Danish Pastries (Pinwheels and Envelopes)

Before you start

Danish pastry dough is a laminated yeast dough enriched with egg and often scented with cardamom. Compared with croissant dough it is richer and slightly softer, and it is usually shaped into small open pastries that hold a filling: cream cheese, jam, pastry cream or fruit. The egg makes the crumb tender and helps the pastries brown deeply.

This recipe uses three letter folds and makes 18 pastries from two 30 cm squares. Two classic shapes are shown, the pinwheel and the four-corner envelope; both work with any thick filling. Use fillings that hold their shape when hot, and keep the proof a little cooler and shorter than for croissants, because the softer dough leaks butter more easily.

Ingredients

• Dough500 g (4 cups) all-purpose flour
• 60 g (5 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 9 g (1½ tsp) fine salt
• 8 g (2½ tsp) instant yeast
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 large (about 50 g) egg — cold
• 210 g (¾ cup + 2 tbsp) cold whole milk
• 40 g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter — soft
• Butter block300 g (1⅓ cups) cold unsalted butter
• Fillings300 g cream cheese pastry filling — see our cream cheese filling recipe
• 150 g (½ cup) thick jam — apricot, raspberry or cherry
• Finishing1 large egg — beaten with 1 tbsp milk
• 60 g (3 tbsp) apricot jam — warmed and strained, for glazing
• 100 g (¾ cup + 1 tbsp) powdered sugar — mixed with 1–1½ tbsp milk for icing

Method

1. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cardamom in the mixer bowl. Add the egg, milk and soft butter and knead on low for 3 minutes, then medium for 3 minutes, until smooth. Flatten into a rectangle, wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Pound and roll the 300 g butter between parchment into a 17 cm (6½ in) square. Chill until cold but pliable. Roll the dough into a 34 cm (13½ in) square, set the butter on it like a diamond and fold the corners over to enclose it, sealing the seams.
3. Roll the package to a 22 x 55 cm (9 x 22 in) strip and letter-fold it. Wrap and chill 30 minutes. Repeat twice more for three letter folds, chilling 30 minutes after each. Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or overnight.
4. Cut the dough in half and keep one half chilled. Roll it into a 33 cm (13 in) square about 5 mm thick, trim to 30 cm (12 in) and cut into nine 10 cm (4 in) squares. Repeat with the second half.
5. For pinwheels, cut from each corner toward the center, stopping 2 cm (¾ in) short. Fold every other point into the center and press firmly. For envelopes, fold all four corners to the center and press hard so they stick. Set the pastries 5 cm apart on lined sheets.
6. Press a well into the center of each pastry. Pipe about 17 g (1 tbsp) cream cheese filling into each and top with 1 tsp jam, or use 1 tbsp jam alone.
7. Brush the dough with egg wash, avoiding the filling. Proof at about 24°C (75°F) for 1 to 1½ hours, until puffy and wobbly with visible layers. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
8. Press the centers down again gently if they have risen. Bake one sheet at a time for 15 to 18 minutes, until deep golden and the bottoms are browned.
9. Brush the hot pastry with the warmed apricot jam for shine. Cool for 20 minutes, then drizzle with the icing.

Tips for success

• Press the points of pinwheels and envelopes down firmly, and press again just before baking. Loose points spring open in the oven.
• Grind cardamom seeds from the pods yourself if you can; the aroma is much stronger than pre-ground cardamom.
• Wipe a little egg wash under the folded corners so they stay glued to the center.

Substitutions

Cream cheese filling

Use 300 g thick pastry cream. It is softer and richer, and it suits fresh fruit placed on top after baking.

Cardamom

Leave it out for a plain dough, or use 1 tsp vanilla extract and the grated zest of half a lemon.

Thick jam

Use halved apricots or sliced poached pears pressed into the cheese filling. Pat them dry so they do not make the pastry soggy.

Variations

Cinnamon snails

Spread one rolled half with 80 g soft butter mixed with 80 g brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon, roll into a log, slice into 9 rounds and proof as above.

Fresh fruit danish

Bake with cream cheese filling only, then top with fresh berries and brush with apricot glaze after cooling.

Troubleshooting

Points opened up in the oven

They were not pressed firmly or the dough was too warm. Glue them with egg wash and press again just before baking.

Filling bubbled over the sides

Too much filling or a filling that was too loose. Use about 1 tbsp per pastry and choose thick, bake-stable fillings.

Pastries flat with butter on the pan

They were underproofed or proofed too warm. Proof around 24°C (75°F) until puffy and wobbly.

Storage

Best eaten the day they are baked. Pastries with cream cheese or pastry cream should not stand at room temperature for more than 2 hours; refrigerate them and eat within 2 days. Jam-only pastries keep at room temperature for 1 day.

Safety notes

Contains wheat, milk and egg. Do not taste raw dough or raw fillings.