Strudel master class

My mum was 85 yesterday, but she's still going very very strong. She does long country rambles, she paints and potters, she's a gardener like no other, a tireless international traveller, and she celebrated her birthday with a motorbike ride courtesy of grandson Steven.

She's also one of the best cooks on the planet. While we were staying with her she gave us her Austrian Cooking master class on Apfelstrudel, drawing both on her own Austrian heritage and the written recipes of her good friend Trudi, Birmingham's most famous Austrian cookery teacher.

For the dough:

 225g plain flour, pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp oil

approx 150 mL warm water

For the filling:

1 kg cooking apples, finely sliced

100g brown sugar

50g sultanas

50g currants

For buttered crumbs:

100g butter

150g breadcrumbs

75g melted butter

 to brush over during cooking

METHOD

1. Make pasta dough by mixing all ingredients together in a bowl, using warm water to make a soft dough.

2. Transfer dough onto table and knead REALLY WELL until air bubbles are formed and dough becomes smooth.

3. Brush top with oil and leave to rest in covered bowl for about 30 minutes.

4. Roll out on a floured table cloth, pulling with hands as thin as possible.Trim off thick ends.

5. Sprinkle all over with the buttered crumbs, then sliced apples, sugar, cinnamon, sultanas and currants.

6. Grate lemon all over.

7. Turn edges over. Pick up cloth on one side and roll into a long roll. Carefully put onto baking sheet. Brush all over with melted butter again once or twice during baking.

8. Bake for 20 minutes at 220C, Gas 8, then a further 30 minutes or so at 190C, Gas 5.

9. Dust thickly with icing sugar before serving.

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