Now, in most of my recipes I say how easy it is to make, and how quick it is. In this case though, that simply isn't true. This pastry is quite difficult to make, or at least, to make it well. It's also quite time consuming, and laborious. To be honest, mine did not turn out perfect. That said, imperfect as they were, they still looked and tasted very nice, so don't despair too much.
Tip#1 These pastries are very much best when freshly made, a night in the fridge will severely diminish (though not completely destroy) their deliciousness.
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| Danish Pastries |
Ingredients
50g Yeast (fresh)
2,5 dl Milk
1 Egg
0,5 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Sugar
7-8 dl Flour
300g Butter
1 Egg for brushing
Thickened vanilla custard (shop-bought, or make your own)
Chocolate for garnish
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| Ingredients |
Tip#2 For starters, make sure that your ingredients are cold, you don't want it to get to hot or rolling will become more difficult than it already is (also, the dough might start to rise early).
Tip#3 Be very gently when rolling out this dough, you want to avoid having any holes in the dough. It is (it seems to me) virtually impossible not to have this happen at any point in the process, but try to avoid it as much as possible.
Crumble the yeast into the milk, and use your fingers to make it dissolve. Add the egg, salt, sugar and flour (start with about 7 dl, and see if you need more), and mix into a dough. Try not to kneed the dough more than necessary at this stage, we don't want the gluten to develop. The finished dough should be slightly sticky, but workable, ie not too much. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
Get the butter out of the fridge, and slice it into 9 slices, about equal. Put the slices on some grease proof paper and let it come to room temperature.
Lightly flour the table and get the dough from the fridge. Now, we want the dough to be rectangular in shape, and here is were a learned a neat little trick while doing research for this bake. Form the dough into a ball on the table, cut a cross, about halfway down into it, now fold the "flaps" out. Presto, a square piece of dough!
Roll out the dough to about 30x40 cm. Place the butter slices on one half of the dough, leaving 2-3 cm on each side free. Fold the edges of the dough over the butter, then fold the other half of the dough over that. Pinch the edges together so that they are sealed.
Turn the dough 1/4 turn, so that the folded edge is towards you. Gently roll it out to about 1 cm thickness, trying to retain the rectangle shape. Fold the dough in 3, ie 1 third folds in to the middle of the remaining 2 thirds, and the other third folds over that. turn the dough 1/4 turn again, and repeat the rolling out and folding. Wrap in cling film and put it back in the fridge again for about 15 minutes.
Take the dough out of the fridge, repeat the rolling out and folding once more, and then finally roll it out for the last time. Cut the dough in half, wrap each part in cling film and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
Take one part of the dough out of the fridge, roll it out to a square (or the nearest approximation) 36 by 36 cm in size. Cut the dough into 9 by 9 cm squares, place on a baking tray, covered with baking paper. Put a dollop of thickened vanilla custard in the center of each, then fold the corners over the center, and press down in the center so that they stick. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise for about 1 hour. Repeat for the second sheet of dough.
Whisk the egg, and brush the pastries with it. Bake, in the middle of the oven, at 250°C, for about 9 minutes. Let them cool, at least to the point where they are not to hot to handle anymore.
Melt some chocolate in a bain-marie (in a bowl over boiling water), and drizzle it over the cooled pastries.
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| The whole ball of... dough? |
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| Cut a cross to make a square |
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| Fold the flaps out |
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| Rolled out |
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| Add butter |
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| Fold the edges over |
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| And seal |
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| Rolled out again |
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| 9x9 squares |
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| Add custard and fold |
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| Baked |
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