Daring Bakers Challenge- Danish Braid

This months Daring Bakers Challenge is Danish Pastry.  I have tried my hand at laminated dough before.  I remember making Danish pastry years ago.  What I remember of the recipe was it was most definetly not  laminated (I seem to recall it was a Nigella Lawson recipe involving a food processor…).  I had also tried my hand at laminated dough like croissants (worked fairly well) and puff pastry (why, oh why, did I try that when it was 95 F all day every day, getting down to a ‘chilly’ 85 F at night?)

Thankfully, this challenge was announced over our dry season when the temperature is a bit more forgiving for people trying to make thin layers of butter in their pastry.

This dough is a pleasure to work with.  I used the grating the butter technique (using the food processor for speed) and that was a wonderful revelation.  I wasn’t sure if I was then supposed to process the flour through so i just tossed the butter in the flour and patted it on the rolled out dough (so much like mozzarella, it is not funny).

This bread needs 4 turns (roll it out and then fold it like a business letter) with a chill 30 minutes in between each turn.  Easy enough to do during a morning with the boys.  I used my trusty pastry mat so I didn’t have to clean the bench between turns. 

Please take a moment to admire the lamination…

I struggled a little bit with the instructions for the shaping of the braid (I do wish Sherry Yard had included a simple diagram).  So I turned to the Pastry Bible and Rose Levy Beranbaums (RLB) chapter on Danish.  Her books are my go to guides when I need simple clear instructions and I want to know why…

I used a ruler to mark everything out and then I used my bencher to give me even cuts 

My braid came out pretty well although I didn’t keep perfect even tension.  

I made the apple filling from the Sherry Yard recipe and it was good.  However, being a girl who likes to experiment a little I also made RLB’s Apricot Levkar and her Remonce (almond filling).  One would think I would take it easy on myself given I was about to go on holidays and I still don’t have a functioning oven at home but that’s not very Daring Baker is it…

So I messed around with fillings and shapes.  My stunt kitchen oven was running a bit hot so they got a touch more malliard than I was aiming for.  

My hands down favourite was the bear claws filled with the Remonce.  The almond filling really brought out the cardamon and orange flavours in the pastry.  I have some work to do with shaping and not letting the filling leak out so much, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.