Yuzu Danish
If you like yuzu as much as I do, this yuzu Danish recipe is for you! These pastries are crispy, buttery, flaky and oh so yummy!
Equipment
- Pastry Blender
- Large Bowl
- Measuring spoons and cups
- Kitchen scale
- Rolling Pin
- Pastry Brush
- Baking Sheet rimmed
Ingredients
Danish Pastry Dough
- ¼ cup water (60mL) warm
- 2¼ tsp instant yeast
- ¼ cup sugar (50g) divided
- ½ cup milk (120mL) room temperature
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp salt
- 15 tbsp unsalted butter (200g) cold
- 2½ cups flour (300g)
Filling
- ⅔ cup yuzu jam
Egg wash
- 1 egg lightly beaten
Vanilla Icing (optional)
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Danish Pastry Dough
- Bloom yeast. Whisk the warm water, yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar together in a large bowl. Rest for 5-10 minutes until foamy on top. Whisk in remaining sugar, milk, egg and salt. Cover and set bowl aside as you work on the next step.
- Cut in butter. Cut the cold butter into 1/4 inch slices and add to a large bowl. Top with 2 and 1/2 cups flour. Use a pastry cutter to work in the butter until butter is crumbled into pea-sized crumbs. Alternatively, use a food processor and pulse the mixture 15 times.
- Assemble the dough. Pour the flour mixture into the yeast mixture and gently fold until the dry ingredients are moistened. The butter must remain in pieces because it creates a flaky pastry. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for 4 hours, up to 48 hours.
- Roll & Fold: Take the dough out of the refrigerator. It may have slightly puffed up and it will deflate as you shape it. Generously flour a work surface because the dough is very sticky; use as needed. Using a rolling pin, roll out into a 15×8 inch rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds as if it were a business letter. 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.
- Rest dough. Wrap dough with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. You can also freeze the dough at this point for up to one month.
- Shape into Danish rounds: Cut the first half of dough into 8 even pieces. Refrigerate the other half or freeze for a later use. Roll each into balls and flatten into a 2.5 inch circle. Use your fingers to create a lip around the edges. Press the center down to flatten as much as you can so you can fit the filling inside. Remember that the center puffs up as it bakes. Arrange pastries 3 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. Repeat with second half of dough if you are making all 16 pastries.
Fill and brush egg wash.
- Get ready to bake. Add 2 tsp yuzu jam to the center of the Danish. Brush the egg wash to the edges of the pastry. Chill the shaped pasties in the refrigerator, covered or uncovered, as you preheat the oven.
- Bake. Preheat oven to 400F. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown around the edges. Some butter may leak from the dough and that's expected. Oven times vary.
Optional icing
- Finish. Cool 5 minutes before serving. Finish pastries with a dusting of icing sugar or drizzle some icing (mix 1 cup icing sugar, 2 tbsp milk and 1 tsp vanilla) over warm pastries.
Notes
Halving the recipe? I recommend making the entire pastry dough recipe and freezing the other half for later. One recipe makes 16 Danishes or 8 Danishes and one braid.
Be sure to use cold butter. Cold butter ensures pockets of flaky pastry. The colder the butter, the better for the dough.
If you do not have a pastry cutter to work in the butter, use a food processor. Pulse 15 times until the flour and butter resembles pea-sized coarse crumbs.
Here are some different filling ideas: jams or preserves (such as raspberry, strawberry or peach), lemon curd, cherry pie filling, cream cheese, Nutella
Instead of making the typical round Danish pastry, try a beautiful braid instead.
Did you make this? Tag @cookwith.chopsticks and #cookwithchopsticks on IG or leave a comment on the blog!