Monday, June 30, 2008

Daring Bakers- Danish Braid



The Daring Baker challenge for June was Danish Braid. I am not a huge fan of pastry and I don’t like the Danish’s that you buy in bakeries in NZ. However, when we went to Denmark four years ago, I discovered that Danish’s in Denmark are noting like Danish’s in NZ – they are divine!!

The end result of the Danish Braid was kind of like brioche, but the steps involved in completing the challenge included spreading the dough with a butter and flour mixture and then folding the pastry/dough in the same way you do when making flaky pastry (which I also have not made before). The dough was then spread with a filling and then “plaited’ to create the braid look.



The suggested filling was an apple mixture which sounded nice, but I felt like something different than that. My two youngest sisters were staying with us the weekend that I made the braid, so I gave them a few filling choices and they picked chocolate pastry cream and raspberries. I used Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for chocolate pastry cream, leaving out the butter and it was a tasty combination.



I enjoyed the challenge of making the Danish braid, but I don’t think I will make it again – I prefer brioche as it is a bit more bread like and less pastry like. See what the other Daring Bakers thought here.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

While brioche is certainly a delectable bread, your braid looks delicious. I love their choice of filling.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

danishes aren't my favorite either, but they sure are pretty. and they're fun to make, too. i bet your sisters really liked this one!

Anonymous said...

Your braid looks beautiful and delicious!

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

it looks absolutely beautiful!

Morven said...

Looks pretty good to me! Lots of your posts start with "I'm not a great fan of XXXX but...." and you sure manage to pull one out of the bag each time and come up with something wonderful. Well done.

Cakelaw said...

Chocolate and raspberry sounds devine! I'd love to go to Denmark one day - but I will make sure it is during the summer.

Rachel said...

Lovely flavours....decadent

Jaime said...

yum, raspberries with chocolate pastry cream sounds amazing! great job!

Thinking About Food said...

Yum that does look lovely! You are right about Danish pastries in Denmark, I lived there for a year and enjoyed far too many of them!!!!

Shari said...

Chocolate and pastry cream sound delicious! You're right about danishes in general, but homemade are so much better! Great job.
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Andrea Meyers said...

Ooo, that chocolate and raspberry combination sounds terrific! Your braid looks great!

Anonymous said...

Sorry you won't make this challenge again. I'm the opposite _ I'm hooked on this recipe! I loved it!

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on the brioche. This recipe was fun, but I was not swayed. ;)

Celine's Cuisine said...

I love your kids choice for the filling, must be delicious. Look yummy!Never been to Denmark but glad I was able to dream about it with this great DB challenge.

Mari said...

The chocolate pastry cream/raspberry filling combo is killing me! Mouthwatering!

Dolores said...

Beautiful chocolate raspberry braid. I'm glad you decided to join in this month's challenge, though I'm sorry you weren't more pleased with the end result.

Helene said...

Looks absolutely wonderful!
Lovely choice of filling!