Recipes and Advice for Making Danish (the pastry)

[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!

[Paullie]

Hi All,

 

This is my first post at this forum and hopefully someone is able to help me with this.

I am looking for a Smorstang recipe (see attachment).

 

I have had this and Wienerstang when I was visiting Denmark when I was a kid. Since I live in the Netherlands I unfortunately can not hop to the shop and buy one so I have to make it myself. The icing\chocolate icing is no problem and I can also make the puff pastry but I do not know what is inside the bar. Maybe Remonce? or custard? If there is someone out there who knows, please help me

 

Also I would like to know how the pastry is assembled in the baking tin, I can guess it a little by looking at the picture but that's all.

In advance, thanks!

 

Regards,

 

Paullie

PS: maybe it is a nice idea to post my results if possible at all

 

Photo source; https://www.lantmannen-unibake.com/Schulstad-Bakery-Solutions/Products/Pastry/Speciality-Products/danish-bar/#hide

[LePetitPrince]

In the link it says a lot of remonce and a little vanilla custard ... (I’m from Denmark) 😉

Edited September 20, 2019 by LePetitPrince (log)

[LePetitPrince]

My guess is a layer af danlsh pastry with a generous layer of remonce and a little vanilla custard. Then you place the danish pastry “snails” (direct translation of what they are called here in Denmark) on top of that. 

 

I can dig out the recipe for remonce that we used at the pastry school if you like?

Edited September 20, 2019 by LePetitPrince (log)

[Mjx]

There's a lot more online for the smørkage than the smørstang, but in general, they're the same thing, just different shapes. This recipe looks reasonably reliable, https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=da&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fcharlotteskoekken.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F02%2Fsmrkage.html (I fed it into a translator to generate the English version). If the shape is important, then just go with an elongated rectangle, the baking time should be the same. If youøre feeling adventurous, do a search for [smørkage or smørstang + opskrift], and feed likely-looking links into the translator.

[Paullie]

@LePetitPrince Yeah, if that is no problem for you, i'd love to have the recipe. Thanks! It helps to know that a lot of Remonce and a little bit of custard (or Creme the patissere maybe) is necessary, i didn't see it :) Also I am trying to find out if the Snegl have cinnamon or if they are without. 

 

@Mjx Thanks for this! It looks good and fun to make, although the dough looks a little different i can understand the resemblance. 

 

Already happy that I found this forum :)