confused baker: i don't know why my danish seem to take on a life of their own in the oven.
smart sister: did you follow any directions?
cb: well...
ss: yeah. you're not very good at that.
so another adventure in pastry. i made chocolate raspberry, rhubarb, and rhuberry or bluebarb cheese danish. going into the oven, they were spirals, envelopes, and claws.
coming out, they were more like tar pits, puffy squares, and zombie hands.
danish dough (from martha this time)
1c warm milk (110f)
2 envelopes active dry yeast
1 pound butter
1/3 c sugar
1 tbs salt
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 pound unsalted butter, room temp
2 large whole eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk, stir until dissolved. let it sit til foamy (about five minutes).
combine flour, sugar, salt, cardamom. cut in 4tbs of butter until it resembles coarse meal. pour milk yeast mix in, mix until dough comes together. add the eggs and yolk. mix til combined.
turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. gently knead to form a small ball. wrap WELL with plastic, refrigerate at least two hours. or overnight.
on a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 10x18 rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. dust off excess flour. with the short side facing you, evenly distribute the remaining butter over 2/3 of the dough. fold in thirds. the unbuttered dough first over one third. and then one more fold.
roll the dough again into an 18x10 rectangle. fold in thirds again. refrigerate for at least one hour. repeat the rolling and folding two more times (three times total). chilling between each turn. refrigerate for at least four hours after the last turn (or over night).
this recipe is wildly yeasty. i opened the refrigerator after it's first night of chillaxing to find the dough had broken free from it's plastic and was starting to take over. as mentioned, i also had a difficult time keeping the dough under control while baking. these are free spirited danish. maybe just don't bother trying to control them. make some lovely squares. and circles. and let them do as they please!
