Despite the worldwide fame of Viennese baking, many recipes are available and acceptable for home use. Popular among housewives are Viennese pastry and shortbread, from which you can easily and quickly prepare grated Viennese cookies with any jam.
Vienna is rightfully considered the confectionery capital of Europe, but, in fact, it has long won this title at the world level. Many sweets lovers try to travel to Austria just to sample some authentic Viennese pastries. If you're lucky, you can take part in a master class on the preparation of a Viennese strudel, which is traditionally held in the summer imperial residence of Schönbrunn.
Viennese pastry secrets
In fact, Austrian cuisine has absorbed the best traditions of the culinary arts of several peoples, and each region of a small state gravitates towards those delights that are inherent in the neighboring country. So, Salzburg borrowed a lot from Italian cuisine, Seefeld is under German influence, Vorarlberg is under Swiss influence.
History shows that the most skilled chefs from all over the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was Austria at that time, flocked to Vienna. Even then, the concept of Viennese cuisine was born. But in it you can find many features that characterize the cuisine of Hungary, Bohemia, Bavaria, Slovenia, Czech Republic - the lands that were part of the empire.
Turkey did not bypass its attention, military conflicts with which made the Austrians avid coffee lovers. After all, it is coffee that is served with sweets and desserts in numerous Viennese cafes, which have become a symbol of the capital. It is believed that the famous apple strudel is also from Turkey. But the opinions of experts on this matter differ. Some consider this pastry to be Czech, others - to Hungarian, still others consider it to be originally German, since Strudel means "whirlwind, funnel, tornado".
The thinnest and most delicate strudel dough really turns into a funnel - a roll, inside which all kinds of fruit fillings are laid. One of the old cookbooks says that the drawn dough should be so thin that you can read a love letter through it, holding it in the light.
A true achievement of Viennese pastry chefs
You can argue a lot about who invented the recipe for this or that pastry, but Viennese pastry chefs have preserved and improved the recipe for many types of muffins, pastries, cakes, which are sold all over the world. For example, a croissant, considered a symbol of French cuisine, is an example of Viennese yeast dough.
The Viennese croissant is made from flour sifted several times for oxygen enrichment, the highest fat content. Experts in their craft believe that the air humidity in the room, the temperature when raising the dough and baking, as well as the mood of the baker are important.
Nobody cares who is the "author" of the bogel (shortbread cookies with nuts), golachna (puff envelopes with cottage cheese), Lani's back (chocolate pie), cinnamon snails, because this sweetness is nowhere tastier than in a Viennese cafe. Only by smelling the aroma of Viennese pastries, you can understand the truth of the words of Stefan Zweig, who called Vienna the city of delights.
In any cafe, tourists will first of all be offered the Viennese chocolate cake "Sacher", which appeared in 1832 as a result of the confused actions of an inexperienced pastry chef's apprentice. In excitement, Franz Sacher mixed too many ingredients, but the baked goods were appreciated by the fastidious Prince Metternich. Later, the recipe for this cake opened the way for Sacher to the cuisines of many aristocrats.
The recipe for a modest-looking cake was sold by Franz Sacher's grandson to one of the largest confectioners in Vienna, which led to litigation. Today the recipe for the Sachertorte is enshrined in Austrian law as a symbol of the nation.
