Food & Cooking Recipes Breakfast & Brunch Recipes Danish Dough 4.0 (3) Use this homemade laminated dough to make our Cheese Danish and other pastry recipes. Close Credit: Rachel Marek Yield: Makes 3 1/4 pounds Jump to recipe Making Danish dough takes time, but it's worth it—you’ll be so happy to have this super-buttery laminated dough to make pastry recipes like Cheese Danish, Apricot Bow-Ties, and Danish Snails. The way Danish dough is made is similar to puff pastry and croissant dough. All three are formed by folding the dough over a layer of butter, over and over to create a multi-layered dough. Where it differs is that puff pastry doesn’t contain yeast, while croissant and Danish doughs do. And this dough contains egg, whereas croissant dough doesn’t, so it’s richer and less flaky. Another difference: Martha adds cardamom to her Danish dough, making it very fragrant. How to Make Sourdough Starter From Scratch Directions Proof yeast in warm milk: In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk; stir until dissolved. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Mix flour, sugar, salt, cardamom, and butter: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine 1 pound, 4 ounces flour, sugar, salt, cardamom, and 4 tablespoons butter; beat on low speed until butter is incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse meal, 3 to 4 minutes. Add yeast-milk mixture: Pour in the yeast-milk mixture; mix until dough just comes together. Add eggs and yolk: Add the eggs and yolk; mix until just combined, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overmix. Knead, wrap, and refrigerate: Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, making sure to include any loose bits left at the bottom of the bowl. Gently knead to form a smooth ball, about 30 seconds. Wrap well with plastic, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Mix remaining butter with remaining flour; refrigerate: Paddle remaining 3 1/2 sticks butter with 2 tablespoons flour. Form flour and butter mixture into a 12-by-10-inch rectangle on a sheet of plastic wrap. Refrigerate 15 minutes or up to 1 day. Roll out dough, let butter mixture come to room temp: On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to an 18-by-10-inch rectangle, a little over a 1/4 inch thick, keeping the corners as square as possible. Remove any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Remove butter mixture from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until it reaches the consistency of the dough. Dont use too much flour on the work surface as it will toughen the dough. Fold dough over butter mixture: With a short side facing you, place butter mixture over 2/3 of the dough. Fold the unbuttered third over as you would a business letter, followed by the remaining third. This seals in the butter. Repeat rolling, folding, and refrigerating: Roll out dough again to an 18-by-10-inch rectangle, then fold dough into thirds as described above; refrigerate for 1 hour. This is the first of three turns. Repeat rolling and folding two more times, refrigerating for at least 1 hour between turns. To help you remember how many turns have been completed, mark the dough after each one: make one mark for the first turn, two for the second, and three for the third. Refrigerate dough: Refrigerate dough, tightly wrapped in plastic, for at least 4 hours or overnight. Make Ahead Our Danish dough needs to be finished at least four hours ahead of being used, but you can also make it a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight. Freezing The dough can also be frozen, tightly wrapped in plastic, for up to 2 weeks; before using, thaw the dough in the refrigerator overnight.