Classic Danish Pastry

By norsegal8

Known as "Danish" the world over, except in Denmark, where it is "Vienna Bread," this is the Danes' classic coffeebread. Light, buttery, and only slightly sweet and delicately perfumed with cardamom, the dough encases a small amount of well-flavored nut or fruit filling. This is the original method of preparing the basic dough; a soft, yeasted dough is rolled out with a layer of butter, which when folded and rolled creates layers of flaky, sweet pastry. A faster method follows.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chilled, unsalted butter
• 2 packages active, dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water, 105 to 115 degrees
• 1/2 cup heavy crea,
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom seed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 1/4 to 4 cups all-purpose floour

Details

Servings 24

Preparation

Step 1

Slice the butter into lengthwise pieces and place between sheets of plastic wrap. Roll out to make an 8-inch square. Refrigerate while preparing and chilling the yeast dough.

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the cream, cardamom, salt, eggs and sugar. With a spoon, beat in 3 cups of the flour; continue beating until smooth and elastic. Stir in 1/2 cup more flour and beat again until smooth, about 2 minutes. The dough will be soft. Cover and chill 30 minutes or un to 8 hours.

Turn the chilled dough out onto a floured board and roll out to make a 16-inch square. Unwrap the chilled butter and place over half the pastry, step 1 - fold uncovered half over the butter and press the edges to seal together, step 2 - Roll the dough out to make as large a square as possible, bursting bubbles as they show up and resealing holes. Fold into thirds, making 3 layers, step 3 - Dust with additional flour if necessary. Turn dough and roll again to make a long, narrow shape, step 4 - Fold the dough from the short sides into thirds; dough will end up about square. Repeat rolling out and folding the dough in the same manner 3 more times. Chill the dough between steps if necessary to keep the dough cold and keep the butter from melting. Chill for 30 minutes before shaping. During the last chilling get out the baking sheets and fillings. (You may prepare the dough to this point a day in advance and finish shaping and filling it the next day.) For filling, shaping and baking follow directions in the Danish Pastry recipes.