries on top and roll that up and see how it works. Can’t wait. Thanks again.

  34. Sounds amazing! I’m just trying the master recipe in my crockpot now, the house smells heavenly. I can’t wait to try this!

  35. Just had to share my experience with the apple strudel recipe…

    I’m visiting my mom who only cooks low carb, and finally out of desperation I bought a little bag of King Arthur unbleached white flour. I thought from the number of servings listed it would be more than enough for a whole master recipe. Wrong. I barely had enough flour, but Montana is dry so it worked ok. But out of desperation to find something to roll the dough in, I used mom’s almond flour. Wow! That was an awesome mistake. The bread was incredible and I might have to try this again.

    I didn’t measure the filling ingredients, and it must have been too much sugar because it macerated the apples and quite a bit of liquid pooled in the pan while it was rising. But it actually gave the loaf a good taste and texture.

    I had wondered about precooking the apples, but the dough does seem to have been too soggy to cook right.

    Thanks again. I love your breads and blog. Jennifer

  36. i do love this recipe. I would very interested in using the almond flour and also coconut flour. I know when using coconut flour you need to increase liquid. Coconut is so good for you especially in Diabetics. I have both your books and I also have substituted coconut crystals (like brown sugar)in the recipes for sugar, as well as truvia, agave and coconut nectar for honey. They all have a low glysemic index. Anything to get the bread more healthy. But sometimes I just need the plain ole white artisan. Thanks

  37. Terry: we haven’t experimented with those flours, please let us know what you find. I’d start with only partial substitution and take it from there. As you say, may need to increase water.

  38. Love the strudel. Did you use any dough enhancers? Incredible crumb and great rise. My first attempt came out fair at best but I know what I did wrong. Did not drain the liquid from the fruit mix and handled the dough too much. Result was much denser. Thanks for all the sharing here.

  39. I’ve struggled,in the past, with getting my breads, that are baked in a loaf pan, cooked through in the centre. Any thoughts or tips? I really want to give this one a try.

    1. Hi Elisa,

      Typically this is helped by letting the loaf rest longer before you bake. Which recipe have you been strugging with?

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. I made the cinnamon raisin loaf from your book. It was a while ago, so I don’t remember which dough, but the technique was exactly like this one. I had to take the loaf out because it was getting dark, but it was too raw in the centre.

        I have an oven thermometer, but I think I’ll still try reducing the temperature 25 degrees, and the longer rest time.

        Thanks for the advice!

        Elisa

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