History

The rétes arrived through Vienna in the 18th century but was perfected by Hungarian cooks who treated dough-stretching as the room's central performance. The poppy seed (mákos) and cottage cheese (túrós) fillings are the most Hungarian of the variants. Első Pesti Rétesház stretches dough in front of customers as part of the experience.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg

Make it at home

Yield 1Hands-on 1 hrTotal 3 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • For the dough: 300g strong white flour
  • 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
  • 175ml warm water
  • pinch of salt
  • For the apple filling: 1kg tart apples (Bramley or Boskoop) peeled and grated
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 100g sultanas
  • 80g toasted breadcrumbs
  • 50g chopped walnuts
  • 150g melted unsalted butter for brushing
  • Icing sugar to dust

Method

  1. Mix flour, oil, egg, vinegar, water and salt. Knead 10 minutes to a very soft, smooth, elastic dough. Brush with oil, cover, and rest 1 hour at room temperature.
  2. Cover a kitchen table with a clean cotton tablecloth and dust generously with flour.
  3. Place the dough in the centre and roll out as far as you can. Then slide the backs of your hands under the dough and stretch it gently outwards from the centre, working around the table, until the dough is paper-thin (you should see the tablecloth pattern through it). It should cover the whole tablecloth.
  4. Trim the thick edges. Brush the dough with melted butter and scatter the toasted breadcrumbs over two-thirds.
  5. Combine the grated apples, sugar, cinnamon, sultanas and walnuts. Spread along one long edge in a 10cm strip.
  6. Using the tablecloth, lift and roll the strudel away from you into a tight log.
  7. Transfer carefully to a buttered baking sheet, curving into a horseshoe if needed. Brush with melted butter.
  8. Bake at 190C for 35 to 40 minutes until deep golden. Dust generously with icing sugar before slicing.

Tip from the editors. The dough must be stretched by hand to paper-thinness; rolling alone is never thin enough. Practice on a small batch first; tears mid-stretch are common.

Where to eat rétes (hungarian strudel)

Rétes (Hungarian strudel) in Budapest

Első Pesti Rétesház ★ 4.2

Bakery$lipotvarosDaily 09:00-22:00Strudels stretched on the open counter

Elso Pesti Reteshaz on Oktober 6 utca is Budapest's first dedicated strudel house, in a 1812 building with bakers stretching dough across the open table.

Order: The apple-cinnamon retes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Tip: Daily 09:00-22:00; ask to watch the dough-stretching demo at 11:00 or 16:00.

Worth the queue: Apple-cinnamon retes

Október 6 utca 22, 1051 Budapest

Rétesbár ★ 4.0

Modern Hungarian$lipotvaros

Retesbar on Suto utca is a downtown Budapest takeaway strudel counter with apple, cherry, poppy seed and cottage-cheese retes at well under 1,500 Ft a slice.

Try: Hungarian strudel slices

Order: The poppy seed (mákos) retes with a small Hungarian coffee.

Tip: Open daily 10:00-22:00; ask for a piece warmed in the oven if there is a slow moment.

Sütő utca 2, 1052 Budapest

Daubner Cukrászda ★ 4.6

Bakery$varkeruletWed-Sun 09:00-19:00, closed Mon-TueWalk-in onlyHungarian patisserie and traditional cakes

Daubner on Szepvolgyi ut in Buda's Rozsadomb hills runs a hundred-year cake counter where locals queue for birthday and name-day pastries in Budapest.

Order: The original Dobos torta with the caramel disc crackled on top.

Tip: Closed Mon and Tue; queues run 30 minutes deep on weekend mornings.

Worth the queue: Dobos torta

Szépvölgyi út 50, 1025 Budapest

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