Easier "Danish Pastry" Recipe

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This Easier "Danish Pastry" Recipe replaces the traditional laminated Danish pastry with my really easy 60 Second Brioche coupling it with the Viennese Braid technique which is equally easy to make. This Chocolate Raspberry Braid combines these two to produce a very professional looking finished pastry worthy of the name Danish Pastry. It's packed with flavor, perfectly balanced and indulgent.

This is perfect for anytime you want to make a great impression or for festive holidays. Since it can be done in its entirety, frozen, thawed and warmed, it is just the thing for an early morning breakfast, brunch, afternoon break or really anytime.

A slice of Easier Danish Pastry sits on a silver cake server with the braid in the background.

In my first book, "The New Pastry Cook", I used this filling with croissant pastry. When I started to think about what to do with Brioche pastry, this came to mind immediately. I used a cooked filling instead of raspberry jam because the jam has a tendency to leak out when it is in the oven. However, I have included instructions if you want to use jam instead.

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Brioche is a very versatile basic recipe for both sweet and savory. These recipes will get you started: Super Fast and Easy Brioche Rolls, Orange Bread Pudding, Twice Baked Brioche - A Breakfast Treat, Glazed Lemon Twists with Brioche, Lemon Gooey Butter Cake in a Brioche Crust, and a Blueberry Lemon Pizza in a Brioche Crust.

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A Word About Brioche
Recipe Ingredients
Step by Step Instructions
Recipe FAQS
Expert Tips
More Elegant Pastries for You
Easier Danish Pastry Recipe

A Word About Brioche

I could never understand the need to beat Brioche for 15 or20 minutes as so many recipes state. That can literally burn out a mixer. Whether you make in the processor with my 60 second version or in a mixer, it just doesn't need to beat that long. If using a mixer, 4 or 5 minutes max is all it needs.

Yes, it is one of the most enriched doughs to be made, heavy with eggs and butter but it has yeast which will make it rise. While the gluten in the flour needs to be activated by beating, it's just like other yeast doughs. Also, using bread flour like I do in this recipe, gives the yeast a boost. The only thing I can think of is it might be a carry over from the days it was created when mixers weren't around and this was done by hand.

I learned my brioche from a wonderful French pastry chef. This is much more of a batter than a dough. Because it is a slack dough it can't be kneaded by hand. To shape it, it must be refrigerated overnight to firm up the butter and make it easy to roll. Additional flour should never be added. To do that would ruin the texture as well as the taste. There are many versions of brioche but this one is the most delicious, best and fastest I've seen.

Recipe Ingredients

Filling Ingredients

Ingredients for filling the Chocolate Raspberry Braid Recipe inlcude frozen strawberries, brandy, lemon juice sugar and minute tapioca.

Clockwise starting with the Raspberries, granulated sugar, lemon juice, brandy and minute tapioca.

Brioche Ingredients

Ingredients for brioche include yeast, sugar, bread flour,, salt, butter, eggs and half and half.

FRONT ROW: Instant yeast, salt, sugar and a pinch of sugar

MIDDLE ROW: Water, half and half and bread flour

BACK ROW: Unsalted butter, eggs

Chocolate Filling

Left to Right: Semisweet Chocolate, unsalted butter

Important Ingredients

Frozen Red Raspberries are thawed and used for the filling. The liquid is saved for other uses.
Instant yeast is best to work with the large amount of butter and sugar.
Unsalted butter is used for it pure butter taste.
Size Large Eggs are important to providing enough liquid to the recipe.
The Chocolate is #811 Callebaut Callets. They look like chocolate chips but are pure semisweet chocolate.
Minute tapioca is used because it thickens without becoming bouncy and it allows the item to be frozen and thawed in its original condition. Cornstarch breaks down if frozen and then thawed.

Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients & instructions.

Step by Step Instructions

Brioche

Please see 60 Second Brioche to make the dough. This needs to be done the day before and refrigerated overnight. It can be held in the fridge up to 3 days before using.

