Should have gone with raspberry . . .

Should have gone with raspberry . . .

# 46 - 2008

I really don’t know where to start with this one. Let’s try to be business like about it shall we.

Yes, it is another Daring Baker Challenge. Twenty for me, twenty-three all total!

Our quiet and proper host and hostess this month are the Lovely KellyPea at Sass&Veracity and Ben at What’sCooking. I did these Brioche Doughnuts from the same book they’ve chosen this month’s recipe from. The recipe title, Danish Dough, is rather unassuming.

Danish Dough is a modified laminated dough. Puff Pastry maybe the ultimate laminated dough but even with only four turns the Danish Dough stays interesting because it throws yeast into the equation. It is an excellent introduction to laminated dough and Sherry Yard’s recipe is well written and straight forward to follow.

DANISH DOUGH  Adapted from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking
Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough
 For the dough (Detrempe)  1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast 1/2 cup whole milk 1/3 cup sugar Zest of 1 orange, finely grated 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped 2 large eggs, chilled 1/4 cup fresh orange juice 3-1/4 cups (446 grams) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt  For the butter block (Beurrage) 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter 1/4 cup (44 grams) all-purpose flour

I mixed by hand the Yeast and milk, then added sugar, orange juice & zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla beans and eggs.
I used the kitchen aid dough hook as I added the flour (whisked with the salt) a cup at a time. The flour should we well encorporated and the dough smooth. This took about 4 minutes. Dust ball with flour to prevent sticking.
Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Beurrage
For the butter block: I used the paddle attachment on the kitchen aid to combine the butter and flour; scrapped down the sides of the bowl 4 times until the mix was lump free and smooth. Leave at room temp.

Turning the dough with Beurrage:
After the detrempe has chilled at least 30 minutes between each turn (or rolling into 18 X 13 inch, 1/4 inch rectangle),
turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Keep the dough lightly flour dusted as it does tend to sticky.

FIRST TURN: Spread butter over 2/3’s of the rectangle, the center and right third. Fold the left third onto the middle third and then the right third onto the other two. Wrap in plastic and return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

TURNS 2 - 3 - 4
 Place the dough lengthwise on a lightly flour dusted counter with open fold ends to your right and left. Roll out to the 18 X 13 inch 1/4 inch thick size again - no more butter now. Fold into thirds: the left third onto the middle third and then the right third onto the other two. Wrap in plastic and return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes between each rolling.

After the fourth (final) rolling, wrap in plastic and return to the refrigerator for at least 5 hours or overnight. I left overnight. If you don’t plan to use it within 24 hours, you may freeze it. To freeze: Roll dough to 1 inch thick, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze. Defrost 12 plus hours in the refrigerator. Keeps one month frozen.

By the fourth rolling the rectangle had really pretty straight 90 angles!

At this point you have a fantastic pastry dough with endless shaping possibilities (see any pastry book for possibilities). Daring Bakers were ask to make at least one Danish Braid (the full recipe makes dough for two).

Brush with an egg wash, cover (now people I cover my breads like this with a large clear plastic box, if you use plastic wrap, spray it with Pam so that it won’t stick and deflate the dough when you remove it) and let rise at room temperature till almost double in size, it will feel light to the touch. This might take 2 hours. In my kitchen, remember it’s June, it’s Dallas and it was 98° outside, 80° in my kitchen, it took just 75 minutes.

I made the recipe for apple filling that was given. Kelly and Ben both have it on their sites. I found this recipe apple filling way to thin and would try something different next time. Lovely flavor though.

It’s a beautiful and impressive braid but it’s not really a braid. Flip the ends in and then pick up the right and left tabs with your right and left fingers and fold them across. It looks so much harder than it really is.

Preheat oven to 400°.
Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate pans. Turn heat down to 350° and continue to bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

This is one you really want to try; you can master it. When you try it, I promise you’ll smile with surprise!

I inhaled these two little babies made with some little extra left out dough. The raspberry was absolutely incredibly the best!!

Regrets with this recipe:
I missed Kelly’s suggestion to use 16 cardamon pods and grind the cardamon fresh. I used ground from the bottle and the flavor was lost. In a sleep deprived state 3/4 teaspoon seemed like way too much. Use fresh, it will be much better.

I’ll make the next one with raspberries!

My friends, you can’t imagine how good this was for breakfast with our coffee this morning. Trust me you can not. Get in the kitchen and start your dough!!
NOW.

Thank you Kelly and Ben you were gracious host and hostess. You picked a fantastic recipe.

DB Danish Dough

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Eyes and nose, everything about it misshapen but knock out TASTE GORGEOUS!!!

All I can think here is: BIG FAT GORGEOUS LIPS!!!

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