Dough, MTV Raps!

After they tore his brother's arm off, Hal was forced to face the Danish Gang by himself.

So what to make, with all your dough?

Croissants. Pain au Chocolat. Danishes. Pain au Jambon et Fromage. Pain au Action Figure. All of this can be done with this dough, and I did all of them, with varied results.

This dough is not a true croissant dough - the eggs weigh down some of the layers I think I would have acheived otherwise, and I can't deny feeling a little frustration with myself for not just GOING BIG and doing the Tartine recipe. It would have, from start to finish, taken the same amount of time. But hey. We're cool. This is a delicious, DELICIOUS dough - please try a scrap of the dough, uncooked, because you'll really get such a hit of buttery, fermented flavors that just 'sproing' off the tongue.

And the finished products are gorgeous - visible, pronounced layers, a high rise and they keep their figures well, for the most part. They are tasty, flaky enough to feel worth the effort and better yet, though they are packed with butter they are fresher, nicer, crisper and flakier than the kind entombed in plastic, waiting for a chance to drop down from their vending machine coils.

Elitist pastries that they are.

So you've made your dough, now read on to figure out what you want to do with it. No matter what choice you make, I have a feeling you'll be happy about it. And thankfully, the rise/baking details are the same for each variation.

Baking Directions:
- You'll want to, after forming the dough into your desired shapes, let the dough rise for around 2 hours, in your OFF oven with the pilot light turned ON. If you don't have a pilot light, or you really want to bliss out the dough, place a steaming pan of warm water on the bottom rack.
- Once the dough has risen, and you've filled/washed it, remove the pan of water and preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Your dough should be on a light colored baking sheet, hopefully with a rim (mine didn't leak butter, but I've read/heard about it happening).
- Bake the pastries for 10 minutes at 400 degrees F. Now check on them - they should be golden brown and expanded. Open the door quickly, rotate the tray if you feel like those at the back of the oven are too brown, and then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 5/10 minutes, depending on the size. They should be golden brown, nice and high, and if you pick up a croissant it should feel hollow - nice and light.
- Remove from the oven, cool for a moment or two on the sheet, then move to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature.

Fillings:
- Cheese
- Cheese and blueberries
- Proscuitto and Parmesan
- Bittersweet chocolate/powdered sugar

+ To make the Pain au Chocolat or Pain au Jambon et Fromage, roll out the chosen amount of dough into a rectangle, then cut in a grid fashion, making smaller rectangles (remember that this dough expands - for these, I cut the dough into rectangles that were around 5 inches long, and 2 1/2 inches wide). Cut the ingredients into complimentary sizes, and place at the short end of each rectangle. Roll up like a sleeping bag or sushi roll, but don't worry if a bit of the chocolate or cheese/ham peeks out each end, the dough will rise and envelop it. Pinch the seam closed, and turn the roll if neccessary, so the seam is on the bottom. Allow to rise, then brush with egg wash if desired and bake as directed. If you like, sift powdered sugar over the tops of the Pain au Chocolat once completely cool.

+ To make the Cheese or Cheese and Blueberry danish, roll out your chosen or remaining dough into as best as a square as you can manage. Cut into smaller squares, around 4x4 for larger danish, 3x3 for smaller, more manageable ones. Take each corner, and tuck inwards, pressing down - you can bring the corners all the way to the center, or leave a little more space. Allow the dough to rise.
    When ready to bake, pool a 1-2 tablespoons of Cheese filling into the center of each danish - don't worry if it spreads outwards, you can gently nudge up the walls of the pastry if you need to. It won't go anywhere during baking. Add blueberries if desired. Wash the exposed pastry (but not the filing or berries) with egg, and let set for a few minutes. Repeat, up to 3 more times. Bake as directed, and once slightly cool, glaze and ice if desired.

+ To make plain Croissants, roll out the amount of dough you'd like to use on a well-floured surface, into a large square. Using a pizza cutter, bench scraper or sharp, flexible knife, cut long triangles into the dough, from top to bottom (if you'd like to make smaller croissants, you can first divide the square of dough, especially if you're using all of it, in half and then proceed from there) so you have a row of triangles that point up, and a roll that point down. One at a time, roll each triangle of dough (from top to bottom, widest to thinnest point) into the traditional croissant shape, and flip or turn so that the thinnest, pointed edge is facing up. Curl 'arms' in, if you like, and move to a baking sheet. Let rise, then wash at least twice with egg before baking as directed.

The Cheese Filling I found here, and I'll print what I did (slightly different):
4 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese
1/3 cup full-fat cottage cheese, drained (Mine was super thick, so I didn't)
1 large egg
1/4 vanilla sugar
1 heaping tablespoon flour
Seeds from 1/2 a vanilla bean, split and scraped
Zest from 1/2 a lemon

Whiz all ingredients in a blender, food processor or mini-chop, until smooth. Chill overnight if you like, at least an hour. For the Cheese and Blueberry variation, use this same filling, but after filling the danishes drop a few blueberries on top of the liquid.

Glazes:
- Egg wash (before baking): Whisk a whole egg until thin and pale yellow. Brush on the formed dough (not the fillings), let set for a few minutes, then repeat. I do 2-3 coats, which really makes for a nice varnish. If you want to sprinkle the surface of the pastries with anything, poppy seeds, rock or turbinado sugars, then this will make sure they adhere.
- Warm Apricot jam, thinned a bit with water: When the pastries come out of the oven, cool briefly and then move to a cooling rack to finish. But after moving them, brush the exposed (already shiny, thanks to the egg wash) surfaces with the apricot jam, to really seal that shine and give an appealing moistness and a bit of fruity flavor to the Cheese danishes, Cheese and Blueberry danishes and if you like, the plain croissants.
- Sugar icing: 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, with 1-2 teaspoons water (add more until you reach the consistency you like to drizzle with). Drape back and forth from the tip of a spoon, or small pastry bag, over the cheese danishes.

Comments

[Rebekka]

All of them, my favorite.

[L.]

THANK YOU, folks!

Emily, I feel like we're slowly taking over, coming out of hiding and denial. And I know! I've only made the brownies so far, but I really want to make the croissants and everything. Also, the gingerbread, since you had such luck with it!

tp-vist, the land of Danish is so magical. Thank you so much.

T Bone, you know how I do. You know! I'm so glad you got it.

Stef, DO it. It really is fun and worth it - this recipe or any other.

Chelly, that is the best compliment ever.

[Chelly D]

I am totally drooling right now.

[Stef]

I am totally setting aside this weekend to try this. Years of laminated dough fear, AWAY WITH YE.

It's so on!

[tracy]

madness, woman!!! I think i snorted when I saw Dough, MTV Raps!

[the projectivist]

oh those people from the land of Danish!
i love them for their pastries
AND
for their designer chairs.

those pictures had me forming pools of envious saliva as i imagined biting into their flaky goodness. that doesn't sound pretty and is kind of a weird compliment from someone.

but yeah.
i like the looks of 'em.

[Emily]

Wow. Super, super impressed. Just the thought of the recipe in the Tartine cookbook is enough to give me hives. Oh, and shout out from another hand-mixer-not-stand-mixer kitchen!