Raspberry Filling

Step 1. Thaw the raspberries very well. Place them in a strainer or sieve and drain them very well. This can take a couple of hours or you can press down on them with a spoon. Step 2. Place them in a sauce pan with the brandy, lemon juice, sugar and tapioca. Place over medium heat ad bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Cook for 1 minute. Cool completely, cover and chill overnight, Step 3. Alternatively, to chill the filling quickly, spread it in a half sheet pan and cover the top with plastic wrap. It will be ready use by the time you prepare the rest of the recipe. If in doubt, place the pan in the fridge. Step 4. Remove the chilled dough and roll it into a 10 ½" x 14" rectangle on a lightly floured surface. This should be done fairly quickly as the dough will soften. Place it on a baking sheet with the 10" side vertical to the cookie sheet (not a half sheet pan as the sides need to be open). Chill or freeze it briefly to continue.

This collage shows the rolled out dough on a cookie sheet, measuring in 3" on the top and bottom of the same side and a ruler laid on the dough where it should be marked.

Step 5. Trim the edges to straighten them. In the photo above, I have not placed it on the cookie sheet, but moved it after I cut it. It is best to trim it on the cookie sheet so it doesn't get out of shape. This step facilitates moving it in and out of the fridge or freezer without getting it out of shape if it gets too soft to work. Step 6. Without cutting through the dough, mark it 3" in from the edge on top. Step 7. On the same side of the dough, mark it 3" in on the bottom. Step 8. Lay a ruler between the two marks and mark a line straight down. Again, do not cut through the dough. Repeat on the other side of the dough leaving a 4" center strip of dough unmarked.

This collage shows the butter and chocolate melted together, then spread done the center of the dough, the raspberry on top of the chocolate and the side of thedough being marked in 1" increments.

Step 9. Combine the chocolate and butter in a small bowl. Heat it in the microwave on half power or over hot water and stir to mix together. Cool. Step 10. Spread it down the center of the dough. Chill briefly to set the chocolate. Step 11. Spread the raspberry filling over the chocolate. Step 12. Mark, but do not cut through every inch down the side of the dough on both sides.

The fourth collage shows the braid being cut up to the filling, completely cut on both sides, the first cut folded over at the top on the right and several strips folded over on the left.

Step 13. Cut the 1" pieces up to the center fillings. Step 14. All of the strips of dough should be cut on both sides. Step 15. Start the braid by bringing the first strip on the left side over the filling, pointing it down slightly. Brush the tip with water. Step 16. Continue down the braid, folding the strips over making sure the edges are brushed with water to ensure they adhere to each other.

The last collage shows the bottom of the braid with the last two strips laid out, the left folded over, the finished braid, and then brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with sliced almonds.

Step 17. Fold the nest to the last strip of down down, leaving the bottom left and right strip. Step 18. Fold the left strip straight across, brush with water and fold right strip straight across also. Step 19. Chill it just until firm enough to transfer to a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper. This is how it should look when completed. Cover it with a tea towel and let it rise until doubled. Step 20. When ready for the oven, brush it lightly with a beaten egg and sprinkle it with sliced almonds. Double pan and bake as directed.

Recipe FAQS

What is the name of a Danish Pastry Braid

Wienerbrød – Danish Pastry Braid.

What is the difference between braided doughs and Danish Braids

Regular braided dough uses strands of dough that are rolled into long strips and then braided with 3,4 5 or more strips by intertwining them. Danish braids are made from one piece of dough which is cut from the sides at 1" intervals and then folded over the filling from the left and then the right so there is no intertwining and the pastry remains flat.

From where does Brioche come?

Brioche is one of the prized French breads. It can be made into bread loaves, rolls, used in pastries both sweet and savory. It is an enriched dough using eggs and a considerable amount of butter.

Expert Tips

When making the brioche, the eggs and butter should be cold.
The sponge is used to form a dough of optimum gluten development because rich doughs can take a long time to rise. Yeast is a microorganism. It is able to use carbohydrates to develop and produce carbon dioxide that makes the bread dough rise. By using a sponge the number single cell living organisms is increased dramatically cutting the time need to rise as well as baking up higher doughs.
Due to the high butter content of the dough, it needs to be worked cold. Moving it in and out of a fridge or freezer makes it easy to work with.
A thick raspberry jam can be used instead of the cooked filling by keeping it about a ½" from the top and bottom of the dough. This should help contain the leaking problem.
Make sure to wet the edges of the dough when braiding it so they don't pop up when baking.

This photo of the baked Chocolate Raspberry Brioche Braid shows the braid on a platter with a pale green napkin next to it and a stack of plates and a cup and saucer next to it.

More Elegant Pastries for You

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Comments

5 from 1 vote

Easier "Danish Pastry" Recipe

A Word About Brioche