Underneath those braided layers lays a ginger frangipane with a chocolate swirl. Not even Rapunzel had a braid like this one!
Ben and Kelly were our wonderful hosts and they did a great job choosing this challenge. Danish pastry is such a nice thing for everyone to try at least once and I'm sure that even the ones that would not have dreamed of doing this in a million years were very pleased and proud with their braid! So thank you Ben and Kelly!
Adapted from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking (for 2 braids)
Dough
- For the dough (Detrempe)
- 1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup sugar
- Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 2 large eggs, chilled
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon saltFor the butter block
- (Beurrage)
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
I'ts time for that filling...
Ginger frangipane
- Ginger pastry cream
- 125 ml milk
- 1 egg yolk
- 30 gr (1 oz) sugar
- 15 gr (0.5 oz) corn starch
- 15 gr (0.5 oz) butter
- 1 piece fresh ginger (about 80 gr/2.8 oz)
Peel and cut the ginger into chunks and add to the milk. Let the milk come to a boil and leave to infuse the ginger for at least 30m (but you can do this up to 1 day in advance). Mix with a wisk with the yolk, corn starch and sugar, bring again the milk to almost boiling point and add little by little to the yolk mixture. Return everything to the heat and mixing allways with a wisk let it come to a full boil and thicken for 1-2 minutes. Take out of the stove, discard the ginger and add the butter in chuncks. Mix until the butter is melted and well mixed in and cover with plastic wrap to avoid a skin. Let cool completely before adding to the frangipane.
- Frangipane
- 100 gr (3.5 oz) butter
- 100 gr (3.5 oz) icing sugar
- 100 gr (3.5 oz) almond meal
- 1 egg
- 50 gr (1.8 oz) corn starch
- 60 gr (2 oz) ginger pastry cream
Beat the sugar, butter (softened), almond meal and corn starch. Add the egg and beat more until incorporated. Mix in the pastry cream with a spatula or wooden spoon. Keep in the fridge until it's time to use.
- Chocolate swirl
- 100 gr (3.5 oz) dark chocolate
- 2-3 tbsp cream
Cut the chocolate into small pieces (or use chips) Take 1 minute to the microwave with the cream. Mix until all the chocolate is melted and you have a nice uniform and shiny cream. If not there yet take 10 sec. more to the microwave or more if you need.
Let's put everything together now:
Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
Spoon the frangipane down the center of the rectangle, put the chocolate cream over it and swirl. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.
Grease a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F ( 200 ºC). Position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180ºC), and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.
And look what I did with the leftover chocolate cream and some of the scraps of the dough:
Pan au chocolat
And with the rest of the scraps, leftover pastry cream, fresh pinapple and pisctachios:
Pineapple filled carrée pasty
"Rapunzel let down your braid, I wanna eat it"
The dough tasted amazing I had to forbid myself to eat it raw. I mean with vanilla, orange and cardamom, how could it not tasted great? I also liked my filling, I'm a sucker for frangipane and the chocolate swirl was a nice touch I think. But my favourite was the little filled carrée pastries, they were so cute and the pineapple made them so fresh.
So if you're filling like seeing more than 1000 braids check my fellow Daring Bakers! See you next month!
78 comments:
that looks great. good job!
Really beautiful pastries and braid!
Mixing it by hand looks messy but fun, I just used a mixer. Love your flavor combos, and I'm going to have to make pain au chocolat with my other half of dough!
Wow, great job on your braid as well as the smaller pastries. Wonderful job on all the pictures a well, I enjoyed them. :)
what a beautiful braid!!! and fantastic photos!!!
Ginger frangipane with a chocolate swirl? Yum!!!
Kudos to you for mixing this by hand! I bet the filling was fantastic... Frangipan is food of the gods!
This is an awesome post! I love your take on the danish braid, it all looks gorgeous! I love following the step by step photos, one of these months I'll get motivated to do it! Great job!
This is beautiful! I love your photos, too!
Amazing!!! I cant believe you did it woithout a mixer! Bravo!!!
I can believe you were able not to eat the raw dough! I didnt have enough will power!!!
I had to put "eat me " on one of the little pastries because I usually smake my husbands hand if her eats my goodies before I give him the OK...so I wasnt awake when he got home..I just thought it was a cute way for me to let him know he could eat it!
"Rapunzel let down your braid, I wanna eat it" - too cute! love this submission to TasteSpotting!
I love your filling! I must try that some day. You did a beautiful job and hats off to you for making the dough by hand!
Ooh the pastries look awesome...and that braid looks like absolute perfection!!
Your braid looks gorgeous and your photography was great too! Good for you doing it by hand.
Que hermoso! En serio! Those are amazing. All I can do is bow down.
Rapunzel- you did and excellent job. I love your pictures and your braid looks great!
A ginger frangipane? Wow! The braid and pastries are wonderful.
Beautiful looking Danish Braid! Great job!
Wooooow!! It looks really delicious. Good job!
Ginger frangipane is an inspired choice. it looks fantastic.
Oh yum! I'm so bookmarking this post to come back and use your ginger cream recipe! YUM!!
Best,
Sarah
Ginger cream with cardamom sounds so delish... great tutorial pics :)
What a colourful site. I love all the pictures you took illustrating the steps of the process.
No, Rapunzel never had such a braid and boy do I bet she is jealous!!! Your filling choices are making me weak at the knees, I would have no clue which to consume first...so how about a plate of each, please!!
Great job!!!!!!
Your pastries are beautiful! Congratulations on a job well done.
Your braid looks really good. Nice pastries!
Olá!
