Let’s make homemade breakfast pastries using a variation of classic Danish pastry dough. We’re working the butter directly into the dough, which is a different method from laminating it with separate layers of butter. These breakfast pastries are buttery and flaky with sweet fillings and a drizzle of vanilla icing. For best success, use the video tutorial and photos, as well as the carefully explained recipe for guidance.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Do you remember when I published a shortcut variation of Danish pastry dough? You might not—it was several years ago! Since then, I’ve created a raspberry pastry braid and a blueberry cream cheese pastry braid using that same dough. Let’s take it a step further and make individual homemade breakfast pastries.
Researching their origin, I learned that traditional Danish pastries came to life around the 1850s by Austrian bakers working in Denmark. What started as the Austrian pastry known as Plundergebäck developed into what is now known as danishes. There are many ways to make, top, shape, and serve these pastries and that usually depends on the region. Here in the US, we can usually find them topped with fruit, jams, and sweetened cream cheese fillings. Bottom line: we’re all so very thankful for these sweets!
This is a Shortcut Homemade Pastry
Before I describe these homemade pastries and show you how to make them, let me explain this pastry dough variation. This is a shortcut version—it’s not the traditional method of making real danishes. This dough is usually laminated several times between layers of butter, similar to how we prepare homemade croissants and croissant bread. Here we are working the butter directly into the dough using a food processor. We’re still rolling out and folding the dough, just as you do when you laminate dough with butter, but we’re not folding it up with a separate layer of butter.
I use the term “shortcut” loosely as this dough still takes at least 5-6 hours total with 2 rounds of refrigeration. They’re just as buttery and flaky as the real thing!
Are you looking for a dough that’s more similar to puff pastry? We skip the lamination in this rough puff pastry dough as well. (And that recipe skips yeast unlike today’s yeasted dough, which creates slightly puffier pastries.)
I have the full written recipe below, as well as step-by-step photos and careful explanations below the recipe. This post is rather long, so I wanted to add most of the details below the recipe. I can’t wait for you to try these at home!
These Homemade Breakfast Pastries Are:
- Made from a modified yeasted pastry dough
- Crisp, flaky, & extra buttery
- Ready for your favorite breakfast pastry fillings
- Topped with sweet vanilla icing
Plus, you can easily make this dough in 1 morning or over the course of 3 days. I love make-ahead dough where you have plenty of options in terms of timing. You can also freeze half the dough if 16 pastries are too many or even make 8 pastries and 1 pastry braid!
Filling Ideas
You need around 2/3 cup of filling for the entire recipe (16 breakfast pastries). Feel free to mix and match, creating different flavors in your batch.
- Jam or Preserves, such as raspberry, peach, or strawberry
- Pumpkin Butter or Apple Butter
- Lemon Curd
- Cherry Pie Filling
- Nutella
- Cream Cheese Filling (my favorite and detailed in the recipe below)
Use This Dough to Make Pastry Braids
I love a versatile dough! Just as we can use pizza dough to make pizza, cheesy breadsticks, garlic knots, and pepperoni pizza rolls, we can use this homemade pastry dough to make individual pastries and pastry braids. I haven’t perfected other shapes yet, but feel free to try. Make sure you chill any shaped pastries before baking to help guarantee they hold their shape. See step 13 and corresponding recipe note below.
Baker’s Tip: I find that the braids bake up even flakier than the individual pastries! I have a video tutorial showing you how to shape this pastry braid. It’s easier than it looks.
See Your Breakfast Pastries!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
Step-by-step photos below!
Print
Breakfast Pastries with Shortcut Homemade Dough
- Prep Time: 6 hours (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours, 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 pastries
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Danish
Description
These homemade breakfast pastries use a variation of classic Danish pastry dough. We’re working the butter directly into the dough, which is a different method from laminating it with separate layers of butter. Make sure the butter is very cold before beginning. This recipe yields 2 pounds of dough.
