Danish Pastries

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

To be honest, it was a conscious decision not to blog for a while. Nonewithstanding the balancing act I do between keeping our wonderful home and the mundane tasks at work, recipes -I have come across- dont appeal to me anymore. I believe I hit an impasse in getting challenges from cooking and baking. Same old same old if I do cakes and cupcakes yet again. Pizzas, pastas Oh no, not again. I just need to be challenged. So what now? I made mention in one of my blog entries that doing danish pastries is like trekking the Himalayas...Can I finally muster the courage to do danish pastries? 

But first allow me tell you the analogy behind this; Years ago, I told a good friend of mine who has been to the Himalayas on a ski trip that the ultimate trip for me (read: a place called nirvana) is going to the Himalayas. A year after that; it may have been a be-careful-what-you-wish-for-it-may-come-true moment I still don't know or simply just a stroke of luck, I was in the Himalayas enjoying the first day of sweet winter - with that same good friend who played a pivotal role to get me there, frolicking in the snow, gazing through the vista in front of me and as I am hundred of thousands meters (?) above sea level, heaven is seemingly within my reach. 

And so...as obviously you got my drift, doing danish pastries is like trekking the Himalayas; it is "almost" inconceivable but again with a stroke of luck and a little bit of courage, you will get there.

I bookmarked the danish pastries recipe for more than a year now, its been sitting on my laptop for a long time but I was too scared to do it, let alone read the recipe.  I was finally egged on to try it when "that" sinking feeling is trying to sweep me away. Why not? Why not now huh? Whew!

And of course like a good student of the kitchen, I did some pre-work; read and re-read the recipe many times over, watched some youtube and Julia Child videos a few times and voila I was ready to rock and roll.

Being scared is unfounded after all; doing danish pastries is no different from doing simple bread albeit with a few tricks in between... like folding the dough 6 times, and the dough looking like a book before shaping them into shapes of clams, diamonds, spiral, and tubes, etc...

It helped a lot that I have been doing breads for some time now. It is easy BUT I am warning you now, it is LABORIOUS. The kneading, folding and what have you's take 3 hours or more depending on your baking experience. Baking time? 10 minutes tops.

The taste is mind blowing...the feeling that you get for overcoming your fear of baking danish pastries? priceless.

And trust me....having the end product; the danish pastries, especially my favourite croissants, melting in your mouth is worth the wait. 

The end. :)

*Snagged from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 cups unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 2/3 cup of flour. Divide into 2 equal parts, and roll each half between 2 pieces of waxed paper into a 6 x12 inch sheet. Refrigerate.
In a large bowl, mix together the dry yeast and 3 cups of the remaining flour. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar and salt. Heat to 115 degrees F (43 degrees C), or just warm, but not hot to the touch. Mix the warm milk mixture into the flour and yeast along with the eggs, and lemon and almond extracts. Stir for 3 minutes. Knead in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is firm and pliable. Set aside to rest until double in size.
Cut the dough in half, and roll each half out to a 14 inch square. Place one sheet of the cold butter onto each piece of dough, and fold the dough over it like the cover of a book. Seal edges by pressing with fingers. Roll each piece out to a 20x 12 inch rectangle, then fold into thirds by folding the long sides in over the center. Repeat rolling into a large rectangle, and folding into thirds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Remove from the refrigerator one at a time, and roll and fold each piece two more times. Return to the refrigerator to chill again before shaping. If the butter gets too warm, the dough will become difficult to manage.
To make danishes, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. The dough can be cut into squares, with a filling placed in the center. Fold 2 of the corners over the center to form a filled diamond shape. Or, fold the piece in half, cut into 1 inch strips, stretch, twist and roll into a spiral. Place a dollop of preserves or other filling in the center. Place danishes on an ungreased baking sheet, and let rise until doubled. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Danishes can be brushed with egg white for a shiny finish.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are golden brown.