Danish Pastry

Really not the fastest pastry to make, but a request for a good recipe was made so here it is. Every where now days has the same boring danishes on sale, here is a recipe that would help you put more of a creative spark if your willing to put the labour into it.

Recipe

85ml water

35g Fresh yeast

85g castor sugar

1tsp salt

3 large egg yolks (so the 65g large egg size)

1 tsp vanilla extract

225ml milk

700g plain flour

345g unsalted butter

Flour to work with.

Method:

· Bring the water temperature up to 35°C and dissolve the yeast into it, then add in half the weighed out flour and whisk then set aside until the mix starts to rise, generally this would take about 20 minutes.

· Add in the sugar, salt, egg yolks, vanilla and milk and the rest of your weighed out flour.

· Mix until a soft sticky dough has formed.

· Cover the dough and then chill in the fridge for about 1 hour, this will retard the dough and slow down it’s proving. This also allows the dough to rest and is easier to work with.

· For a successful dough the butter should be as cold as possible, and your work surface should also be cool, and not in a warm environment.

· Dust your work surface with flour, and roll out the dough to a 30cm square

· Quickly slice your butter in half, length ways and place in it the centre of the dough, and fold the corners of the pastry over the butter to completely seal it inside

· Pinch the edges closed with your fingers to make sure it’s not going anywhere.

· Flatten the dough gently with the rolling pin and roll out lengthways being careful Not to go over the edges.

· Turn the dough 180° to the side, and roll out again until you get a 20cm X 50cm rectangle.

· You may have had to use some more flour to stop the rolling pin from sticking, but this is ok. Now you will need to shift the dough over onto a tray and chill for about 15 minutes before continuing.

· Once chilled, you can now book fold the pastry dough , and chill again, repeat this process in total of 4 times, turning the pastry 90° on each fold.

· Once your final turn is completed, you will need to wrap the pastry and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before using it in the kitchen.