Photo:Croissants
I made this danish pastry from the recipe on Breadcetera by Michel Suas. "Thank you very much Steve, your video is wonderful!" It's definately an improvement over the first posted Danish Pastry...being Irish I of coarse used the suggested unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter...but I really think I would have liked a Danish Cream butter better in my pastry...this is just a personal opinion....the very first time I attempted making a Danish Pastry it was a sourdough one and I used a regular unsalted organic butter and I just liked the way it baked up a lot better and the flavor seemed good to me....not quite so...I hate to say it but...oily as the Kerrygold!! I guess it's just to rich for my taste buds!
Shaping pinwheels really flattened out my pastry....the croissants however did puff up very nicely and I was pretty happy with the way they turned out...though to rich tasteing for my buds!! Hope you enjoy the photos: Sylvia
This dough is ready to roll out and shape into croissants...marked with 3 imprints...showing it's had all it's folds! It was a lot easier to work with than the first recipe I posted earlier today.
I made these pinwheels, cherry, apricot a lot smaller than the last batch...some rolls have chocolate centers.
The Croissants puffed up very nicely.
Next morning ... I have added in a crumb shot of the croissants, pain au chocolat and danish fruit pastry!
The flavor is very good! Now I wish I would have made them all a little larger and more pain au chocolat pastries!
Sylvia
Comments
Yummy-looking pastries, Sylvia.
David
Hey they are pretty darn yummy!! So I added a crumb shot! The first batch from the other recipe...which was a total copy mistake of the wrong recipe site...may look good but I don't care for the flavor at all...amazing how two recipes/formulas can come so close and yet be so different in texture and flavor!!
Sylvia
Lovely!
Thank you all...David, Riverskiy and rosiePearl...I think I'm "over" the craving to make "Danish Pastry" for a while....it's pretty potent stuff!!
Sylvia
Sylvia, great looking croissants, pain au chocolat and pinwheels! The crumb on the croissants looks nice, light and airy. Interesting that you prefer regular unsalted butter over the Kerrygold. The Kerrygold has about a 2% greater butterfat content, so in addition to being richer, it is easier to work with (more pliable). Regular unsalted butter would have a higher water content, which might explain the reason why it "baked up" better... more water means more steam produced between the dough layers. In any event, your pastries look fantastic!
SteveB
http://www.breadcetera.com
Steve, thank you....I was so happy to have the recipe and watch the video from breadcetera...Suas book is expensive...
I was thinking somewhere along the lines of less fat in regular butter equals puffier...unable to discribe....being a novice baker...then you said it that's it...I think it's the steam effect and maybe the crumb seeming less buttery/oiless and more flakey...more of a dryer flakyness!! "lol"...anyway...that was more of what I got in a different recipe that I tried before...a sourdough recipe in one of the more popular bread books I have...can't think of which book it was off hand....Bread Alone......Local Breads...not sure...but it's just a personal taste/crumb I like...though the taste is very good with the Kerrygold...but it just seems a little over oliy to me...to bad unable to get the taste of Kerrygold with the lightness of a Danish Butter!! But anyway, You said it "steamed" puffed/flaked baked up" 'lol'...nothing beats a good Croissant!
Sylvia
Sylvia, croissant dough can be tricky to work with. Temperature control is very important. I like to use the higher butterfat content butters because they are more pliable at lower temperatures. With a regular, unsalted butter, you tend to need slightly higher temperatures to work with them, risking a loss in the layered structure of the dough (resulting in some butter being absorbed by the dough or leaking out during proofing or baking). The result can be a heavier, greasier product. I was surprised to hear you had the opposite result!
SteveB
http://www.breadcetera.com
Steve, I really liked all the reasons you gave about the kellygold...that's why I used it in my 2 recipes for the Danish Pastry...but for some reason when I baked the sourdough Danish with regular unsalted butter ...the butter didn't come out when I baked...When I baked these two recipes...especially the first one...the recipe I didn't like at all...it had a lot of melted butter leak out onto the parchment...I poured it off the pan...when taking the pinwheels, ect...off to cool... The same with the Suas recipe...just a little less butter was melted also unto the parchment... poured a small amount of it off too! Though the Suas Crossisants are very tastey they just seemed to have to much butter...why do you think I had the butter melt out? I was thinking I would use a little less butter next time? Maybe that's the problem...I did weigh! The pinwheels where most affected by the butter laying under them 'edges slightly fried' best I can discrib...maybe look closely at photo of pinwheels to see! Im sure it's something I did wrong...but I did keep everything cold before hand... my kitchen/ house has been in the 60's. Everything went smoothly and easily making the recipe...why I enjoy making the Danish pastry so much!
Thanks for the help, Sylvia
Steve, it just occured to me that maybe because when the pinwheels are shaped the layers are exposed and that might be a reason the butter tends to melt and come out!! Because the Croissants didnot have hardly any butter around them as near as I can remember now! Still...I would like a less buttery affect to the Crossisant dough..a little bit dryer flakes!
Sylvia
Sylvia, the first time I ever made croissants, I had the same experience as you... a baking sheet swimming in butter. The way I solved the problem was by making sure that the dough stayed cold throughout the entire process, up until proofing and baking. You may want to try proofing at a couple of degrees lower than usual. From what I can gather from what you've said, I get the impression that perhaps the dough might still not be cold enough. When you fold over the corners to make the pinwheels, the dough edges should still have right angles to each other... the dough layers shouldn't fan out, yielding more exposure. If they do, it means that the butter layers are melting and the layers are shifting. Am I getting an accurate picture of what is happening to your dough? If the dough is becoming too soft while you are working with it, don't hesitate to put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes to firm it up.
Steve, I chilled it an hour between each folding...the fanning out of the pinwheels didn't happen until they were baked!! Everything seemed pretty firm but colder would have been better when I sliced and shaped...."when in doubt chill" I wish I would have taken more photos now....darn..... Maybe the dough still wasn't cold enough and that's probably the whole problem...I still have some more Kerrygold in the freezer...so when I get the urge to make some more danish I'll give it another try and also there will be more bakes and I will try some with an organic butter and really see affects and judge more on likes and dislikes of each of the different butters..for now Im on the treadmill seriously!! The first recipe I made...the completed folded dough was refrigerated overnite and really puffed up in the saran wrap!! Maybe that helps even more.....I don't think I will make 'pinwheels' again where the sliced edges are so exposed. One thing I noticed is the Kerrygold is much more pliable as you said and does seem to warm up quicker than regular unsalted butter...so I should have kept chilling it in the frig a few extra times during the folds and rolling ...When I was proofing it I was a little worried about the warmer temperature maybe having a negative effect....maybe I can get consistant...I really enjoy making Danish Pastry!
No excuses but I did two batches that day and I was getting pretty tired by the end of a very long day of baking...best to try one recipe at a time!!
Sylvia
Lovely job, Sylvia.
Howard
Thank you Howard, they do get tastier with each bite!! Did you get the deep dish pizza I sent you? : )
Sylvia
Momma Mia, that's quite a pizza. I'll reply seperately because I have some questions.
Howard