Sim, sou portuguesa. Agradeço a visita e os comentários.
Devo dizer que fiquei intrigada com o recheio e vou experimentar a receita que partilhaste. :)
Muitos parabéns também pelas fotos!
Andreia
What an awesome job! I love your photos and your braids look delicious! AND what you did with the scraps was great!
It's so easy to tell that you're a perfectionist. And those fillings - oh my - gorgeous.
Your braid (and other creations, too) look beautiful and that filling, oh my, GREAT job!
Thank you for baking with us :)
Beautiful! And what a tasty combo! I love ginger and chocolate.
Gorgeous! I am getting hungry...
Wow...my mouth watered more and more with each picture! Fabulous job you did. :)
Wow..gr8 looking braid. You did an awesone job with this one. Luved ur pixs too.
Mmmm, what nice pictures, they tell the story beautifully. Your danish and pastries sound postively delish!
Your braid looks fantastic! I love the little pastries and chocolate ...YUM!!
Interesting flavours and pretty pretty danishes..
Your brais and Danish Pastries looks fabulous! I love your filling!
cheers,
Rosa
Wow- those are some amazing fillings and beautiful pastries! I'm jealous! heh heh.
-Sea
Que linda trança! Ficou o máximo e aposto que deliciosa com o gengibre e o chocolate. E as fotografias são muito exemplificativas de todo o processo!
Bj
I like the Rapunzel part - and agree with the fact that I would rather take a bite than climb such a braid ;-)
I would LOVE to eat that pain au chocolat. As in right now. I'm so hungry LOL!
Somehow I think there'd be nothing left of it but crumbs by now ;)
Unbelievable! And how could you possibly call yourself clumbsy???
You are so gutsy!
Superb danish! Thanks a lot for the pictures :)
ginger! i love it! your braid and photos are amazing.
WOW...fab job you done here girl! Great flavours & wonderful braid...certainly would give Rapunzel a serious complex!! Love the smaller pastries too!!! YUM!!
Que rico!!! ese relleno me encantó y más porque el jengibre me fascina!!!!
Buenas ideas para las sobras de la masa!! :) me acabas de dar una idea! jeje!
Saludos!!!!
Beautiful braids and I always love "hands in the dough" pictures! Well done.
We'd like to invite you to participate in our July berry recipe contest. All competitors will be placed on our blogroll, and the winner will receive a fun prize! Please email me, sophiekiblogger@gmail.com, if you're interested. Feel free to check out our blog for more details. (Click on my name in the message header link to visit our blog. :)
Thank you! Obrigada! Gracias! All your comments made me so happy, braids everywhere are looking great, I'm proud to bake with all of you!
Beautiful braids! Your photography is amazing.
Lovely! And your step-by-step photos are really wonderful, too.
I tagged you for a meme! Click on my blog and see my post "Tag, I'm It."
Ginger frangipane and chocolate! Oh, that almost makes me want to make danish pastry again just so I can use that flavour combination!
I think my computer is going to crash from me drooling on it!!! Your pastries look so yummy and the combination are perfect, I would love to try pineapple danish, delish!!
Ali
Oh wow, those pastries and the braids look perfect and utterly mouth watering! The photos are absolutely phenomenal too. What kind of camera do you use?
That said, how does one enter the Daring Baker's Challenge? :) I LOVE a challenge!
What a beautiful looking braid! And your fillings look scrumptious!
Wow that just looks amazing. You are a pastry chef? Did you attend culinary school?
Thank you all again, your comments make me really happy!
Lisa- You have to email Lisa and Ivonne who are the foundres of DBers. I'll email you with their email or you can check the DB's blogroll site, it's on my sidebar.
Teanna- Yes, I attended pastry school. I went into a kind-of pastry university in Spain.
Wow....you did a wonderful job...!!!!
what an awesome job! You're right, I'm one of those people who would never have picked this recipe on my own, but was I glad I did it! I love your frangipane filling :)
Yeah for hand mixing and kneading! Yours turned out perfect!
Great job!!Its looks beautiful!!I did it by hand to..I like your blog!!
Yours looks great! I love that kind of bread, it's so buttery and bad for you! ;) Great pictures. I'm looking up your instructions for ganache and am going to give it a try. Never made it before. I'll let you know how it goes.
Have I told you how beautiful your braid is?
Because it is.
oh my word ... that looks so decadent! Wonderful job!
Ginger pastry cream? Pain au chocolat? WOW! Your photos are superb, the best I've seen yet!
Bem.. esses recheios devem ter resultado mesmo bem.. Têm um óptimo aspecto!! Parabéns =)
Adicionei um link para o teu blog no meu..
Wow, you made so many pastries with so many wonderful fillings... mmmmm. They all look incredible.
that looks wonderful -- and i LOVE the step by step pictures!
I think you did an amazing job. And pastry filled with pineapple?? Where do I sign? :)
Rita, you are far too kind, my dear, thank you for the award!
pineapple and pistachio pastries sound wonderful!
*laughs* that is true.. even Rapunzel doesn't have a braid as beautiful as yours... and yummy too!!!
Congratulations on your yummy challenge!
Love the demonstration photos and your braids are amazing! Nice job!
ginger frangipane with a chocolate swirl? the mind boggles!
Beautiful braid. In the two weeks I've been reading through the DB blog roll, your ginger frangipane is one of the most unique and intriguing fillings I've found. Great job!
Thank you!
Dolores, that was so nice of you!
Without a mixer! That's a daring baker for sure. And that ginger frangipane, oh I would so love to have tried that. Beautiful braid.
your braid is beautiful! well done!
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