Bakers Dozen

As I didn’t get much practice in the lamination of dough in school, I have over the years spent some quiet 3 am mornings layering flour and butter to make some good, but mostly crappy renditions of the classics! Until my trip to Bethesda Wales, where Dan Lepard demonstrated under the most precarious conditions, rolling pin was a bottle of red wine and we were left the next day to proof them, we didn’t have an egg to finally egg wash the specimens either! So a few weekends ago I sent some samples to a friend to see if he would offer them for his restaurant, this didn’t come true but at least I got some practice! Nils that ever busy baker in Aachen is always a step ahead of me and has a great set of pictures of his apple and sultana danish! The recipe are actually Dieter Schorners,a student at FCI took pity on me and offered all the pastry formulas which I took without a wink of an eye! It’s a treasure trove!

Chef Dieter Schorner’s Danish

70g Fresh yeast

1cup cold milk

340g bread flour

225g cake flour

50g sugar

5g salt

1/4tsp cardamom

50g softened butter

2 eggs

340g roll in butter

Roll detrempe into triangle, chill 30 to 60 min

3 single turns 20-30 min rest between  each fold

batch yields 25 to 30 danish

Various shapes, rolled into pain aux raisin or filled with pastry cream then filled with poached fruits.

Sugar glaze for danish

1lb confectioners sugar with  130-150 g milk

White icing same as  above with only half milk or less.