Sunday, June 29, 2008

Daring Baking! Danish Braid

Wow! This months challenge was a really fun one, laminated yeast dough. It was a lot of work, but really not that time consuming, another challenge that is best fitted around other things. I made the dough one weekend, then filled and baked it the next weekend.

Thanks so much to Ben and Kellypea for this delicious delight!

The dough is made, then chilled, and a butter block spread over it, taking care not to go too near the edges. It is then folded over and then re rolled several times to get the beautiful layers.


Its very important to chill the dough properly for at least 30 mins to an hour between turns. This ensures that the butter stays firm enough to give nice layers in the pastry. The layers weren't as pronounced as in a puff pastry but there was a lovely lightness, and they were visible on the corners of the pastry.

I divided the dough into two, and made an apple mincemeat braid with half and filled the other with frangipane, peaches and cherries.

The braiding wasn't too difficult once I'd persuaded the dough to roll out, it was a little stretchy, so it was quite tricky!

I then looked for a place that was 90f. Everywhere! It was stinking hot here in California at the weekend, so I put the braids in the garden and it was just the perfect temperature. I kept checking and they didn't look like they'd risen, but thankfully after ignoring them for a while, I realised that they'd risen beautifully.

They were then baked in a very hot oven, which was then reduced in temperature. They were looking like they were going to burn if I left them for the full time.

Please check out Sass and Veracity for the looong recipe!


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

your braid looks so yummy, both of them look great!

Anonymous said...

Your filling looks so pretty! I love how you alternated the peaches and cherries -- great idea.

~Amber~ said...

Beautiful looking braid. Great job.

Anonymous said...

Wow these are so beautiful! And I love the pre-braid photo- so cute!

Susie Homemaker said...

look how perfet yours turned out! way to go!
-Susan of http://doughmesstic.blogspot.com

Deborah said...

I didn't cook mine the whole time, either. Great job!

Anonymous said...

Well done on your challege!

Anonymous said...

Your braids look so good. Your filling looks too good to cover up with the braid! Great job.

creampuff said...

Nicely done, Jenny!

Dolores said...

Beautiful braid, Jenny. I love the photograph that showcases the pastry layers!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love that last photo. Mmmmm.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

I love what you did in the filling! So very cute, it looks delicious!

Unknown said...

Looks great! I love the visual on the inside of the peach one. Fun!

Maryanna said...

Your braids look so good.

Lunch Buckets said...

Nice job - both of your braids look great :)

Helene said...

Great job Jenny! Love your choice of filling! Bravo!