Ingredients
Pastry Dough
- 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Platinum Yeast from Red Star (1 standard packet)*
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk, at room temperature (between 68–72°F, 20-22°C)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 14 Tablespoons (196g) unsalted butter, cold
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for generously flouring hands, surface, and dough
Filling
- 2/3 cup filling (see recipe notes for options & cheese filling)
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk
Vanilla Icing (Optional)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk or heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preliminary note: To help guarantee success, I recommend reading through the recipe, watching the video tutorial, and reading the explanations below this recipe. (All answer many FAQs.) Do not use an electric mixer for this dough. It’s best if the dough is folded together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula since it is so sticky. There is very minimal mixing required.
- Make the Pastry Dough: Whisk the warm water, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon (6g) of sugar together in a large bowl. Cover and allow to rest until foamy on top, about 5 minutes. If the surface doesn’t have bubbles on top or look foamy after 15 minutes (it should if the yeast isn’t expired), start over with a fresh packet of yeast. Whisk in remaining sugar, the milk, egg, and salt. Once these wet ingredients are mixed together, lightly cover and set the bowl aside as you work on the next step.
- Cut the cold butter into 1/4 inch slices and add to a food processor or blender. Top with 2 and 1/2 cups flour. Pulse the mixture 12-15 times, until butter is crumbled into pea-size bits. See photo below for a visual. Using a food processor or blender is best for this dough. Keeping that in mind, if you don’t have one, you can use a pastry cutter to work in the butter.
- Pour the flour mixture into the wet yeast mixture. Very gently fold everything together using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Fold *just until* the dry ingredients are moistened. The butter must remain in pieces and crumbles, which creates a flaky pastry. Turn the sticky dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap, parchment paper, aluminum foil, or into any container you can tightly cover.
- 1st Refrigeration: Wrap the dough/cover up tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 48 hours.
- Roll & Fold: Take the dough out of the refrigerator to begin the “rolling and folding” process. If the dough sat for more than 4 hours, it may have slightly puffed up and that’s ok. (It will deflate as you shape it, which is also ok.) Very generously flour a work surface. The dough is very sticky, so make sure you have more flour nearby as you roll and fold. Using the palm of your hands, gently flatten the dough into a small square. Using a rolling pin, roll out into a 15×8 inch rectangle. When needed, flour the work surface and dough as you are rolling. Fold the dough into thirds as if it were a business letter. (See photos and video tutorial.) Turn it clockwise and roll it out into a 15 inch long rectangle again. Then, fold into thirds again. Turn it clockwise. You’ll repeat rolling and folding 1 more time for a total of 3 times.
- 2nd Refrigeration: Wrap up/seal tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. You can also freeze the dough at this point. See freezing instructions.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Rimmed baking sheets are best because butter may leak from the dough as it bakes. If you don’t have rimmed baking sheets, when it’s time to preheat the oven, place another baking sheet on the oven rack below to catch any butter that may drip.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut it in half. Wrap 1 half up and keep refrigerated as you work with the first half. (You can freeze half of the dough at this point, use the freezing instructions below.)
- Shape into rounds: Cut the first half of dough into 8 even pieces. This will be about 1/4 cup of dough per pastry. Roll each into balls. Flatten each into a 2.5 inch circle. Use your fingers to create a lip around the edges. See photos and video tutorial if needed. Press the center down to flatten the center as much as you can so you can fit the filling inside. (Center puffs up as it bakes.) Arrange pastries 3 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. Repeat with second half of dough.
- Spoon 2 teaspoons of fruity filling or 1 Tablespoon of cheese filling inside each.
- Egg Wash: Whisk the egg wash ingredients together. Brush on the edges of each shaped pastry.
- This step is optional, but I very strongly recommend it. Chill the shaped pastries in the refrigerator, covered or uncovered, for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour. See recipe note. You can preheat the oven as they finish up chilling.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Bake for 19-22 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Some butter may leak from the dough, that’s completely normal and expected. Feel free to remove the baking sheets from the oven halfway through baking and brush the dough with any of the leaking butter, then place back in the oven to finish baking. (That’s what I do!)
- Remove baked pastries from the oven. Cool for at least 5 minutes before icing/serving.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together. If you want a thicker icing, whisk in more confectioners’ sugar. If you want a thinner icing, whisk in more milk or cream. Drizzle over warm pastries and serve.
