Danish Pastries Recipes

DANISH PASTRY DOUGH (THE BASE RECIPE)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, add the lukewarm milk and dissolve the fresh yeast. If you normally uses dry yeast, add this together with the all-purpose flour in step 3.
• Add the sugar and a beaten egg. Stir to mix.
• Add the all-purpose flour and the salt. Knead everything into a nice and smooth dough.
• Leave the kneaded dough in the bowl, cover it with some plastic foil and let it rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
• Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a flat square measuring 45x45 cm (18x18 inch).
• Use a wire cheese cutter or similar cutting tool to cut very thin slices of the cold butter. You can with advantage place the butter in the freezer for some time to ease the process of cutting thin slices. Place the butter at the center of the dough in an angle of 45 degree to the corners of the rectangle dough. It should look like a diamond in the middle of the dough.
• Fold the four corners over the butter. Make the edges of the folded dough overlapping so that all the butter is sealed inside.
• Again, roll the dough flat using the rolling pin. This time the dough should be a rectangle. Be very gentle; make sure not to break the dough and revealing the butter.
• Now fold 1/3 of the short side over the dough and then fold the other 1/3 over. It is similar to folding a letter, which is to go into an envelope. Wrap the folded dough into plastic foil and let it rest/cool in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
• Continue this procedure with rolling the dough flat and folding it. This rolling and folding process should be done totally 3 times. Remember to let the dough rest in the fridge in between each step. Again, be careful not to break the dough revealing the butter. If you accidentally break the dough try to cover the hole and use a little flour to make sure, the outside of the dough does not get sticky from the butter.
• Now the dough is ready to make any kind of Danish pastry. Find several recipes here on my blog for different traditional Danish Pastry like. Browse the 'Traditional Danish section'

DANISH PASTRIES

Steps:

• Pulse together the dry ingredients plus 2 tsp salt in a processor, then pulse in the milk and egg, plus 100ml water, until you have a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Knead for 1 min, using a little flour, until just smooth. Put into an oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr until doubled in size (overnight in the fridge if you like).
• Flour your surface, then pat the dough out to a rectangle, 1cm thick. Lay the butter slices out over the middle of the dough, in a rectangle. Fold the pastry over the top, bottom and then sides until the butter is completely hidden. Press the edges down.
• Roll the dough out to a 50 x 30cm rectangle, first tapping out the dough with the rolling pin in gentle ridges, so that you can tell the butter is being squashed out evenly inside the pastry, before rolling properly. Turn dough 90 degrees, then fold the right third over and the left third over that. Do this three times, chilling for 15 mins after each roll.
• Cut the dough in half, into 2 squares. Roll one piece of dough to 35 x 35cm. Cut into 9 squares, then follow the instructions below for each filling and shape. If you want to make more than one shape, it's easy to divide the filling quantity. Don't worry if your squares rise as you work, just roll them out a bit again.
• To make 18 pecan pinwheels, whizz 85g pecans until fine, then stir in 50g light muscovado, 1 tbsp maple syrup and 25g softened butter. Cut each square of pastry almost to the middle from each corner, spoon on 1 tsp filling, then fold each point over and press into the middle. Scatter more chopped pecans and a little sugar over before baking. Drizzle with a little maple syrup to serve.
• For 18 apricot custard turnovers, you will need 150g tub custard, 2 x 320g cans apricots and a few tsps apricot jam. Put 2 tsp custard in the middle, sit two apricot halves on top, dot with jam, then pull 2 corners over and pinch to seal.
• To make 18 raisin swirls, mix 50g raisins, 25g caster sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice and 50g soft butter. Instead of cutting the dough into 9, leave it whole and spread the filling over. Roll up, slice into 9 rounds, then squash each one. Blend 50g icing sugar and a few drops of water to drizzle over once baked.
• Once shaped and filled, let the pastries rise for 30 mins until puffed and doubled in size. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Brush with beaten egg, make sure you pinch any edges together again, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and risen.

DANISH PASTRY

Steps:

• Heat milk to luke warm, about 100 degrees. Remove from heat, pour into a bowl and whisk in yeast. Set aside while preparing other ingredients. Place flour, sugar and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with metal blade; pulse to mix. Add the 4 tablespoons butter and pulse until butter is absorbed and mixture is powdery in appearance. Add eggs and milk mixture and continue to pulse until dough forms a ball. If the dough refuses to form a ball, add up to 3 tablespoons more flour, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing once or twice between each addition.
• To mix by hand, combine flour salt and sugar in a bowl and stir well to mix. Rub in butter by hand, being sure to leave mixture cool and powdery. Beat eggs until liquid and add to flour mixture along with yeast-milk mixture. Stir vigorously with a rubber spatula to form a dough.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rest 5 minutes. Scrape dough to floured surface and fold dough over on itself 6 or 8 times, sprinkling with up to 3 tablespoons more flour if dough is very soft. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 to 8 hours.
• After the dough has chilled, prepare butter: Place half the flour on work surface and place butter on it. Scatter remaining flour on butter and pound the butter with a rolling pin to soften it to a malleable consistency. Scrape butter together and form into a cylinder. Immediately remove dough from refrigerator and press in into a 6 by 12-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Distribute dabs of butter in a 6 by 9-inch rectangle at the closer end of the dough, covering dough as completely as possible. Fold the top (unbuttered) portion of dough down over the middle section and the bottom (buttered) portion up to cover it. Position the dough so the fold is on the left and roll the dough back to its original size, flouring the surface and dough as necessary. Fold both short ends in to the middle of the dough and fold again at the middle, making 4 layers. Reposition the dough so that the fold is on the left again and repeat rolling and folding. Double-wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate dough several hours or overnight before using.

DANISH PASTRY

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 2/3 cup of flour. Divide into 2 equal parts, and roll each half between 2 pieces of waxed paper into a 6 x12 inch sheet. Refrigerate.
• In a large bowl, mix together the dry yeast and 3 cups of the remaining flour. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar and salt. Heat to 115 degrees F (43 degrees C), or just warm, but not hot to the touch. Mix the warm milk mixture into the flour and yeast along with the eggs, and lemon and almond extracts. Stir for 3 minutes. Knead in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is firm and pliable. Set aside to rest until double in size.
• Cut the dough in half, and roll each half out to a 14 inch square. Place one sheet of the cold butter onto each piece of dough, and fold the dough over it like the cover of a book. Seal edges by pressing with fingers. Roll each piece out to a 20x 12 inch rectangle, then fold into thirds by folding the long sides in over the center. Repeat rolling into a large rectangle, and folding into thirds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Remove from the refrigerator one at a time, and roll and fold each piece two more times. Return to the refrigerator to chill again before shaping. If the butter gets too warm, the dough will become difficult to manage.
• To make danishes, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. The dough can be cut into squares, with a filling placed in the center. Fold 2 of the corners over the center to form a filled diamond shape. Or, fold the piece in half, cut into 1 inch strips, stretch, twist and roll into a spiral. Place a dollop of preserves or other filling in the center. Place danishes on an ungreased baking sheet, and let rise until doubled. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Danishes can be brushed with egg white for a shiny finish.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are golden brown.