PT60M
10 Pastries
Cheese Danish

Cheese Danish

Freshly baked Cheese Danish will brighten up anyone’s day. No store-bought Danish can compare. My easy streamlined dough is buttery with a flaky finish. The professional technique is to make it the night before. It’s not a fussy dough. It will look lumpy and chunky, that’s just how it is supposed to look. Top the classic cheese filling with a dollop of your favorite jam before baking for a colorful and delicious pastry.

 

Cheese Danish

1⁄4 cup warm water

21⁄2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1⁄2 cup milk, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

1⁄4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

21⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

2 sticks of cold unsalted butter

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/3 cup confectioners sugar

2 egg yolk

2 tablespoons ricotta cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Mixing Dough:

Pour the water into a large bowl sprinkle over the yeast, and let it soften for a minute. Add the milk, egg, sugar, and salt and whisk to mix; set aside.

Put the flour in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Cut the butter into 1⁄4-inch thick slices and drop them onto the flour. Pulse 8 to 10 times, until the butter is cut into pieces that are about 1⁄2-inch.

Empty the contents of the food processor into the bowl with the yeast and, bowl working with a rubber spatula very gently turn the mixture over, scraping the bowl as needed, just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Again, don’t be too energetic, the butter must remain in discrete pieces so that you will produce a flaky pastry, not bread or cookie dough.

Chilling the dough:

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight (or for up to 4 days)

Rolling and folding:

Lightly flour a work surface (a cool surface, such as marble, is ideal), turn the dough out onto it, and dust the dough lightly with flour. Using the palms of your hands, pat the dough into a rough square. Then roll it into a square about 16 inches on a side. Fold the dough in thirds, like a business letter, and turn it so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book.

Roll the dough out again, this time into a long narrow rectangle, about 10 inches wide by 24 inches long. Fold the rectangle in thirds again turn it so the closed fold is to your left and roll it into a 20-inch square. Fold the square in thirds like a business letter, so that you have a rectangle, turn it so that the closed fold is to your left, and, once more, roll the dough into a long narrow rectangle, 10 inches wide by 24 inches long. Fold in thirds again, wrap the dough well in plastic, and chill it for at least 30 minutes, or for as long as 2 days.

Depending on what you plan to do with the dough, you might want to divide it in half now. The dough is now ready to be shaped, filled, and baked, rolling the recipes of your choice.

Folding Pinwheel:

Place a pastry square on the work surface and spoon a tablespoon of cheese filling on top of it. Using a pizza cutter, cut a slash from the center to each corner. Brush every other pastry point with a little beaten egg white and lift those pints off the counter and toward the center, pressing the dough lightly against the filling and overlapping the points to create a pinwheel.

Brush the braid with beaten egg and sprinkle sugar on top. Cover with a towel and allow it to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes until it looks and feels puffy; it will not double.

Bake 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes until puffed and golden brown.

Cool completely to a wire rack before serving.

Folding a braid:

Working with 1/2 the recipe, lightly flour a work surface. Roll the chilled dough in a 10″ x 16″ rectangle. Lift onto a sheet of parchment and position length-wise on the work surface. Spread some fruit filling down the length of the center third of the dough, then top with some of the cream fillings. Using a pizza cutter or point of a sharp knife, cut 12 to 14 slanting lines down each side, angling the cuts from the center of the pastry to the edge and cutting strips about 3/4 inch wide. Fold the strips of pastry into the center, crisscrossing the filling by alternating one strip from the left side of the pastry with one from the right. Lightly press the ends together to seal and run your hands along the sides of the pastry to straighten them.

Brush the braid with beaten egg and sprinkle sugar on top. Cover with a towel and allow it to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes until it looks and feels puffy; it will not double.

Bake 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes until puffed and golden brown.

Cool completely to a wire rack before serving.

Shape and Rise:

Shape the pastries into the desired form. Place a dollop of the cream cheese filling in the center of your form. Add a small amount of jam and fold.  Lift the pastries onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with a kitchen towel, and allow the pastries to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes. Although the pastries won’t double, they will look and feel fluffy.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°.

Brush the risen pastries with the reserved beaten egg, sprinkle with pearl sugar and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Transfer the pasties from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool.

Glazing:

If you would like to glaze the pastries, mix the confectioner’s sugar, and milk together in a small bowl, adding enough milk to produce a glaze that is smooth and can be piped. Scrape

the glaze into a small plastic bag with a zipper lock, and seal. Snip a corner of the bag to create a small opening and squeeze the glaze through the bag onto the pastries in attractive squiggles. Serve the pasties warm or at room temperature.

Pastries are best eaten just after being cooled. If necessary, the pastries can be kept tightly covered at room temperature for several hours.

Storing Dough:

The dough can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for 1 month; thaw overnight, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Filling:

Mix on low the cream cheese until it comes together and is smooth. Add the egg yolk, sugar, ricotta, vanilla, salt, and zest. Combine, don’t whip. Chill until ready to use.

Cream cheese goes well with jam for the filling.

Recipe adapted from Baking with Julia

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