May 6, 2011 - 5:41pm
Just testing (semi-annual Danish pastry bonanza)
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Just testing (semi-annual Danish pastry bonanza)
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The Fresh Loaf
A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.
What are those and can I come over for a taste of each?
In spite of just having breakfast, your pictures are making my mouth water.
Paul
I am sorry, but you Failed. You did not send me any of the goodies so that I could judge your efforts!
Ford
I am so jealous of whoever gets to eat those!
Pretty good test I would say.
Eric
How soon we figure out where you are and how soon we can relieve you of your treasure?
Are you in Washington state? Is this for Mother's Day?
I was just testing to see if I could post a picture. What you see is 8 dozen homemade Danish pastries. Everything is made from scratch, including the fillings. I make these twice a year. I take two dozen to work. I save out a dozen for us to eat, and I freeze the rest in packages of 12. I wrap each one individually, freeze them, and then double bag them in freezer bags. Whenever I need or want some I just take them out, let them thaw, and then heat for a couple minutes in the oven. Even after being frozen for several months they still taste almost as good as fresh baked and certainly a lot better than what you can get from any grocery store bakery department.
Usually I'll start making the dough late at night. I'll complete four turns and then leave the dough overnight in the refrigerator. The next day is when I form the actual pastries. While they're proofing, which takes around four hours, I'll make up the fillings. This particular batch I started at around quarter till midnight and finished with the last tray around 6 PM the next day. Naturally I wasn't working with them the entire time. Actual work time was about 6 hours. I've timed it several times. Baking took an additional 3 hours for a total of 9 hours altogether.
Included in the photos are cherry, apple, lemon, and blueberry pinwheels; cream cheese snails with apple, lemon, cherry, or blueberry filling; cinnamon pecan rolls; walnut filling with chocolate chips (the ones in the center of the second picture).
I also do croissants but I make those more often since they're not as involved as the Danish pastries are.
That series of pics is very impressive!
And you must have lots of baking stamina to invest nine hours (at least) into the creation of these jewels!
Just wondering...how many cups of flour and pounds of butter do you go thru for your bake fest?!
(or is your recipe posted on the internet somewhere?)
For 96 pastries it takes 3 pounds of butter plus an additional 1/4 pound used in making various fillings. Total flour used is 14 cups plus 1 to 2 cups extra for rolling out the dough. I always weigh the flour when measuring though. It's quicker and more accurate. With the exception of the cinnamon rolls, each pastry is between 4 and 4 1/2 inches in diameter. The reason I make so many is because I like all the different flavors but it's impossible to make just a small amount of each filling. You can't make just 3 tablespoons of lemon or cherry filing. So I make a reaonable amount of each filling and then make enough pastries to use it all up. The funny thing is I've probably been making these semi-annually for the last 15 to 20 years and I don't think I've ever eaten one hot from the oven. By the time I get done fooling with them I lose my appetite for them. The next day however...
Ah, so that would be about four or five batches if I were to do it from my recipe. Yikes! That's a lot of rolling and folding! But just from the picture well worth it!
I love Danishes too, but I only get to eat them maybe once or twice a year! (-:
Keep us posted on your other baking! t.
I make 2 double recipes simultaneously. I've tried just doing one quadruple batch but it was just way too much to handle. When the dough was rolled out to encase the butter it literally covered the kitchen table from end to end. The biggest problem was the fact that this particular dough is a very soft and sticky dough and you have to use a lot of bench flour when you roll the dough out to keep it from sticking. Trying to fold the dough was a joke. Never again.
and very mouth watering!
Karin