Danish Puff Pastry Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is danish pastry the same as puff pastry? ›

Like other viennoiserie products, such as croissants, Danish pastries are a variant of puff pastry. Danish Pastry consists out of yeast-leavened dough and a type of fat; mostly butter or margarine. The fat can be included in the dough or it can be attached into the dough by laminating.

They are referred to as wienerbrød because Austrian bakers were actually the first to introduce these baking methods to Danish bakers. However, now many of these pastries are called “Danishes” in other countries, while they are still known as Vienna bread in Denmark.

Traditional Danish pastries

In Denmark, these world-famous sticky delights are called Vienna Bread (wienerbrød), as they were first made in Denmark in the 1840s by Austrian bakers.

Puff pastry, croissant, and Danish are the three original laminated doughs. Kouign Aman and cronuts are variations of one of those. Croissant and Danish contain yeast, puff pastry does not. In addition, the initial dough or detrempe for Danish contains egg which the others don't.

Puff pastry is similar to croissants in that it has visible airy layers. However, croissant dough is different from puff pastry because croissant dough contains yeast, but puff pastry does not contain yeast. The yeast in croissants give them a lighter and softer texture than that of puff pastry.

Mantinga - Danish Pastry Dough in Sheets (with Yeast) 500g.

The trick is to work large pieces of cold butter into dry ingredients and hydrate it all with ice cold water (as if you were making pie crust). Sometimes bakers grate butter into the mix or use a food processor. There's lots of ways to make rough puff pastry.

So where does puff pastry come from. Well it comes from France, where it is called pâte feuilletée. It was invented in 1645 by Claudius Gele, a pastry cook apprentice. He wanted to bake an improved bread for his father who was sick and was on a diet of flour, butter and water.

The easiest way is to use croissant dough for danishes, but I wanted something lighter, sweeter and flakier. A few attempts and tada… the recipe is ready for you to enjoy. The dough can be used for danishes, cheese pockets, Kringle, or anything of that nature.

If necessary, the dough is chilled between foldings to ease handling. The process of rolling, buttering, folding, and chilling is repeated multiple times to create a multilayered dough that becomes airy and crispy on the outside, but also rich and buttery.

What is a typical Danish breakfast? ›

Typical Danish breakfast is bread (white or rye bread) with cream or soft cheese, sausage, cured cold meat or jam with coffee or tea. Among popular breakfast dishes are also cereals and porridge. One of the most interesting things and a very traditional Danish food you can eat in Copenhagen is øllebrød.

The main differences between puff pastry and phyllo dough are their fat content and preparation. Puff pastry is a laminated dough that gets its signature airy puff from layers of butter, while phyllo dough is comparatively low-fat. Phyllo dough is mostly flour and water and can dry out easily.

There's more than one type of 'Danish' in Denmark – and to make things even more confusing, we call them wienerbrød or Viennese bread, as the inspiration for them came from a trip a Danish baker took to Vienna back in the 19th century.

The two most common types of laminated dough are puff pastry and croissants. Puff pastry is the simplest form of laminated dough, with just butter folded into a basic dough of flour, water, and salt.

Phyllo dough can be a great substitute for puff pastry in dishes like spanakopita and baklava [2].

In Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, the term for Danish pastry is wienerbrød (or wienerbröd), meaning "Viennese bread".

Puff pastry, also known as pâte feuilletée, is a flaky light pastry made from a laminated dough composed of dough (détrempe) and butter or other solid fat (beurrage). The butter is put inside the dough (or vice versa), making a paton that is repeatedly folded and rolled out before baking.

There are four commonly known types of puff pastry—'half,' 'three-quarter,' 'full' and 'inverted puff. The terms describe the amount of fat to the weight of flour. 'Full' denotes equal weights of fat and flour, 'three-quarter' means three-quarter of the weight of the fat to the flour, etc.