Danish pastry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Danish pastry, usually referred to as a Danish, is a sweet pastry which has become a speciality of Denmark and is popular throughout the industrialized world, although the form these pastries take is significantly different from country to country.
The ingredients of a Danish include flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and generous amounts of butter. A yeast dough is rolled out thinly, coated with butter, and then folded into numerous layers. If necessary, the dough is chilled to ease handling. The rolling, buttering, folding, and chilling is repeated several times to create a dough which is buttery and flaky.
The Danish varies from country to country, in the USA various ingredients such as jam, custard or cream cheese are placed on or within sections of divided dough, which is then baked. Cardamom is often added to increase the aromatic sense of sweetness.
The Danish as consumed in Denmark is topped by chocolate, marzipan, sugar or icing, and unstuffed or stuffed with either jam or custard. Shapes are numerous, including circles, figure-eights, spirals (known as snails), and the pretzel-like kringles. In Denmark it is mostly eaten on Sunday mornings, and to celebrate special occasions.
The Danish pastry is — like the croissant — said to originate from Vienna and in Denmark is called wienerbrød (lit, "Viennese bread" corresponding to the French Viennoiserie). But that is probably because it uses a certain kind of dough consisting of butter and flour in the classic cuisine referred to as "Viennese Dough"[citation needed].
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[edit] L. C. Klitteng's Influence
L. C. Klitteng, of Læsø, Denmark, popularized the "Danish pastry" in America in the years 1915-1920. The Danish pastry was, according to Klitteng, the dish that he baked for the wedding of United States President Woodrow Wilson in December 1915. Klitteng toured the world to promote his product, and he was featured in such 1920 periodicals as the National Baker, the Bakers' Helper, and the Bakers Weekly. Klitteng opened a short-lived Danish Culinary Studio at 146 Fifth Avenue in New York City[citation needed].
Herman Gertner owned a chain of New York City restaurants, and Gertner brought Klitteng to New York to sell Danish pastry. Gertner's obituary appeared in the January 23, 1962 New York Times:
- At one point during his career Mr. Gertner befriended a Danish baker who convinced him that Danish pastry might be well received in New York. Mr. Gertner began serving the pastry in his restaurant and it immediately was a success.
[edit] Trivia
- In the Scandinavian countries (including Denmark) it is called wienerbrød or wienerbröd (Viennese bread) after the itinerant Viennese bakers who brought their pastry skills to Scandinavia[citation needed].
- In the television show Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and Rory typically eat danishes on "Danish Day" every week.
- The preferred pluralization of the abbreviated form "Danish" is "Danish".
- During the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2006, several Iranian groups advocated changing the name of Danish pastry to "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad"[citation needed].
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Danish Pastry from food historian Barry Popik