- Cover leftover iced or un-iced pastries and store at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or you can freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw before serving. Before enjoying, feel free to reheat leftover iced or un-iced pastries in the microwave for a few seconds until warmed.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare the dough as instructed in steps 2-4. At this point the dough can be refrigerated up to 48 hours. You can also prepare the dough through step 6. At this point the dough can be refrigerated up to 24 hours. During or after this second chilling time, you could also freeze the dough for up to 1 month. (I don’t recommend freezing the dough before the rolling and folding step.) Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then continue with step 8. You can also freeze the unfilled pastries after shaping them in step 10. Thaw in the refrigerator, then continue with step 11.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Wooden Spoon or Rubber Spatula | Whisk | Glass Mixing Bowl | Food Processor, Blender, or Pastry Cutter | Rolling Pin | Rimmed Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush
- Fruity Fillings: You need around 2/3 cup (about 200g) of filling for the entire recipe (16 pastries). Use jam or fruit preserves, pumpkin butter, apple butter, lemon curd, cherry pie filling, etc. Or even Nutella! You need 2 heaping teaspoons per pastry. Feel free to mix and match, making different flavors in your batch.
- Cheese Filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed, beat one 8 ounce block (224g) of full-fat cream cheese that is softened at room temperature in a medium bowl until smooth. Beat in 1 large egg yolk, 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract until smooth. Use 1 scant Tablespoon per pastry. Feel free to dot the cream cheese filling with fresh berries before baking or mix fruit preserves in with the cream cheese filling (still using 2-3 teaspoons of filling per pastry).
- Temperature & Substitutions: The temperature of your ingredients is imperative to this pastry’s success. Make sure you take the time to warm the water and bring the milk to room temperature. Keep the butter in the refrigerator until you need it in step 3. I do not recommend any substitutions in this carefully formulated dough, though a lower fat or nondairy milk works in a pinch. For the egg wash and icing, low fat or nondairy milks work, as do heavy cream or half-and-half.
- Yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star is an instant yeast. If needed, you can use active dry yeast instead. The instructions and amount remain exactly the same regardless of which you use.
- Optional Step (step 13): Chilling the shaped pastries in the refrigerator helps them maintain their shape in the oven. Remember, cold pastry dough is best. I usually refrigerate them for 15 minutes as the oven preheats. If you’re nervous to chill the baking sheets in the refrigerator then bake them (which can cause warping), you have two other options. You can simply assemble the pastries on parchment paper or silicone baking mats, lift the parchment/baking mat as a whole and place on another baking sheet or directly onto a shelf in the refrigerator. After chilling, carefully lift up and place the entire parchment/baking mat onto the baking sheets for baking. Or you can use a thin spatula and very carefully transfer the assembled unbaked pastries to a large plate to chill.
- Halve the Recipe? I don’t recommend halving this dough recipe. Make the dough as written, then freeze half after step 9. Or make 8 breakfast pastries and 1 pastry braid (cream cheese or raspberry).
- Dough recipe adapted from Cooking Illustrated, Joy of Cooking, and Beatrice Ojakangas
Detailed Explanations: How to Make Homemade Breakfast Pastries
This yeasted pastry dough comes together with 8 basic ingredients.
- Water: You need 2 liquids in this dough recipe: warm water and room temperature milk. Don’t use all water or all milk; this careful balance is key. Mix the warm water with yeast and some granulated sugar. Cover and wait until the top is a little foamy, as pictured below. (You will do this step no matter if you are using instant yeast or active-dry yeast.)
- Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. The instructions, amount, and recipe do not change– you will still do each of these exact steps regardless of which type you use. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast that is blended with natural dough improvers.
- Granulated Sugar: Sugar sweetens this dough and feeds the yeast. Use 1 Tablespoon at first, then add the rest of the sugar when you whisk in the milk, egg, and salt.
- Whole Milk: Use room temperature milk, not warm milk. For best taste and texture, I strongly recommend whole milk.
- Egg: 1 egg tenderizes the dough. Don’t skip it!
- Salt: Adds flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour: You need flour in the dough, plus a generous amount for the rolling, folding, and shaping steps. As you can see in my video tutorial above, it’s helpful to have plenty of extra flour on hand. I use a lot of it!
