Quick Danish Pastry Dough

Submitted by Chocolatl

"From Nick Malgieri's book Bake!. This is a companion recipe to Recipe #450978, but you can use any Danish pastry recipe and/or filling you desire."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Yields: 2 1/2 pounds

ingredients

• 3 1⁄2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1⁄4 cup warm water
• 1⁄4 cup milk, scalded and cooled
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces unsalted butter, chilled
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

directions

1. Whisk yeast into water.
2. Wait 1-2 minutes, then whisk again.
3. Whisk in milk.
4. Combine flour, sugar and salt in food processor and pulse to mix.
5. Cut 4 tablespoons butter into thin slices and add to processor.
6. Pulse to a fine texture, but do not allow to become pasty.
7. Cut remaining butter into 1/2 inch cubes and add to processor.
8. Pulse exactly twice, for 1 second each time.
9. Remove dough from processor and place in mixing bowl.
10. Whisk eggs into yeast mixture and add to bowl.
11. Position a rubber spatula so its blade is flat and parallel with the bottom of the bowl.
12. Repeatedly dig spatula down to the bottom of the bowl, while turning bowl.
13. Repeat until dough comes together. Dough will be soft and sticky.
14. Press plastic wrap against surface of dough and refrigerate 1-2 hours.
15. Scrape chilled dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle flour over the top of the dough.
16. Press dough into a rectangle about twice as long as it is wide.
17. Starting at the narrow edge farthest from you, firmly press dough with a rolling pin in parallel strokes close to each other.
18. If there are sticky pieces of butter on the surface of the dough, seal them with a pinch of flour.
19. Clean off anything stuck to the rolling pin before continuing.
20. Repeat pressing motion from the close to the farther narrow end of dough.
21. Press once in the width. You should now have a 1/2 inch thick rectangle.
22. Sprinkle flour under and on top of dough.
23. Roll away back in length, and once in the width, without rolling over ends, to make a rectangle 18 inches long and 8 inches wide.
24. Fold the two narrow ends in toward the middle, leaving a 1 inch space in the center.
25. Fold top to bottom to form 4 layers.
26. Reposition dough so folded edge is on your left.
27. Repeat rolling and folding procedure.
28. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 12 hours before using.
29. Use in the Danish pastry recipe of your choice.