Danish Pastry (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between puff pastry and Danish pastry? ›

DIFFERENCE PUFF PASTRY

First of all Danish pastries contain a high level of fat: 40%. The second difference is that Danish dough contains yeast and that isn't the case for puff pastry. This is the reason that after baking, puff pastries contain a more airy structure and a more crispy bite.

For example, puff pastry dough is made up of flour, water, and salt; croissant dough is prepared with flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and milk; while Danish dough includes the same ingredients as a croissant dough but adds eggs to the mix. An all-purpose flour can be used or a bread flour blended with a soft cake flour.

Traditional Danish pastries

In Denmark, these world-famous sticky delights are called Vienna Bread (wienerbrød), as they were first made in Denmark in the 1840s by Austrian bakers.

Just like when we make pie crust or biscuits, make sure the butter is extra cold. If the butter isn't cold, the butter will melt, the dough will turn to semi-liquid, and you won't have any layers or flakes in your pastry. The colder the butter (and dough), the better results.

In Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, the term for Danish pastry is wienerbrød (or wienerbröd), meaning "Viennese bread".

These Austrian bakers introduced their method of laminating dough with butter, which creates the flaky, layered textures now synonymous with Danish pastries. They also brought their unique flavor combinations and fillings, such as custards, jams, and cream cheese.

The fat content of the pastry varies considerably with the filling, notes Harper, and that's worth considering because "fat contributes to more health problems -- heart disease, cancer, hypertension and diabetes, for instance -- than any other nutrient." A fruit Danish contains about 8 grams of fat; an ordinary cheese ...

There's more than one type of 'Danish' in Denmark – and to make things even more confusing, we call them wienerbrød or Viennese bread, as the inspiration for them came from a trip a Danish baker took to Vienna back in the 19th century.

Typical Danish breakfast is bread (white or rye bread) with cream or soft cheese, sausage, cured cold meat or jam with coffee or tea. Among popular breakfast dishes are also cereals and porridge. One of the most interesting things and a very traditional Danish food you can eat in Copenhagen is øllebrød.

Our mini Danish pastries have been frozen so you can enjoy them warm from the oven with that freshly baked aroma in your home. Ready to Bake Cinnamon swirls, Vanilla crème crowns and Maple & pecan plaits.

How to proof danish pastry? ›

Place each baking sheet in a large plastic bag and let proof for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours at room temperature (75 - 78 degrees F) (24 - 26 degrees C). You know the Danish are proofed when they are puffed and soft to the touch.

Why are my Danish pastries tough? Overkneading (more than 5min), rolling the dough too vigorously and adding too much flour during the folding can make the pastry tough.

Puff pastry and phyllo dough have a lot in common: both are many-layered pastry doughs (unlike the traditional pâté brisée that we use in so many of our recipes), and both bake up with crispy, crunchy, flaky layers, but there are distinct differences.

The terms full, three-quarter and half are used when describing the amount of fat in the pastry. Full has equal weight of fat and flour, three-quarter has three-quarters of the weight of fat to flour, and half has half the weight of fat to flour. More fat makes the pastry softer to eat but reduces its height.

Ingredients for Cheese Danish Recipe

Puff Pastry – Using a store-bought (thawed) puff pastry, is the easiest way to make these. You can of course use homemade dough if you prefer. Berries – For this cheese danish, you will need about 1 1/2 cups of fresh berries or 12 pieces of each berry.

The crescent-shaped croissant is a flaky pastry with buttery layers whereas a puff pastry is a drier composition of dough. Both use similar ingredients and preparation work.