- Cold Butter: Butter is the main ingredient in this dough recipe– you will work it directly into the flour, forming pea-sized crumbles. Just like when we make pie crust or biscuits, make sure the butter is extra cold. If the butter isn’t cold, the butter will melt, the dough will turn to semi-liquid, and you won’t have any layers or flakes in your pastry. The colder the butter (and dough), the better results.
After the yeast has proofed and foamed (above), whisk in the rest of the sugar, the milk, egg, and salt. We’ll call these the wet ingredients:
You need a food processor blender for this recipe. If you have neither, use a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the flour. An electric mixer will not work for this step. You are looking for pea-size crumbles of flour coated butter. This step is only possible if the butter is cold.
Pour the butter/flour crumbles into the wet ingredients and fold it together using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. It is very sticky. Since this dough is so sticky, I do not recommend using an electric mixer. It will create a huge mess! There is minimal mixing required anyway– we don’t want to overwork this dough.
You’ll notice many bits of butter still visible in the dough– that’s a GOOD thing! Wrap the dough up tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 48 hours.
This is the 1st refrigeration.
Shortcut Lamination
Now let’s do a variation of laminating aka rolling and folding dough and butter together. Remember when we made croissants and laminated the dough with a sheet of butter? The butter is IN this pastry dough. So, instead, we’re just rolling and folding the dough itself. Roll it out into a 15×8 inch rectangle:
Fold it in thirds like a letter:
Turn it clockwise:
Then roll it out into a 15-inch rectangle again. Repeat the folding. Turn it clockwise again. Repeat rolling and folding 1 more time for a total of 3 times. Wrap the laminated dough up tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.
This is the 2nd refrigeration.
How to Shape Homemade Breakfast Pastries
This dough recipe yields 16 breakfast pastries. See recipe note above about halving/freezing the dough. Cut the dough in half. (Work with only half the dough at once. Wrap half up and refrigerate until ready to use.) Cut the half of dough into 8 pieces. Roll into balls:
Flatten each into a 2.5 inch circle. Use your fingers to create a lip around the edges. Arrange pastries 3 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. Repeat with second half of dough.
Spoon your filling of choice inside each, then brush the edges of the pastries with egg wash, which is a combination of 1 egg and milk.
What is the purpose of an egg wash? It guarantees a shiny and crisp golden crust.
To help guarantee the shaped pastries hold their shape, chill them in the refrigerator as the oven preheats and even up to 1 hour. (See recipe note above.)
Bake until the breakfast pastries are golden brown. Cool for a few minutes, then drizzle with vanilla icing and serve!
Hi Sally!
I just finished making my pastry dough for this recipe but had a minor difficulty. I blended the required 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour with 16 tablespoons of butter into roughly pea sized pieces—although some may have been on the chunkier side—but when I folded the flour mixture into the wet mixture the dough ended up being very wet. I compensated by adding a little more flour to the dough and this fixed it but I’m still confused as to why this happened.
PS: I love your recipes!
Hi Brooks! This is definitely a wet dough – you can see in the video above how it should look when you’re working with it. There are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a slightly less sticky consistency.
These are delicious! Made with the suggested cream cheese filling and added a spoonful of a quick blueberry compote I whipped up. The compote ran along the sides and looks a bit unsightly (my fault for making it too runny), however these are the best breakfast pastries ever! I’ve only made this kind of dough once with limited success, but this recipe was so easy to follow and the results are worth the time it takes.
These are amazing! I made them for New Year’s Day breakfast and my family loved them. I made some with fruit and some with sweet cheese. I will make these again. Thank you for another great recipe!
Hi Mrs. Sally,
I’ve been using your pastry dough recipe for some time now, I’m all all honesty many of your recipes☺️. I tried the Danish pastries, and the pastry just would not seem to take on the bowl shape to hold the jam. It was plenty cold, but none of the 16 held a bowl shape. Is there something I may be doing wrong?
