There are a few recipes that I would never make at home again, such as French baguettes and croissants, or any pastry that requires serious lamination like puff pastry. That list also includes Apfel Strudel since it is on almost every Austrian menu and the outer pastry appears impossibly thin. Some things are best left to professionals.

But life has a way of turning the tables and this happened to me during a visit with Petra Steinbichler and her mother Eva-Maria during a summer trip to Salzburg. Although we made a handful of recipes, the Apfel Strudel was the culinary showstopper. Eva-Maria hand-stretched a lump of dough into a 2-by-2½-foot rectangle, scattered on an apple-nut filling and then rolled the whole thing up in seconds by pulling upwards on a tablecloth like the old restaurant trick. Culinary magic.

Starry-eyed and game for my turn, I stood up to the table, grabbed the tablecloth, and, bingo, I had a perfectly rolled-up Strudel. Now I was all in on making Strudel at home and (annoyingly) eager to show off my newfound skill to anyone who would listen.

The heart of this recipe is the dough: all-purpose flour, salt, water, a tablespoon of oil and one egg yolk. This provides a dough that can be stretched to ridiculous dimensions and the trick seems to be, in part, the hand kneading. Every 30 seconds or so, Eva-Maria would “crash” the dough onto the table, throwing it down as hard as possible, producing a throaty whack. The dough is wrapped and needs to rest at least a half hour before using.

Now for the amazing part. Start by rolling the dough into a 12-inch circle on top of a clean tablecloth that has been lightly floured. (Do NOT skip this step!) You can either use the pizza shaping method (the dough rests on top of the back of your hands and you move your hands apart to stretch it) or, if you are not a pizza-maker, you can simply stretch the circle from the center outwards. You will note that the perimeter is slightly thicker than the center so I stretch the edges side-to-side to even them out. If there are small tears in the dough, this is okay since any holes will be covered over during the roll-up. Take your time here—the dough is amazingly easy to work with. You need to end up with a rectangle that is roughly 2 by 2½ feet. It sounds impossible but is easy to do. (The edges will end up a tad thicker so Eva-Maria trimmed the outer ¼ inch using a paring knife.)

The dough is brushed with melted butter and the filling, made while the dough is resting (apples, walnuts, sugar, butter, breadcrumbs and spices), is scattered over the stretched dough. Now lift up the side of the tablecloth closest to you and pull it upwards in one sharp movement. (I find that it helps to loosen the top edge of the dough with your fingers before you do this.) Now you should have a long rolled-up Strudel. The ends will not taper off since they are not filled so just tuck them under. Brushing the Strudel with melted butter before baking keeps the outer layers of dough soft. Apfel Strudel is best eaten warm—dust with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream (Schlag)—when it is most tender. Reheat for serving the next day.

The takeaway lesson is that the right dough can, in fact, be stretched paper-thin. You can indeed read a book through it. Apfel Strudel is a bit like the old sawing-a-woman-in-half routine—it looks impossible from the stage but a quick demonstration from the magician himself solves the mystery and turns you into an instant entertainer.

Christopher Kimball

Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."