Week 5 in the tent was all about pastry –
my biggest challenge!! I was determined to test myself and attempt these
challenges. The first was all about Danish pastries – the dough for this is
yeasted, meaning it has to be left to prove. Not only that, but copious amounts
of butter are used to fold the dough, similar to puff pastry. Both of these
factors make it pretty tricky, but I have to admit, the flavor of the dough is
amazing!
I made two different Danish pastries, both
using the same dough. The first of these is here – White chocolate and
blueberry kites. The shaping of the kites is simple, and the white chocolate
custard filling is epic.
Makes 12 kites
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 500g (4 cups) strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
- 10g (2tsp) fast-action dried yeast
- 10g (2tsp) salt
- 80g (1/3 cup and 1tbsp) caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 60ml (4tbsp) water
- 125ml (1/2 cup) full-fat milk
- 250g (1 cup) unsalted butter, chilled
For the filling:
- 35g (1/4 cup) white chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp corn flour
- 140ml (1/2 cup and 1tbsp) full-fat milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100g (1 cup) blueberries
To glaze:
- 100g (1/3 cup) honey
- 2tbsp icing sugar
Method:
1. Prepare the dough. Pour the flour into a
bowl of a stand mixer (attached with a dough hook). Add the yeast to one side
of the bowl, and salt and sugar to the opposite side.
2. Heat the milk until it is tepid, then mix
with the eggs and water. Pour onto the flour, then mix on a low speed for 2
minutes.
3. Pull the dough off the dough hook, then increase the speed to medium,
and mix for a further 6 minutes.
4. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, cover
with cling film or a tea towel. There are two options for proving.
The first of these is to place the dough in
the fridge, and leave overnight to prove. This greatly increases the flavour of
the dough.
The second if you are short of time (or in
the Bake Off tent!) is to prove for at least an hour in a warm place, until it
has doubled in size.
5. Whilst the dough is proving, use a rolling
pin to flatten the butter into a rectangle about 25cm x 15cm. Place the butter
between two sheets of cling film prior to rolling. Place in the fridge until needed.
6. Once proved, turn the dough out onto a
lightly floured surface, and roll out to a rectangle 40cm x 20cm. Place the
butter in the middle of the dough, then bring the exposed pastry up around the
butter, so that it is fully encased. Crimp the edges to seal in the butter,
then place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
7. Place the dough on a lightly floured
surface, with the shortest ends facing you. Roll out the dough to 40 x 15cm
rectangle, then fold the bottom third of the pastry up, and the top third down
(like a leaflet). Return to the freezer for 10 minutes.
8. Repeat the rolling, folding, and freezing
process two times. After the final folding, chill the dough in the fridge for
30 minutes.
9. Roll out the dough into a 30 x 40cm
rectangle – it will be about 5mm thick. Cut into twelve 10cm squares.
10. To make the kite, cut incisions as shown
below:
About a centimetre from the edge of the
square, make an incision following two sides of the square (in the image from
corner D to A to B). Leave a small space, then cut along the perimeter of the
other two sides, not touching where the first incision started. You are left
with two corners that have been cut through (A and C), and two that haven’t (D
and B).
11. Pull corners A and D towards each other and
pull one over the other. Press the corners down - they will now be on opposite
sides (A is where D was, and vice versa). Make an indentation in the middle of
the dough, which is where the filling will go.
12. Place on 2-3 baking trays lined with
greaseproof paper, and cover with cling-film or a tea towel for 30 minutes to 1
hours, until slightly grown.
13. Whilst proving, make the custard. Heat the
milk in a small saucepan until it is bubbling.
Whisk together the egg yolk, vanilla and
corn flour. Once smooth, pour over the hot milk, whisking constantly.
14. Return to the pan, and whisk until it has
thickened – this will only take about a minute.
15. Add the white chocolate to the pan and
whisk until it has melted. Cover and set aside until needed.
16. Preheat the oven to 220c (200c fan)/425F/
Gas mark 7.
17. Add teaspoons of the custard to the middle
of each pastry. Add one or two blueberries on top of the custard, then another
one in each end of the kite.
18. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden.
19. Towards the end of the baking, heat the
honey and icing sugar together until a clear syrup forms. Use a pastry brush to
brush some of this glaze onto the pastries whilst warm.
20. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment