Richard Burr's tea break Danish pastry recipe
In my line of work, we often start the day with a cup of coffee and a hastily grabbed Danish as we leg it through a petrol station and into the rush hour. Years of living like this has given me a broad knowledge of what the world of a quickly grabbed Danish has to offer.
Petrol-station-Danish do the trick, they fill a hole and keep us warm for a morning’s work. Sweet ones are fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but of a morning it just has to be savoury and – given the choice – it has to be these.
This recipe requires at least ten hours' extra proving time in addition to the preparation time stated.
TIP:
The simple Danish shape described here works well if you’re putting in large lumps of filling such as chunks of chipolata. You can also make pinwheels, by cutting diagonally in from each corner of your square of dough, not quite to the middle, then folding one point from each corner to the centre.
You can make rolls from this dough too, by rolling out to 60 x 20cm and spreading your desired filling out over the whole surface, then gently rolling-up into one long sausage shape and cutting into 5cm-wide segments. Lay any of these shapes on to prepared baking trays and leave to rise as described in the recipe.
If you’re not a meat eater, don’t despair, you can substitute the sausage for 200g grated Cheddar cheese mixed with 50g of grated Parmesan cheese and it will taste delicious. Even if you are into meat, you can still sprinkle cheese on. No one’s gonna stop you.
You will need:
- Stand mixer fitted with dough hook (optional)
- Dough scraper (optional)
- Tape measure
- 2 baking trays or sheets
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 250 g strong white bread flour, plus more to dust
- 250 g plain flour
- 1 tbsp 'quick' yeast
- 2 tsp table salt
- 50 g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 120 ml whole milk
- 250 g unsalted butter, chilled
- 8.8 oz strong white bread flour, plus more to dust
- 8.8 oz plain flour
- 1 tbsp 'quick' yeast
- 2 tsp table salt
- 1.8 oz caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 4.2 fl oz whole milk
- 8.8 oz unsalted butter, chilled
- 8.8 oz strong white bread flour, plus more to dust
- 8.8 oz plain flour
- 1 tbsp 'quick' yeast
- 2 tsp table salt
- 1.8 oz caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 0.5 cup whole milk
- 8.8 oz unsalted butter, chilled
- 8 chipolatas
- 100 g button mushrooms, diced
- 1 splash oil
- 8 tsp Dijon mustard
- 200 g tub of sun-dried tomatoes
- 8 chipolatas
- 3.5 oz button mushrooms, diced
- 1 splash oil
- 8 tsp Dijon mustard
- 7.1 oz tub of sun-dried tomatoes
- 8 chipolatas
- 3.5 oz button mushrooms, diced
- 1 splash oil
- 8 tsp Dijon mustard
- 7.1 oz tub of sun-dried tomatoes
Details
- Cuisine: English
- Recipe Type: Breakfast
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 90 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 8
Step-by-step
- For the dough, mix the flours, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl, making sure you add the yeast and salt to opposite sides of the bowl. Add 2 of the eggs, 60ml of cold water and the milk and mix with a wooden spoon.
- If you have a stand mixer, mix on medium speed with a dough hook for 8 minutes. If you don’t, you can still make these but it takes a bit more work: mix on a floured surface using a dough scraper to stretch out the dough, then your hands once it becomes less sticky, for 15–20 minutes until smooth and elastic. Wrap up the dough in cling film and put in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Unwrap the dough and roll out on a floured surface to 60 x 20cm (a tape measure will be useful here).
- Bash out the butter between 2 sheets of cling film using a rolling pin to 39 x 18cm. Regularly turn the butter and peel off and re-lay the cling film to stop it ripping (it’s a right pain peeling ripped cling film off a thin layer of rapidly melting butter).
- Lay the butter on the dough so it covers two-thirds of the surface lengthways and also leaves a clear border around all the edges, then fold the exposed one-third of dough over half of the butter, pressing the edges to seal the butter in.
- Fold the final one-third of butter- covered dough over to get three layers of dough, separated by two layers of butter, pressing down the edges all round.
- Turn the dough by 90° and roll-out again to 60 x 20cm. Fold in thirds again, as before, to give nine layers of dough. Wrap in cling film and return to the fridge for another hour.)
- Take out and roll out to 60 x 20cm on a floured surface again and fold in thirds again to get 27 layers, then turn through 90°, roll out and fold to get 81 layers(!) Return to the fridge for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Fry the chipolatas and mushrooms in the oil, then leave to cool. Once cooled, cut each chipolata in half lengthways, then again widthways, to make 4 pieces per chipolata.
- Roll out the chilled dough to 60 x 30cm and cut into 8 x 15cm squares (you may need to rest the dough halfway through for 10 minutes to roll it out far enough).
- Spread a line of mustard diagonally down the middle of each square, then lay the chipolata pieces on top and cover with a few slices of mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes.
- Lightly beat the last egg and use it to stick the 2 opposite corners over the filling to form the Danish shape. Reserve any remaining egg. Place on 2 baking sheets or trays lined with baking parchment, leaving enough room between them for the pastries to grow.
- Cover each tray with a plastic bag – it should not touch the pastries but form a tent over them – and leave to rise at room temperature for 1½ hours, or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas mark 7. Liberally brush the pastries with beaten egg and bake for 15–20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, then eat with brown sauce (not red, you philistines).
BIY: Bake It Yourself by Richard Burr (Quadrille £20) Photography: Chris Terry
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