Danish Pastry

Don’t you just love the flaky, buttery taste of Danish pastry?  Lexy says one of the keys is to keep the butter ice cold. Here’s her recipe for making Danish pastry from scratch:

Recipe makes 16 Danish pastries

Pastry Dough

Ingredients:

1/2 ounce active dry yeast (this is 2 1/4 ounce packages or 5 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk
3 3/4 cups flour
3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

Preparation:

Proof the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water for 5 min. Once it is foamy, stir in the salt, sugar, egg yolks, almond extract, vanilla extract and milk. Add 3 1/4 cups of the flour. Stir until the dough is slightly sticky, then cover and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

 

On a very cold surface (a marble pastry board works best), combine the butter and 1/2 cup of the flour, then roll out into a 6” square. Work quickly so the butter does not get too soft. Wrap the square in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes or long enough so that it is firm but still pliable (not so cold that it breaks when you handle it).

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and roll it into a 12” square. Place the butter in the middle. Pull in the corners of the dough to the middle so that you are encasing the butter inside the dough (this is what makes it flaky). The entire butter piece should be covered and your dough should look like an envelope. Seal the edges of the dough by pinching them together then flatten gently with a rolling pin. Roll it out gently to an 18” x 18” piece of dough.

Fold the top quarter of the dough into the middle and the bottom quarter to the middle so the two pieces meet. Then fold those over each other so that you have a piece that kind of looks like a book.

Roll it out again into an 18” square and fold again. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

Repeat the rolling, folding and chilling process two more times.

Chill the dough overnight.

To create the Pastries:

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

Roll the chilled dough to a 1/4” thickness.

You can cut the dough into squares of 4 inches each. Stretch the corners and put about 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle. Then fold the corners over the filling to form a flap.

OR, you can cut the dough into 1” strips, then twist them and roll into a round spiral. Place the filling in the middle of the spiral.

For filling, you can use any type of fruit preserve, or go with the cheese Danish filling recipe provided below.

Brush the dough with egg wash.

Bake on lightly greased baking sheets for about 30 min. or until they are golden brown.

Drizzle with the glaze.

Glaze

Ingredients:

1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preparation:

Slowly add the lemon juice to the confectioners sugar until you have a pourable glaze. You don’t want it to be too thin or it won’t make lines on the danish. Too thick and it won’t pour.

Cheese Danish Filling

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks (at room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
pinch salt

Preparation:

Cream the cream cheese and sugar together either by hand or using a mixer on low.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined – don’t overmix!

Easy Danish Pastry

Making pastry dough can be a bit difficult. Lexy has a commercial kitchen and years of experience at her disposal, but if you don’t .. and you want to make some quick pastry dough, here’s an easy method:

Ingredients:

1 box of puff pastry
Filling of your choice
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400(f)

Unfold a sheet of puff pastry onto a floured board.

Roll it out until it is 10” square.

Cut the sheet into 4 equal squares.

Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of each square.

Beat the egg together with the tablespoon of water to make an egg wash.

Brush  the egg wash on the edges of the pastry.

Pull the two corners of the pastry in and pinch together. Repeat with the other two corners so that the filling is enclosed in the pastry.

Brush the egg wash on the outside of the dough.

Repeat to make as many pastries as you want.

Refrigerate the pastries for 15 minutes.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until they turn golden brown.