Makes 1 large braid, 2 kringles, or nine 5-inch/12.7 cm Danish pastries
THE LONG-GAME VERSION OF DANISH PASTRY INVOLVES MAKING A YEAST DOUGH and a “butter block”—a plank created from mashed-together sticks, and then wrapping the butter in dough before a rolling and folding process creates loads of whisper-thin layers of butter and dough. It’s time-consuming, not foolproof, and honestly, I don’t find this traditional version any more satisfying than a shortcut version once everything is shaped, baked, and filled. When I learned Scandinavian baking goddess and Minnesotan Beatrice Ojakangas swears by a shortcut recipe and claims no home baker in Denmark does it any other way, I was sold.
Making laminated dough—shortcut or not—might seem a bit intimidating at first. But look at it this way: with this method, it’s not all that different from making a pie crust. You’ll just be rolling the dough out a few more times, and folding it between rollings. It’s pretty magical to see it transform from shaggy and crazy-looking to supple and silky, right before your eyes. And when you bake it, the puffed, golden, flaky results will blow minds and take names.
1 cup/128 g unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for dusting
1 cup/128 g unbleached bread flour, spooned and leveled
3 tablespoons/38 g granulated sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup/225 g cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch/1.25 cm cubes
⅓ cup/75 g cold whole milk
1 large egg, cold
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel S blade, combine the all-purpose and bread flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Pulse several times to blend. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse 10 times, or until the butter chunks are broken down by about half.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg. Dump the flour mixture into the bowl. Use a flexible spatula to gently stir the dough until nearly all the flour is moistened. Use your hand to quickly knead the dough just a few times in the bowl to bring it all together into a shaggy mass. There will lots of large chunks of butter still visible in the dough.
Line a work surface with plastic wrap. Turn out the dough onto the plastic and pat into a rectangle. Wrap the dough tightly. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to 2 days.
Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough out to a rough rectangle, 8 × 15 inches/20 × 38 cm. Fold the rectangle into thirds toward the center, like a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees. Roll it out again, 8 × 15 inches/20 × 38 cm. Fold into thirds. (This completes 2 turns of the dough. It will look a bit knobby and cracked at this stage, don’t worry.) Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 20 minutes. Repeat the rolling, folding, and chilling process twice more until you’ve completed 6 turns in all. After the last round of chilling, shape and bake according to your recipe, or wrap tightly in a double layer of clean plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.