Hi Hope, You can see exactly how Sally shapes these pastries in the video above – she starts right at the 3:40 mark. Hopefully that will give you a good visual of how to shape them!
hi sally i love your recipes! made this and they were gone within a few hours. however, i expected them to be flakier/crispier (followed the recipe step by step) . im not sure if thats how theyre supposed to be or if the texture is meant to resemble a pie crust. its also quite humid where i live. could this be the reason? thanks for all you do 🙂
Hi Mehrona, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. It sounds like your butter may have been too warm. If the butter isn’t cold, the butter will melt, the dough will turn to semi-liquid, and you won’t have any layers or flakes in your pastry. The humidity can make it more difficult to work with very buttery doughs like this! Hope this is helpful for next time.
So good! Tastes like toaster strudel, but homemade and better, obviously. I LOVE the slightly tangy yet sweet berry filling with the flaky, buttery crust. It is absolutely divine on its on, but pour (not drizzle, pour) some sweet vanilla glaze on top? PURE HEAVEN.
Sorry! Meant to post this on the berry turnover recipe!
Please let me know if this can also be a pie dough?
Thought it might have occurred to you or someone?
Thank you ahead
HI, I dont have a food proccessor, would a vitamix work in place of that also i dont have whole milk, but i do have raw milk, would that work?
Worked perfectly! I filled with lemon curd that I made with lemons fresh off the tree in my garden. So delicious – buttery and flaky
Thank you for the quick answer. Due to hot weather do you think I can bake them in Airfryer?
We’ve never tested these in an air fryer, but let us know if you do!
Hi Sally! This dought can be freez up to one month or up to 3 months?
Thank you.
Hi Irina, we recommend freezing this dough up to one month – see recipe notes for details!
Can you freeze pastries after forming them?
Hi Diana, absolutely, you can also freeze the unfilled pastries after shaping them in step 10. Thaw in the refrigerator, then continue with step 11.
Hi Sally!!
So happy with my pastry dough! But I found mine to be slightly “cakey” and less flakey. I didn’t substitute anything and used cold butter. I also chilled the dough as the recipe outlined. I tried to follow the recipe exactly. Any tips for a more flaky danish?
Hi Miranda, Did you end up with pea size crumbles after you mixed in the butter? Make sure you are just pulsing it in the food processor and not over working/mixing it. Also I know you said your butter was cold, but you can eve stick the cubes in the freezer for a few minutes to make sure that its REALLY cold!
Hi. I made this recipe, the dough is fantastic…and much easier to do with your detailed explanation written and video. My only problem was the creamcheese filling baked in the dough…there was not much definition of the creamy center….and could not really find it while eating it either. What could have gone wrong?
Hi Patricia, Thank you for trying this recipe! Any chance you made any substitutions when making the filling? Be sure that you are using full-fat cream block cream cheese (and not the spread sold in a tub) and that it’s not too warm.
I agree with Patricia. I love the cream cheese filling, but after baking, I can’t really taste it. Although the pastry’s are really delicious.
I have not used this recipe, but in the past, when I have made danish, I took the unfilled danish out of the oven when they were about half way baked, using a teaspoon, I gently pressed down where the original impressions was, THEN I filled the danish. The filling stayed put much better. You can try that. (?)
I am trying to recreate wonderful cheese danish from a local french bakery. So I would roll dough into a rectangle, spread with cream cheese filling, roll up and slice (like cinnamon rolls). Bake, then drizzle with icing. Do you see any problems with this idea? Thank you so much, I have been looking for a good danish dough recipe.
Hi Carolyn, We haven’t tested the pastry dough that way before, but let us know if you do. There may be some butter leakage during bake time, but that’s normal with any way you shape the dough.
These pastries tasted really good! When I took them out of the oven at 15 min a few them burned a little on the bottom. So I baked the next tray at 14 min and still a few burned. I realized they bake faster because I ended up making the well bigger because I wanted to use up all of the cream cheese filling and not have any leftover. I added 2 tbsp of cream cheese filling instead of 1 tbsp. My pastries were about 3 inches instead of 2.5 inches as stated in the recipe. I always use an over thermometer and I always bake in the upper third of my oven because I don’t like my baked goods to brown too much on the bottom. The next time I make these I will bake at 12 min so they don’t burn. I prefer them with 2 tbsp of cream cheese filling.
I made these last month for a staff meeting at work and OMG! They were DEVOURED! One coworker said that they were the BEST cheese danishes she’s ever had-and that’s her fave danish! I did some plain cheese, some plain with jam (apricot or mixed berry) and some with both!
