Sourdough Danishes with Cream Cheese filling: my first adventures with laminated dough

Laminated dough always sounded intimidating. Croissants were items I bought at the bakery, not things I made at home. I knew it was going to be time consuming and I never thought I would have the time. But over a three day weekend, I decided to try this amazing recipe because I am always looking for new ways to use sourdough starter when I feed it.

This recipe took two days to complete, but most of it was inactive time. The first day was 5 minutes to make the ferment. The second day was probably a grand total of an hour and a half to make the dough, roll it, and add the butter. The third morning was only 20 minutes of shaping the dough and filling it.

My favorite shapes were the pinwheels, and vol-au-vents (both pictured) but there are plenty of other options for shaping. This recipe will make 16-20 danishes, depending on the size. I cut the recipe in half because I knew I didn't have enough baking trays. Be sure to leave plenty of space because they will expand.

For these pastries I used fresh blueberries, raspberry preserves and apricot/peach/passion fruit compote. The compote was definitely the winner.

This post has been submitted to Yeastspotting

Sourdough Danishes

Ingredients for ferment

• 44 grams sourdough starter from the refrigerator at 100% hydration
• 75 grams water
• 134 grams bread flour

Directions

1. Mix ingredients together with your hands until it forms a dry ball. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight for at least 12 hours

Ingredients for main dough

• 341 grams bread flour
• 77 grams beaten eggs
• 135 grams milk
• 60 grams sugar
• 5 grams salt
• 7 grams yeast
• 41 grams softened butter
• 361 grams cold cubed unsalted butter.

Directions

1. Mix levain with all ingredients except 361 grams butter. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes and medium speed for 3 minutes. Remove from mixing bowl, pat into a square, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hour.
2. While dough is chilling, roll dough into a 7.5x7.5 inch rectangle. between pieces of parchment paper. Chill in refrigerator.
3. Remove butter to let it come to the same texture as the dough. Roll dough into an 11 inch square so it can completely enclose the butter. Orient butter so corners are in the middle of the sides. Fold dough around butter.
4. Roll out dough into an 8 x 24 inch rectangle, starting from the middle and rolling outward. Cut off the short edges of the dough and fold like a letter. Fold the bottom edge up and the top edge over. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour.
5. Orient dough with the closed side facing left and roll as before. into an 8x24 inch rectangle. Repeat 3 more times for a total of 4 folds total. Refrigerate overnight.
6. In the morning, roll dough into an 8x24 inch rectangle. Cut in half to make 2 8 x 12 inch halves. Continue rolling each half to make two 9 x 18 inch rectangles. Trim all the edges and divide into 8 squares each.
7. Shape dough as desired into squares, vol au vents, pinwheels and braids. Proof dough for 2 hours
8. Fill dough with cream cheese filling (about 1 Tbsp each) and jam or desired. Brush with egg wash and bake for 10 minutes at 425 and 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Eat when still warm.

Ingredients for cream cheese filling

• 250 grams softened cream cheese
• 113 grams granulated sugar
• 19 grams butter
• 28 grams flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 21 grams beaten egg

Directions

• Mix together all ingredients until softened in stand mixer.