TWD-Danish Braid

Chunky Bits

So I'm feeling a bit like a broken record...but I wasn't going to make this recipe.  I feel like these Tuesdays just sneak up on me...I know, I've said that before too.
But then I looked at the recipe and decided I should indeed make it.  Besides, it is a long weekend here in Canada...so I have an extra day for baking.  Woot-Woot!!

The pastry dough seems easy enough.  Though as I started making the dough, I thought to myself, 'hey stupid, ya should have watched the video first.'  I decided to ignore the comment and/or suggestion and floundered on.  (Who does she think she's calling Stupid!)

Pastry dough is made...now I'll watch the video.(Thank you very much!)  I think I've done it right so far.  Granted, all I've done is make the dough.  But so much can go wrong in those few minutes that it takes to make the dough.

Butter and flour get pulsed about a dozen times in the food processor.

Butter is broken down into smaller bits...but not too small...chunky bits.

Flour mixture is then added to the wet mixture.

This is stirred together just until the flour mixture is moistened.  Then, the bowl is covered with saran wrap and put in the fridge overnight.
It seemed strange to just stir the ingredients until the flour was combined.  I'm used to having to roll the dough into a ball and then put in the fridge.  But the video confirmed it was correct.  And why would sweet Julia and Beatrice lie?

After the night in the fridge, the dough is ready to be rolled.  The dough first gets patted out with my hands.  (The chunks of butter are still apparent...I think this is going to be a good pastry because of these butter chunks.)  That's right, chunky is good.









This dough was super easy to roll out.  And it was interesting to roll out.  It is a super chunky dough, with all the butter bits in it.  A few times rolling it out and folding it into thirds...and then back in the fridge for another rest.  Sort of like a croissant dough, but 100 times quicker and easier!

Roll.....

Fold...

Repeat...














...and one last fold before being cut in half.  Look at those layers!  Yep, I predict this is going to be a good pastry dough.  Mark my words, sonny!  Yup!
And this dough then goes back in the fridge for another half hour or so.

So, I made neither the pastry cream filling nor the fruit filling.  Rather, I made a cream cheese filling, adapted from an Ina Garten recipe and used an apricot spread I had in the cupboard (that I was saving to make Rugelach-an Ina recipe).
I thought the cream cheese might help to offset the sweetness of the apricot spread I planned on using.

 Time for another roll.  But this time is the last (famous last words...but true this time).

Now to spread the apricot filling down the centre of the dough. 














Next, the cream cheese filling tops the apricots.  Then, strips are cut using a pizza cutter.  I should have cut my strips smaller as the recipe says 12-14 strips.  I just read cut into strips...then after cutting, I read just how many I should have cut...yep, seems pretty normal for me.  Sigh.

It seemed to work out all right...I think.  I've never been a fantastic braider.  I think I had problems with braiding in this post too.












Next, just need to brush some egg white wash and sprinkle some sugar onto the top.  I didn't have pearl sugar, so I just used some raw sugar.

This is then covered and left at room temperature for 30 minutes.














The braid is baked for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  Lastly, it is glazed with a confectioner's sugar icing.  I hope it tastes as good as it looks!

 Yup!  It is good.  The pastry is nice and flaky.  The cream cheese and apricot spread compliment each other perfectly.  And what do you know, I'm glad I made this.  (broken record time)