Wienerbrød: delicious Danish pastry
Wienerbrød is also known as “Danish pastry“. As varied as the name is, so are the variations: The delicious Danish pastries can be filled with vanilla cream or marzipan (remonce). Here is a traditional recipe for a Danish Wienerbrød stang with remonce.
Wienerbröd Recipe
- Egg
- 65 ml Milk
- 46 g Sugar
- 1/3 Cubes Fresh Yeast
- 125 g Flour
- 50 g Butter at room temperature
- 125 g Cold Butter
- 30 g Marzipan
- 1 Tbsp Sliced Hazelnuts
- 1 Tsp Water
- 3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
- Hand mixer
- Rolling pin
- Ingredients
- 0,5 Egg
- •65 ml Milk
- •15 g Sugar
- •1/3 Cubes Fresh Yeast
- •125 g Flour
- •20 g Butter at room temperature
- Utils
- Hand mixer
First, prepare the batter. To do this, break the egg and whisk it. Mix the milk, sugar, half of the beaten egg and yeast using a hand mixer or food processor.
Add the flour and then the soft butter at room temperature to the mixture. Mix with the dough hook or knead by hand until a smooth dough forms. Shape the dough into a ball and leave to rise for about half an hour.
- Ingredients
- 125 g Cold Butter
- Utils
- Rolling pin
Now take the cold butter out of the fridge and dust all sides with flour. Press it flat with a rolling pin, then fold it up again and press it flat. Dust with flour again and again. Repeat until the butter has roughly the same consistency as the yeast dough.
Once the dough has risen, roll it out into a square. It should be slightly thicker in the middle. Now place the butter in the middle of the dough and fold all four corners over it. Roll out the dough into a rectangle and fold in a third of the long side towards the center. Leave to rest in the fridge for 10 minutes. Repeat the rolling out, folding and chilling process two more times. This is how the puff pastry is made.
- Ingredients
- 30 g Butter at room temperature
- •30 g Sugar
- •30 g Marzipan
For the filling, mix the soft butter with the sugar and soft marzipan. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan and roll out the dough again into a rectangle. Place on a baking tray.
- Ingredients
- 0,5 Egg
- •0,5 Tbsp Milk
- •1 Tbsp Sugar
- •1 Tbsp Sliced Hazelnuts
Spread the filling lengthwise in the middle of the pastry and leave a little space on the two short sides of the pastry rectangle to fold them over the filling as an edge. Fold the long sides over the filling so that they overlap.
Mix the remaining half of the egg with the milk and brush the pastry sheet with it. Sprinkle with sugar and chopped hazelnuts. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.
- Ingredients
- 1 Tsp Water
- •3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
Finally, mix the water with the powdered sugar to create a thick icing. Pour over the Wienerbröd stick and leave to dry.
Whether with the marzipan remonce or with vanilla cream: Wienerbröd is always a delight. And if you don’t like hazelnuts, simply leave them out or replace them with almonds, for example.
The history and tradition of Wienerbrød
Traditionally, the dough for Wienerbrød consists of 27 layers of butter or similar fat.
But what does Danish Wienerbrød actually have to do with the Austrian capital of Vienna? The name goes back to the history of the pastry. There are various traditions: One story says that journeyman bakers from Vienna were recruited in Denmark in the 19th century. They brought the Danish pastry dough with them. The other version says that a Copenhagen baker travelled to Vienna to learn about the Austrian art of baking.
While Wienerbrød in its various forms is also known as “Copenhagen pastries” in German-speaking countries, it is simply called “Danish” in the USA. It was popularised there by immigrants in the 20th century.
