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Whether croissants, pudding pretzels or Franzbrötchen – you can conjure up many delicacies from yeast puff pastry dough. Here I show you how to make Danish pastry dough at home. You’ll also learn how to prepare it vegan, how to store it, and what you can make from it. A detailed Danish pastry dough recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions can be found below.
What is Danish pastry dough?
Danish pastry dough can be described as a combination of yeast dough and puff pastry dough. It is also called yeast puff pastry dough. It is a dough made of yeast dough and drawing fat – butter or margarine. The drawing fat is worked into the yeast dough over several tours – rolling out and folding. This process is called “touring”. This gives the dough many thin layers.
Which tours are there?
When touring the dough, a distinction is made between a single tour and a double tour. In the first, the dough is folded into three layers. For this, one third of the dough is folded in the middle and then the other side is folded over it. In the double tour, the folded dough is in four layers. It is folded in from both sides to the center (or even better if one side is folded in 1/3 and the other 2/3 to the center) and then folded in half like a book.
On the top row in the picture you see the double tour and on the bottom the single tour.
Danish pastry dough recipes
There are many different Danish pastry dough recipes. For example, the drawing fat can be incorporated into the yeast dough either cold or room-warm. Cold butter is either cut into small pieces or thin sheets beforehand, or rolled out into a large sheet wrapped in baking paper and then allowed to cool thoroughly. Brush individual layers of dough with room-warm butter and then chill only the dough, as I did with my pudding pretzels. Depending on the pastry, the chilling times and number of tours can also vary. For example, if you want to make fine croissants from Danish pastry dough, longer resting times are worthwhile for them. While only two simple tours are sufficient for Franzbrötchen, you should make three or more tours for some other pastries.
Freezing yeast puff pastry dough
You can simply freeze the finished Danish pastry dough and only make pastries from it when needed. Then let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator before further processing. You can also freeze unbaked dough pieces. Spread them out on a floured cutting board, let them freeze, and then transfer them to freezer bags if desired. Before baking, defrost the dough pieces overnight in the refrigerator and then let them rise briefly at room temperature.
What can I make from Danish pastry dough?
You can make various delicious pastries from Danish pastry dough. Many of them you know from your baker. But of course they taste best when you make them yourself. Above all, many sweet pastries can be made from Danish pastry dough, such as croissants, pudding pretzel, custard cherry hand pies, Franzbrötchen, cruffins, Quarktaschen, Copenhageners, Bambergers or pains au chocolat. But you can also conjure up savory snacks or finger food. Fill or top the dough with vegetables, cream cheese, grated cheese, herbs and spices, among other things.
How to make vegan Danish pastry dough?
You can easily convert this Danish pastry dough recipe into a vegan version. To do this, replace milk with a plant-based milk alternative, such as soy, lupine, coconut, oat or almond drink. Instead of butter, use vegan margarine. Simply omit the egg from the recipe. Note that without egg you will need a little less flour. And you have a vegan Danish pastry dough recipe.
The pastry made from the homemade yeast puff pastry dough is
- fluffy,
- flaky,
- soft,
- buttery,
- tender,
- crispy on the outside,
- incredibly delicious,
- aromatic,
- tastier than from the bakery.
The homemade Danish pastry dough is suitable
- suitable for freezing,
- to be prepared in advance,
- ideal for popular classics, such as Franzbrötchen or croissants.
In addition, the Danish pastry dough recipe
- depending on the pastry can be varied as desired, in terms of cooling times of the dough and the number of tours,
- also vegan possible,
- suitable for sweet and savory pastries,
- not difficult, but requiring patience.
Danish pastry dough recipe / yeast puff pastry dough recipe
Making Danish pastry dough yourself is not as difficult as you might think at first, but it does require a little patience. But the effort is worth it, because homemade Danish pastry tastes much more delicious than those from the bakery or supermarket. Here you can get a rough idea of how to prepare the yeast puff pastry dough according to the basic recipe, and what you need for it. The exact quantities and step-by-step instructions for making Danish pastry dough at home can be found in the recipe box below.
For the Danish pastry dough recipe you will need
- cold butter for touring,
- room-warm milk,
- egg,
- room-warm butter,
- flour,
- yeast – I had fresh yeast,
- some sugar and salt.
