Recipe: Cheese Danish

This is from the California Culinary
Academy Cookbook: Cooking From A to Z

Danish Pastry Dough

2 pkgs. active dry yeast
1 cup warm (105F to 115F) milk
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Butter Mixture
1 1/2 cups cold butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

In a large bowl sprinkle yeast over warm
milk, stir, and let stand a few minutes
to soften. Add eggs, salt, and sugar and
mix well. Pour in flour and mix briefly,
just until you have a rough sticky dough
that holds together. Set aside for about
5 minutes while preparing Butter Mixture.

Butter Mixture
Cut cold butter into tablespoon-sized
chunks, dropping chunks onto work
surface. Sprinkle butter pieces with
flour. Blend butter and flour by
smearing them out in front of you with
the heel of your hand; gather up the
mixture and smear again three or four
times until butter is perfectly smooth
and workable but still cold. Flour your
hands and pat mixture into a rectangle
about 4 by 5 inches. Place between two
sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap and
pat and roll into a larger, 7-by-9-inch
rectangle, keep edges as even as
possible. Set aside for a moment.

Scrape clean surface of work area used to
make Butter Mixture, sprinkle it
generously with flour, and turn yeast
dough out onto it (dough will be quite
soft). Sprinkle top of dough with flour,
then roll and pat into a 10-by-14-inch
rectangle. Unwrap butter mixture and set
it on bottom half of dough, leaving a
1-inch border on 3 sides. Gently lift up
unbuttered top flap and flip it down over
butter Pinch the edges to seal, then use
a wide spatula or scraper to help lift
dough package and give it a quarter turn,
so the sealed flap is to your right.

Roll out dough, using smooth even
strokes roll to a 8-by-20-inch rectangle.
Check to see if it is sticking and
sprinkle with flour if necessary -- don't
be afraid to pick it up and look. Fold
bottom third of dough up over the middle,
then flip top third down to cover it.
Turn again so flap is to your right and
roll out again to 8-by-20-inches. Fold
in thirds as before, flour lightly, wrap
in plastic wrap, place in a plastic bag,
and chill for about 30 minutes. At this
point, the first two turns are finished.
Roll chilled dough again to
8-by-20-inches, fold in thirds, wrap in
plastic wrap and a plastic bag, and
refrigerate for 45 minutes. (If at any
time dough becomes soft and resists
rolling out, or if butter breaks through
in large smeary patches, stop working,
dust dough with flour, then slide onto a
baking sheet and chill for about 20
minutes.)

Roll out and fold dough again, thus
completing four turns. Wrap and chill
for at least 1 hour (or for a few hours
or overnight if it's more convenient).

The recipe makes about two dozen
pastries, and each shape (directions
follow) requires half the dough. For
variety, make two different shapes and at
least two fillings. After you cut the
dough in half, wrap and chill the piece
you are not working on.
Filings can be made a day ahead since
they all keep well if covered and
refrigerated (or frozen).
If you need to use two baking sheets when
baking the Danish and can1t fit both pans
on the same oven rack, refrigerate one
rack after forming and let the other
batch rise at room temperature. The
chilled batch will rise more slowly, so
baking will be staggered.
if you1re going to freeze a Danish, omit
any icing called for after baking. ice
the pastries after reheating in a 400F
oven for about 5 minutes and they'll look
and taste freshly made.
The amount of filling used in each Danish
may not look generous, but it's better to
have too little than too much, which
would bubble up and leak out during
baking. Be sure to press very firmly
when sealing the edges of unbaked
pastries, using your fingertips or the
ties of a fork so that the pastries don't
pop open in the oven.

Cheese Filling
1 cup cottage cheese
2 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. flour
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. grated orange rind
Press cottage cheese through a strainer
or food mill 2 or 3 times, until it is
fairly smooth, or simply whirl for
several seconds in a food processor. Add
sugar, flour, egg yolk, and orange rind;
mix thoroughly.