2022 Tour de France - Stage 3: Vejle to Sønderborg.
The riders travel through Denmark one more time before a rest day and then resumption of the race in France on Tuesday. I wanted to avoid this, if possible, but three days in Denmark…I eventually had to make Danishes! These bad boys were a labor of love, of course. But, even though it was baking and rolling, I managed to get through it unscathed. The results were extremely delicious. Buttery pastry, delicious cheese filling, and the jellies were a big hit with the girls. I sourced this recipe from a few that are publicly available, taking some shortcuts to make this as easy as possible (no lie, my hands are still a little sore from rolling), but adding something I didn’t see to the cheese filling along with some flavor enhancer at the end on the pastries themselves at the end.
Danish
1.5 cups bread flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp ground cardamom
¾ tsp Kosher salt
14 tbsp cold butter (cubed)
2 eggs, divided
¼ cup whole milk + more for glazing
2 oz cream cheese
2 oz mascarpone cheese
Your favorite jelly preserves
Apricot preserves
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
Place the dry ingredients and butter into a food processor and pulse several times until the butter has been pulverized into tiny pieces (like peas or Dippin dots). Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg, along with the milk, and 2 tbsp of water until combined. Using a rubber spatula, mix the wet ingredients into the dry until it starts coming together. Eventually, use your hands to press everything together into a uniform ball.
Set out a large piece of plastic wrap, place the dough onto the wrap and shape into a rough square. Wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator for 3-24 hours.
After the initial chill, lightly flour a work surface and your rolling pin. Roll out the dough to a ~8”x15” rectangle. With a short edge facing you, fold down the top third, then bring the bottom up over that piece (like you’re folding a letter to stuff in an envelope). Rotate the dough a quarter turn, re-flour the work surface, then repeat the rolling out/folding/turning process 2 more times. Place the dough back in the wrap and place in the refrigerator for 90 minutes.
After 90 minutes, repeat the flouring, rolling out/folding/turning a total of 6 times. Re-wrap the dough and place in the fridge for 2-12 hours.
After that final rest, remove the dough from the refrigerator and flour your work surface. Mix the remaining egg in a bowl with a tsp of water and reserve. Mix together the cream cheese and mascarpone in a small bowl and reserve.
Roll out the dough into a large thin square (if you don’t like how the dough looked after the first roll, repeat that folding process once or twice until it’s manageable). Trim off only the very uneven or broken edges, just to make a perfect square. Then, cut the dough into 6 equal square portions. Brush some egg wash on the corners of each square and fold them in towards the center, pressing down to adhere, making little pastry kites. Reserve the egg wash.
Transfer the pastries to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place a dollop of cheese mixture or jelly (or both!) into the center of the pastries. Set aside and let rest for an hour to rise. After about 40 minutes, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Just before baking, brush on some egg wash to any exposed pastry dough. Place in the oven, on the middle rack, and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 375, rotate the pan a half-turn and back another 5-8 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and cool on the pan for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the confectioner’s sugar along with a tbsp or two of milk (adding more to get a glazy consistency).
Brush some apricot preserves on any exposed pastry dough for delicious sheen. Using the whisk, pick up some of the sugar glaze and start wiggling the whisk back-and-forth quickly, letting the glaze fall onto the pastries.
Serve immediately, or save for later.
______________________________ Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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