MAKE WAY FOR THE DANISH BRAIDERS…Ooooops, I mean the DARING BAKERS!!
Deeba @ PAB
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight. “
M. F. K. Fisher
‘Danish Braid’ from Sherry Yard’s ‘The Secrets of Baking’
Hello from a Daring Baker who is now a Danish Braider!! The day is finally here when this ‘daring group of bakers’ present their monthly challenge. This month, we were dared to bake a Danish Braid…a challenge hosted by Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and Ben of What’s Cookin’?What a fun challenge it turned out to be, even though I was overtaken by agony & ecstasy when I read about it.
Agony because anything to do with pastry & oodles of butter doesn’t augur well at 40 degrees C + temperatures…I had visions of rivers of butter & runny pastry dough! Ecstasy because I love a good Danish & would have never attempted such a wonderful pastry had it not been posted in a DB challenge!
Up close & personal…check out my braid!
Thanks to the Danes who have popularised this pastry. It is a wonderful, wonderful pastry… flaky, light, addictive & high on flavour. When I read that cardamom is traditional in Scandinavian breads, I was quite surprised. Don’t often here of cardamom being used in the West; I tend to associate the flavour more with the Middle-East & the Indian sub-continent.
Thoughts flew though my head…the first one obviously being fellow DB Jasmine @ Confessions of a Cardamom Addict! Then thought of how the men in my house would love it because DH is almost a cardamom addict & the son is not far behind. The daughter is an ‘anything Mama makes’ addict….very safe ground for all culinary adventures. The only thought that bothered me was egg in the pastry dough…did put me off initially…but daring I have to be, so firmly banished any sucheggy thoughts from my mind!
A delightful experience it was… only wish it were winter. Chilling didn’t matter because of the ‘virtual oven’ outdoors & I procrastinated for LONG! Postponing the bake day by day. Destiny stepped in…the monsoons arrived 2 weeks ahead of time for the first time ever recorded( in a 108 years!!). Waited a day to make sure the weather would hold, & despite high humidity levels got started. Handling the dough was a pain, but the overall feeling was pure JOY!!! Thank you Kelly & Ben (my dear blogging friend who I share my ‘yeastly‘ strengths with)…this has been my most enjoyable & yummy DB challenge to date. Think you can fathom my sheer JOY by the number of pictures I clicked!!
Just before it disappeared…
The braid was wonderful…more so because I checked out theJulia Child link (it’s fabulous) & a you-tube video before I started; got an immense boost of confidence (which led to slight over browning!!). It was devoured before the day was done…& EVERYONE LOVED IT!! I gave it a ‘peach preserves & marzipan‘ filling (both from scratch as required)…delicious!
Peach preserves that I madethe Julia Child way… peel, pit & chop peaches. Put them in a microwaveable bowl with 1/2 cup sugar & any spices you like (I added cardamom & cinnamon to tie up the flavours). Microwave for 18 minutes, uncovered, mash around a bit, squeeze a lime in & cool. Chill until ready to use!! You can find my marzipan recipe here.
Danish pastry is a sweet pastry which has become a speciality of Denmark and is popular throughout the industrialized world, although the form it takes can differ significantly from country to country. The ingredients include flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and generous amounts of butter. A yeast dough is rolled out thinly, coated with butter, and then folded into numerous layers. If necessary, the dough is chilled to ease handling. The rolling, buttering, folding, and chilling is repeated several times to create a dough which is buttery and flaky.Savoury Danish…Mushrooms, Garlic ‘n’ Cheese
We were allowed any deviations in filling & appearance after making the 1 mandatory braid…so the mind began thinking. I made a savoury roll with a mushroom,garlic,cheese filling…
Here’s what I did for the filling…Sauteed some chopped garlic in olive oil for a minute, tossed in finely sliced button mushrooms & stir fried them till all the liquid dried up, added lots of finely chopped coriander leaves, seasoned it with salt & pepper, added the squeeze of a lime…
Cooled the filling, rolled out a 1/4 of the same (very slightly sweet but it was fine) dough to a rectangle. Spread the filling uniformly, grated cheddar on top & rolled it like a Swiss roll. Sealed the 2 open ends, gave it a brushing of egg-white , made some knife cuts on top & gave it a generous sprinkling of sea salt. Baked it for 10 minutes on 200degrees C, & a further 10-12 minutes at 165 degrees C. Was delicious!
Made for a delicious meal with blanched green beans tossed in grill seasoning, a tsp of butter & a dollop of cream cheese; a cold potato-onion salad in hung yogurt with herbs & lime juice; & stuffed grilled chicken breasts. Stuffed the chicken with a bit of the same mushroom filling to tie up all the flavours together!
And the Danish adventure continued…
…In the evening, the last 1/4 of the dough went into smaller sweet Danish pastries. Shapes etc taken from an old baking book, ‘Baking Course’ by Isabel Moore which I had bought more than 20 years ago. Had always looked at the shapes longingly, & never thought I would get as far as making them. I DID!! This challenge gave us 3 days of delecable happiness!You can find the recipe at Bens‘hereor Kellys‘ here…it’s a great experience & shall most certainly be made again in winter, cardamom & all. Please do stop by HERE & see the rest of the Danish Braiders, ooops again, Daring Bakers (DB’s whichever way you look at ’em) enjoying braiding this beautiful pastry!
