Bushra Griffith
Danish pastries are multilayered, laminated sweet treats made with a yeast-leavened dough of wheat flour, milk, eggs, sugar, and large amounts of butter. They are not technically a bread or a pastry, but their dough is laminated like puff pastry to create a layered texture. Danish pastries are often topped with chocolate, pearl sugar, glacé icing, slivered nuts, or a variety of fillings such as jam, marzipan, custard, or cream cheese. This is where the cheese comes in. The cream cheese filling in a Danish pastry is smooth and creamy, like a pocket of cheesecake or cream cheese frosting encased in buttery, flaky pastry.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Type of pastry | Danish |
| Type of cheese | Cream cheese |
| Other ingredients | Powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, lemon juice, egg yolk, salt, strawberry jam |
| Baking temperature | 400°F |
| Baking time | 10 minutes, then rotate the baking sheet and bake for another 5-10 minutes |
| Texture | Flaky, buttery |
| Taste | Sweet, tangy |
| Calories | 532kcal |
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What You'll Learn
Cream cheese is the main ingredient
Danish pastries, also known as 'wienerbrød' or 'Viennese bread', are multilayered, laminated sweet pastries. They are made with a yeast-leavened dough of wheat flour, milk, eggs, sugar, and large amounts of butter or margarine.
The process of making Danish pastries involves rolling out the dough thinly, covering it with butter, and then folding and rolling it several times, creating 27 layers. This technique, known as lamination, results in a multilayered dough that is airy and crispy on the outside, yet rich and buttery.
While traditional Danish pastries do not typically include cheese, some modern variations have emerged, with cream cheese being the main ingredient in these cheese-filled Danish pastries. This type of Danish pastry has a smooth and creamy filling, resembling a pocket of cheesecake or cream cheese frosting encased in buttery, flaky pastry.
To make a cheese Danish pastry, you will need a box of puff pastry, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and an egg. The cream cheese is mixed with sugar, vanilla, egg yolk, and sometimes lemon juice to create a sweet and tangy filling. This mixture is then placed on the puff pastry, which is folded and baked until golden brown. The resulting pastry is flaky, buttery, and delicious.
Cream cheese-filled Danish pastries are a modern variation of the traditional Danish pastry, offering a unique combination of sweet and tangy flavours. While cream cheese is not the only filling option, it is a popular choice that has gained popularity in the United States and around the world.
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Danish pastries are multilayered
The origin of the Danish pastry is often attributed to a strike among bakery workers in Denmark in 1850. As a result, bakery owners hired workers from abroad, including Austrian bakers, who introduced new baking traditions and recipes. One such tradition was the Viennese lamination technique, which involves folding the dough around the butter, resulting in a multilayered pastry. This technique is also used in croissants and puff pastry, but the doughs differ slightly.
The Austrian pastry, Plundergebäck, became popular in Denmark, and after the labour disputes, Danish bakers adapted the recipes to their liking by increasing the amount of egg and fat, for example. This evolution resulted in what is now recognised as the Danish pastry.
Danish pastries are often filled with cream cheese, creating a smooth and creamy texture similar to cheesecake or cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese is mixed with sugar, vanilla, and sometimes lemon juice, to create a sweet and tangy filling. The pastry is then glazed with a mixture of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and optionally drizzled with strawberry jam.
The multilayered structure of Danish pastries contributes to their unique texture and flavour, making them a popular choice for breakfast or dessert around the world.
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The dough is laminated
To laminate the dough, first, roll out the dough into a rectangle. Next, add a sheet of butter and fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Then, turn the dough 90 degrees and roll it out again. Repeat this process of rolling, buttering, and folding several times to create multiple layers. The number of layers will depend on the specific recipe, but it typically ranges from 3 to 4 folds, resulting in 27 layers.
Chilling the dough between each folding step is essential. This allows the butter to harden and creates the distinct layers in the final pastry. It also helps the gluten in the dough to develop, giving it the structure needed to hold the butter layers. If the butter is not rolled in correctly, it may melt out during baking or mix with the dough, resulting in a loss of layers.
Lamination is a technique that was brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers, who called the pastry "wienerbrød," meaning "Viennese bread." The technique creates a multilayered, flaky texture that is characteristic of Danish pastries.
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The dough is yeast-leavened
Danish pastries are made with yeast-leavened dough, which is laminated like puff pastry to create a layered texture. This technique, known as Viennese lamination or Viennese bread, was brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers in the 19th century. The dough is made with wheat flour, milk, eggs, sugar, and large amounts of butter or margarine.
The process of making the dough involves rolling it out thinly, covering it with thin slices of butter between the layers, and then folding and rolling it several times. This method, known as laminating, creates a multilayered dough that becomes airy and crispy on the outside, while remaining rich and buttery. The dough is folded around the butter, rather than mixing the butter into it, which is what sets it apart from puff pastry and croissant dough.
To create the layers, the dough is rolled out and then covered with thin slices of butter. The dough is then folded over the butter and rolled out again. This process is repeated multiple times, creating a multilayered dough. If necessary, the dough is chilled between foldings to keep the dough and butter cold, which helps the gluten relax and creates flaky layers. This process of rolling, buttering, folding, and chilling is repeated several times to create the desired number of layers.
The high amount of fat in Danish dough, usually from butter, means that a higher-protein flour is needed to compensate and create a stable dough. European-style butter is often preferred as it has a higher percentage of butterfat, lending the pastries a richer flavour. The dough is also enriched with sugar and eggs, which gives it a sweet and rich flavour.
The traditional method of creating Danish pastry dough is time-consuming, so some recipes use shortcuts to produce a similar result. These shortcuts may not create the same flaky texture as traditional dough, but they can still produce tender and buttery pastries.
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The dough is enriched with sugar and eggs
Traditional Danish pastries, or ''wienerbrød' in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, are multilayered, laminated sweet pastries. They are made with a yeast-leavened dough of wheat flour, milk, eggs, sugar, and large amounts of butter or margarine.
The sugar in the dough adds sweetness and can also help limit excessive gluten development when combined with fat. This results in a dough that is tender yet stable, able to hold the high-moisture cheese filling without collapsing. The eggs add richness and help bind the dough together, giving it structure and stability.
The combination of sugar and eggs in the dough is essential to the unique texture and flavour of Danish pastries, contributing to their airy, crispy, and rich characteristics.
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Frequently asked questions
Cream cheese is the most popular cheese used in Danish pastries.
Although cream cheese is the most common, other types of cheese can also be used, such as cheesecake fillings or cream cheese frosting.
Danish pastries are thought to have originated in the 19th century when Austrian bakers brought their recipes to Denmark. The Austrian pastry Plundergebäck became popular in Denmark, and after labour disputes, Danish bakers adopted the recipes and adjusted them to their liking by increasing the amount of egg and fat.
