Wienerbrød is a danish specialty. When I visit Denmark I will not leave before I have had at least one piece of freshly baked wienerbrød from the bakery. Wienerbrød comes in many shapes and sizes and can have many different types of fillings. Since wienerbrød isn't as readily available in Phoenix (and most other American cities) then I had to learn how to make this. Many Americans will describe this type of pastry as a Danish. Unfortunately, the Danishes that you can buy in the States don't taste anything like the real thing ... don't let yourself be fooled (just ask my husband who discovered this tasty pastry for the first time in Denmark a few years ago and will never go back to the American Danish.).
Whole Wheat Danish Wienerbrød
recipe modified from mydanishkitchen
Ingredients
Pastry Dough
150g unsalted butter, cold and diced
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
60g warm water
58g heavy cream
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, room temperature
25g sugar
Filling
raspberry preserves (or preserves of choice)
Glaze
1/2 egg white
1 Tbsp water
sugar for topping
sliced almonds for topping
Icing
64g powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp warm milk
1/4 tsp almond extract
Directions
If you mill your own flour, grind your soft and hard wheat berries. You may want to grind a little more flour than needed since you will be sifting the flour. I use my WonderMill on the pastry setting. Sift your flour twice in order to make the pastry less dense.
Add the flour to a food processor and then add the cut butter. Pulse the flour and butter until it becomes crumbly.
In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
Next stir in the cream, cardamom, salt, eggs, and sugar.
Fold in the flour/butter mixture into the liquid mixture.
Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours (up to 4 days).
Once the dough is cold, roll the dough out on a floured surface into a 16 to 20 inch square.
Fold the dough into thirds, rotate dough a quarter of a turn and fold into thirds again before turning over the dough and repeating the rolling and folding steps another two times (roll/fold a total of 3 times).
Finally wrap the dough and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes (or overnight).
Once the dough is chilled, roll the dough into a 9x15 inch rectangle and then spread the filling down the center of the rectangle.
Then cut slanting strips towards the center along both sides of the rectangle
Fold the strips over the filling in a crisscross manner.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Place the pastry onto a baking sheet and let it rise for about 15-30 minutes.
While the pastry is rising, mix together the glaze by beating the egg and water together.
Once the pastry appears puffy, spread the glaze over it before sprinkling with sugar and almonds.
Bake the pastry for about 15 minutes until golden brown.
When you are ready to serve the pastry, mix together the icing. Then drizzle it on top of the pastry.
ENJOY
Wienerbrød is tasty with a good cup of coffee. YUMMMMMMM.