Really great recipe! Easy to make and very tasty.
First time making anything like this. The recipe along with the pics and video made it easy to follow. This will be a snowy day treat for years to come!
This the second time I’ve made a recipe from Sallysbakingaddition and let me tell ya, I was NOT disappointed. Oh my god this might be the best breakfast pastry I’ve ever had, and my mom owns a BAKERY! This is so delicious and I even sent a bunch with the guy that I’m dating ski roommate trip and they already ate 5! So delicious and does not disappoint! Cant wait to try the next recipe
I tried this with raspberry jam, cream cheese filling, and lemon curd. The cream cheese and raspberry ones turned out great but the lemon curd filling melted and all leaked out of the danish – what should I do differently next time?
Hi Rachel, If you want to try them again see the recipe notes in the post for lemon curd on how to make a thicker curd. That should help!
This reminds me of my Czech Grandmother’s Kolache. She made 3 different fillings :
Dried apricot in the middle, cheese, and poppyseed, They were so good
Am I able to put these together the night before, leave them in the refrigerator, and then bake in the morning? Thanks!
Hi Allison, yes you can refrigerate the shaped pastries overnight. You may want to lightly cover them since they’ll be in the refrigerator for so long. Enjoy!
Thanks so much! These will be delicious for Christmas morning, and I can personalize a Danish for each family members’ tastes. I’ve always had great results with recipes from this site – so whenever I’m looking for a new dessert recipe, sallysbakingaddiction is my go to! Thank you for such time- tested recipes!
I LOVE This danish! I stopped doing danish years ago because of the process. These are JUST AS GOOD as the process that used to take me a week to do. One question. Wondering if the results would be different if doubling the recipe or if I should just suck it up and do individual batches at a time?
Hi Lori, we recommend separate batches for the best results, but some bakers have had good luck doubling it. So happy you love this recipe!
I made this! It’s not complicated at all but does take time. SO WORTH IT! I froze half the recipe and have since used it. It freezes beautifully. This is a must try if you love pastry.
Would this dough be good for croissants too, or do you only recommend the true laminating process for them?
Hi Deagan, it would definitely work, but for best taste, texture, and success– I recommend my regular homemade croissants recipe.
I love how amazingly easy this recipe is, and how freezer friendly it is. You can make the dough on a free weekend and have it ready the next time people come for brunch! Once the dough is made the danishes themselves take hardly any time, but they taste amazing and you can be creative with your fillings too.
Made this again! So good! Thank you so much for another great recipe!!!
Despite the very detailed instructions, I have many questions!
Could I refrigerate overnight after shaping in step 10? I think yes, because you’ve mentioned freezing is ok at this stage, but I want to check.
I’d like to do a chocolate ganache and savory filling. Should I fill ganache after baking? For the savory, I’m thinking I can do cream cheese, salt and chopped up jalapenos. Not sure I can still add the egg if I’m doing only 4 oz of cream cheese.
Hi Krithika, yes you can refrigerate the shaped pastries overnight. You may want to lightly cover them since they’ll be in the refrigerator for so long. For a ganache filling, fill them after baking. The centers will puff up without a filling inside, so when they’re finished baking and are still warm, use the back of a spoon to press the center back down. A savory cream cheese version sounds great! You’d still need some egg yolk in there. Stir an egg yolk with a fork, then use half of it.
Have a general question about flour types. Wasn’t sure where to go to ask this question. The only flour I am able to come by at grocery stores near me is All Purpose Flour (Bleached and Unbleached) … no bread flour anywhere. I think I have always used All Purpose Bleached in the past for cakes. If I can only use one flour for breads, pastries, pies, pizza, cakes … which one should I buy? Or does one work better than the other depending on what I’m making?
Thank you!
Hi Loraine, thank you so much for asking! The best type of flour to use for a particular recipe certainly depends on what you’re making. Typically cake flour is ideal for cakes, bread flour for breads, and all-purpose flour for generally anything in between (it’s not as light as cake flour or as heavy as bread flour). It really depends on the recipe and most recipes will specify what to use. For a general flour that works for most recipes, however, purchase all-purpose flour. By the way, you can make a homemade cake flour substitute with all-purpose flour!