Requesting advice from the Danish pastry experts

[beowulf73]

Greetings,

 

This is my first post here, so hopefully this hasn't been asked dozens of times.  I did do a search but nothing promising was returned.

 

I have made Danish pastry (or wienerbrød to be more correct, I suppose) a number of times, but seem to be struggling with some issues consistently.  First, I will say that the pastries always look pretty good and taste really good, so it's not as though my attempts are an absolute fail.  Rather, I would just like to refine my process as much as possible to achieve even better results.

 

Here are the main issues that I'm facing:

 

• The pastry dough patterns seem to come "undone" while baking
• While baking, what seems like a lot of butter leaks out and pools on the baking sheet

 

Normally what I make are things like pinwheels, braids and "boats"...not sure what that last pattern is really called, but basically two opposing corners folded in and overlap in the middle on top of the filling.  In my last batch I made a cream cheese filling, but sometimes it's a fruit/jam type of filling.  I suspect part of the issue of the patterns coming undone is that I may add too much filling.  However, my wife and I both love the amount of filling.  It's not like a cup of filling or something crazy like that....about 1.5 tbsp or so for each 5" pastry square.  I may try a smaller amount (2 tsp or so) next time just to see if that helps.  I do have one pattern which is like a Danish braid, only done with a 5" square.  This is the only one that didn't come undone.  The others which are much less "locked in" for lack of a better term all sort of opened up upon baking.

 

As for the butter leaking out and pooling, I have no idea on that.  Maybe my room temp (~73F) proof is too warm?  I'm not really sure.  Even though the pastries seem to be pretty buttery tasting, I have to think that if there's anyway to keep it from leaking out so much, the buttery flavor could be improved.

 

Finally, if what I'm experiencing is completely to be expected and I'm just being persnickety, I'm fine with that too.  I was just hoping there was maybe a trick or process that I could adopt that would help make things just a wee bit better.  Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Mjx]

What recipe are you using?

 

This goes over the process pretty solidly (2nd video down): http://www.kvalimad.dk/opskrifter/wienerbroed-bagt-paa-smoer

 

I use less sugar (usually 25g for that amount of flour, give or take, depending on what's going to be sitting on/in it), less yeast + longer rising times, and a biggish pinch of salt, which gives a more balanced flavour.

[beowulf73]

Thanks for the quick response!  Here's the recipe I'm using.  Sorry for the awkward conversions...it's a U.S. recipe.

 

.75 dl warm milk (1/3 cup)

1 large egg

212 grams flour  (7.5 oz or 1.5 cups)

50 grams sugar  (1.75 oz or .25 cups)

1.5 tsp instant yeast

3/4 tsp salt

340 grams unsalted butter (12 oz)

 

Comparing it to the one you've linked, it does appear that my recipe uses a higher proportion of sugar.  I suppose I could try using a bit less.  Do you think there is some characteristic of the recipe that could be causing the dough to open up in the oven or butter to leak out?

 

It's funny you pointed to that video, as I actually watched it just yesterday.  I don't speak Danish well enough to watch that one, but there is an English-language version as well.  It was very helpful, but didn't seem like there was anything significant he did that I wasn't doing...except that he did mention a few times to let the dough rest more.  Maybe my dough wasn't quite slack enough?

[Mjx]

Leaking butter suggested an excess of butter, so I did a little math to see how the flour:butter ratios compare for the two recipes, and noticed that the ingredient list you posted involves proportionally more butter than the linked on, which yields a very rich dough (but has never leaked butter).

 

Using the proportions of the [linked] recipe, for 212g flour, the amount of butter you'd use in the dough would be 28g, and the amount you'd use for laminating would be the same as the weight of the flour, 212g (altogether, 240g, which is 100g less than your recipe uses, which is such a round amount, I suspect a typo).

 

I'd try cutting back on the amount of butter, before making any other adjustments (I only cut back on the sugar because the fillings are typically so sweet, I find the results can get cloying).

 

ETA: The one time butter leaked abundantly from a laminated dough I made (for croissants), breaks in the lamination appeared to be responsible, so that's another possibility to look into.

[beowulf73]

Thanks for the response!  I made a quadruple batch so I still have a lot left, but I'll try using less butter on the next batch and see if that helps.

 

Any thoughts on the dough opening up as it bakes?  Just part of the process or something I can improve?

[Mjx]

You're welcome

 

If the dough is opening up in the middle, there may be breaks in the lamination, possibly from the butter being a bit too hard during the folding, from enthusiastically going for a really high number of folds (after a certain point, they tend to mash together), or possibly somewhat rough handling of the dough (once the layers are thin, they're pretty delicate).

 

If the dough is opening at the edges, there may have been butter on the edges that prevented tight edge sealing, or the dough may simply have not been sealed in places.

[beowulf73]

Based on your reply, I'm thinking I may not have described what's happening accurately.  The dough isn't opening up as in the laminations are breaking, but rather when I fold it into a pinwheel or fold the corners together in a different pattern, the pattern tends to unfold while baking.  The dough still remains intact, but it sort of unfolds so that what starts as a nicely folded pinwheel unfolds during baking and resembles what I like to call my "dragon claw" pattern

[pastrygirl]

Based on your reply, I'm thinking I may not have described what's happening accurately.  The dough isn't opening up as in the laminations are breaking, but rather when I fold it into a pinwheel or fold the corners together in a different pattern, the pattern tends to unfold while baking.  The dough still remains intact, but it sort of unfolds so that what starts as a nicely folded pinwheel unfolds during baking and resembles what I like to call my "dragon claw" pattern

That's a sign that you got lots of nice distinct layers and loft, be proud!

Would a recipe with less butter rise less and not come apart? Thinner layers of butter, less powerful rise?

[beowulf73]

Thanks!  No complaints on loft, that's for sure!  Yeah I think that's a common theme with the using of less butter.  I'll try that on the next batch to see if that helps.  

 

Thanks for all of the helpful replies!  A great bunch of helpful people here on eGullet...glad I joined!