How to make Danish pastry dough: here’s how (Check out the detailed recipe below.)
- Knead yeast dough from all ingredients except cold butter and let it rise in the fridge for 2 hours. Wrap the cold butter in baking paper, roll it into a square and put it in the fridge as well.
- After that, you continue with the touring of the Danish pastry dough (first double tour, then two to three times single tour), and chill the dough again and again.
- Your Danish pastry dough is ready and can be made into pastry according to the recipe.
How to make Danish pastry dough: tips and tricks
- You can use both fresh and dry yeast for the basic Danish pastry dough recipe.
- The specified amount of flour can always vary. Therefore, add the flour in portions until the dough has the right consistency. It should be very soft, not mushy, but not dry or too firm.
- Do not roll the dough too thin when touring so that the butter does not run out.
- If air has collected in the dough during rolling and air bubbles have formed on the surface, you can carefully make small holes in the dough with a toothpick and let the air out.
- When touring the dough, make sure that the fold of the rectangle on the work surface is on the same side each time you roll and fold it.
- Each time, remove the excess flour from the dough with a pastry brush before folding it so that it holds together well.
- It is important to chill the dough well after each tour so that the drawing fat does not melt and leak.
- Cover the dough well each time you chill it so it doesn’t dry out.
- You can use the homemade Danish pastry dough to make both sweet and savory bites. See my notes here above.
- Danish pastry is usually baked at slightly higher temperatures, i.e. at about 200 °C – 220 °C. However, the baking temperatures also depend on the particular oven.
Did you make Danish pastry dough using this basic recipe? What did you make from it? I’m looking forward to your results, your star rating and your comment here below on how the yeast puff pastry dough turned out for you.
Danish pastry dough
Ingredients
- 250 g butter cold
- 250 ml milk room-warm
- 1 egg
- 50 g butter room-warm
- 30 g sugar
- approx. 520 g flour
- 21 g fresh yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- flour for the work surface
Instructions
- Dissolve fresh yeast and sugar in room-warm milk.
- Add softened butter, egg and salt and mix coarsely.
- Add flour in batches and knead into a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes so that it becomes elastic and smooth, and chill it, covered, for 2 hours to rise.
- Fold the baking paper into an envelope about 20 cm x 20 cm, put 250 g of cold butter cut into thin slabs and roll it out with a rolling pin so that it is evenly distributed in the envelope. Put the butter plate in the envelope also in the refrigerator while the dough is rising.
- On a floured work surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle about 21 cm x 41 cm (that is, slightly larger than twice the size of the butter plate).
- Take the butter plate out of the baking paper envelope and place it on one side of the dough rectangle, leaving a border about 1 cm wide. Cover the butter plate with the second half of the dough and press the edge of the dough firmly on all sides.
- Roll out the buttered dough into a long rectangle, fold in one of the shorter sides of the rectangle about 2/3 and its second side about 1/3 to the center, and glue the two sides together. Now fold the dough from the two folded sides together like a book, wrap it in baking paper or plastic wrap and chill it for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough sheet back out on the floured work surface into a long rectangle, fold one of the shorter sides of the square in half on the center, and place the second short side over it. Wrap the dough sheet in baking paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat this step once or twice more, depending on the recipe.
- Now form pastries from the finished Danish pastry dough, depending on the recipe. Let the pastries rise at room temperature until they have visibly increased in size, and bake them.
Notes
- The amount of flour given can always vary. Therefore, add the flour in portions until the dough reaches the right consistency. It should be very soft, not mushy, but not dry or too firm either.
- Do not roll the dough too thin when touring so that the butter does not run out.
- If air has collected in the dough during rolling and air bubbles have formed on the surface, you can carefully make small holes in the dough with a toothpick and let the air out.
- When touring the dough, make sure that the fold of the rectangle on the work surface is on the same side each time it is rolled out and folded.
- Each time, remove the excess flour from the dough with a pastry brush before folding it so that it holds together well.
- It is important to chill the dough well after each turn so that the drawing fat does not melt and leak.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the Danish pastry dough at the top of the post.