I really want to learn how to make a good Danish. Or even a great Danish. I’ve tried twice so far and while I’ve ended up with good looking and delicious tasting baked goods, they aren’t really Danishes. They’re bready and that delicious crackly crispyness. I plan on documenting my failures, and the changes I want to make, and hopefully the final success of a good (or great) Danish.
I, foolishly, didn’t write down the ratios I used for Attempt #1. But I think it’s safe to say that I didn’t use enough sugar in the dough. I think it was roughly 500g flour, 2 eggs, 200ml milk, 50ml of sugar, and ~400g butter. 225°C oven.
Attempt #2 was better in flavour, because of increased level of sugar in the dough, but I didn’t bake them for long enough, I think. They’re still doughy.
The lamination is still good, but because of the way that I shaped them, it doesn’t show up in the same way as in Attempt #1. This time I used:
480g flour, 2 eggs (didn’t weigh them), 200ml milk and ~400g butter. I told myself that I was going to do more turns with the dough this time than I did in Attempt #1, but because of something I saw on YouTube, I stopped at 6. 225°C oven, again, but I didn’t leave them in for long enough.
I think I’ve been rushing the dough making process, and not chilling the dough like I should.
So for Attempt #3, I will do the following:
- Chill the dough for half an hour every two turns.
- Record the ingredients more meticulously
- Try 8 turns, because I don’t think my initial layering is perfect enough that 6 turns is enough
- Bake them for longer
Let’s see how it goes next time!