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Savory Strudel without Butter

17/11/2023

I can offer you a recipe for a savory strudel without butter. The traditional strudel dough includes butter, but it’s possible to make a variant of the dough without butter and use olive oil as a substitute. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

  • 250 g of flour
  • 1 egg
  • 100 ml of lukewarm water
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil (plus a little more for brushing)
  • A pinch of salt

For the filling:

  • 300 g of fresh or frozen spinach
  • 200 g of ricotta
  • 100 g of crumbled feta cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Nutmeg (optional)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, chopped
  • Olive oil for sautéing

Preparation

  1. To make the dough, sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the egg, olive oil, salt, and gradually the lukewarm water, starting to knead until the mixture is smooth and uniform. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
  2. In the meantime, prepare the filling. If you’re using frozen spinach, thaw it and squeeze out the excess water. If it’s fresh, wash it and sauté it quickly in a pan with a drizzle of oil and the chopped garlic until wilted.
  3. In a bowl, mix the ricotta with the crumbled feta cheese, add the spinach and chopped onion, and blend everything together. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to your liking.
  4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface trying to give it a rectangular shape as thin as possible. Spread the filling over the dough leaving a free edge around the sides.
  5. Roll the dough up on itself starting from the long side, seal the edges well, and fold the ends under the strudel.
  6. Brush the surface with a bit of olive oil and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 30-40 minutes or until the strudel is golden brown.
  7. Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting and serving.

Fun Fact

Strudel is a typical dish of Austrian and Central European cuisine, known mainly in its sweet version with apples and raisins. However, this preparation can be easily adapted to create savory variants with different types of fillings, as in this butter-less version that uses spinach and cheeses for a light and flavorful proposal.