This recipe for Homemade Pinwheel Danish Pastries uses an easier mixing method for making homemade Danish pastry dough. The result is still a super flaky, buttery and sweet dough to make a variety of fruit filled breakfast pastries.
If using Active Dry Yeast - Pour the water in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let it sit for about 5 minutes until it gets foamy and bubbly. Add the milk, egg, sugar, and salt to the yeast mixture and whisk together. Set aside.
If using Rapid Rise Yeast - In a large mixing bowl, add the yeast, milk, egg, sugar, and salt. Whisk together until incorporated. Set aside.
Combine the flour and butter - In a medium mixing bowl, add the all-purpose and bread flour. Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box cheese grater. Add the grated butter to the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter flakes are just coated with flour. Note: 1.) I recommend freezing the sticks of butter because we need the butter to be extra cold. 2.) If you prefer not to grate the butter, you can use a food processor to combine the flour and butter. If so, cut the butter into slices, add to the work bowl of the food processor along with the flours, and pulse few times until the butter is about the size of large pebbles. Do not over-mix. You don't want the butter pieces to get too small.
Pour the butter and flour mix into the wet ingredients bowl. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix, scraping the sides and bottom of bowl as needed, just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over-mix. You want the butter to stay in pieces to produce a flaky pastry. The dough will be sticky and scraggly.
Chill the Dough
Transfer the dough to an airtight covered container (like a large Tupperware). Refrigerate the dough overnight (or up to 4 days).
Fresh Cherry Filling
While the dough is chilling, make the filling - In a medium saucepan, add the cherries, maple syrup, and lemon juice. Cook and stir over medium heat, until the cherries start to break down and release their juices. About 8 - 10 minutes. You will want to keep an eye on the cherries and stir frequently as they cook and caramelize easily. Transfer the filling to a small bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Rolling and Folding Chilled Pastry Dough
We are going to fold the dough 3 times - Turn the chilled dough on to a lightly floured work surface. Dust the top of dough and rolling pin lightly with flour. Using your hands, pat the dough into a rough square. Roll the dough into a square about 12-inches on a side.
Fold the dough into thirds, like a business letter, and turn it so the closed fold is to your left (like the spine of a book). Note: 1.) If at any time, the dough gets too soft to roll and starts sticking to your rolling pin, cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes to chill. 2.) Lift the dough off the work surface after every few rolls to make sure the dough is not sticking to the surface.
Roll the folded dough again - this time into rectangle about 12-inches wide by 18-inches long. Note: A sewing tape measurer or wooden ruler are great to have on hand to measure the dough. Fold the dough rectangle into thirds again, turning it so the closed fold is to your left (like the spine of a book).
Roll the folded dough again - this time into a into a square about 12-inches on a side. Fold the dough into thirds, like a business letter.
Cut the dough in half. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, or for up to 2 days. Note: I like to cut the dough in half to make the final roll and assembly easier. If you choose not to cut the dough in half, the size of the rectangle on the final roll will be larger (12-inches x 16-inches).
Assembling the Pinwheels
This recipe demonstrates the Pinwheel shape. There are other Danish pastry shapes like the Spandauer, Packet, Kite, or Square (to name a few).
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the egg white with 2 teaspoons of water.
Unwrap one of the chilled dough pieces (keep the other in the fridge until ready to use). Place the chilled dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Dust the top of dough and rolling pin lightly with flour. Roll the dough into an 8-inch x 12-inch rectangle. Trim the edges as needed with a sharp knife (or pizza cutter), to even them out.
Make 6, 4-inch dough squares - One the 8-inch side of the rectangle, make one (1) cut mark at 4 inches. Then, on the 12-inch side of the rectangle, make two (2) cut marks at every 4 inches. Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut the dough into 6, 4-inch squares, using your cut marks as your guide.
Filling and shaping the dough squares - Remove the cherry filling from the fridge. Transfer your dough squares to one of the prepared baking sheets - spacing them evenly apart. Shape and fill one pastry at a time. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the cherry filling into the center of the dough square.
At each corner of the square, use a sharp knife (or pizza cutter) and cut a 1-inch diagonal slash from the corner towards the center.
Brush every other dough point with some of the beaten egg white. Lift each of those points and gently press them together to join them at the center of the pastry - this makes the pinwheel shape. Repeat the filling and shaping for the remaining dough squares.
Preheat the oven to 400F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position.
Cover the baking sheet with the prepared pastries with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let the pastries rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Although the pastries won't double in size, they will look and feel puffy. Note: To keep the pastries and filling from sticking to the towel or plastic wrap, place a small cup on the baking sheet that is taller than the pastries, to keep the towel/plastic wrap from touching them. I use a large roasting bag and slide the baking sheet inside of it. It is large enough to puff up so it doesn't touch the pastries.
Brush the rested pastries with more of the egg white. You can also top them with pearl sugar. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. While the first batch of pastries are baking, you can repeat the process for the other dough half.
Transfer the baked pastries to a wire rack.
Glaze
In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk. Add more milk (a splash at a time), until you reach a consistency that is smooth and can be piped (or sprinkled). Pour the glaze into a small Ziploc bag, and snip one of the corners to create a small opening. Pipe the glaze on top of the cooling pastries in random lines. Serve the pastries warm, or at room temperature.
The pastries are best served the day they are made. Enjoy!
Notes
Bread Flour - If you don't have bread flour, you can use all all-purpose flour. I like the bread flour because it gives the pastries an airy texture.
Butter - You can either do the grated butter method, or food processor method and get the same result. I choose to grate my butter because I don't like cleaning all the parts for the food processor!
Keep the dough cold - If at any time while you are rolling and folding the dough, the dough starts to get sticky, just cover it and put it back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Rolling the dough - When you are rolling the dough, lift the dough up off your work surface after every few rolls, to make sure the dough is not sticking to the surface.
Keeping the Pinwheel shape - Pinch every other tip together to seal them together. There may be some tips that separate when baking. If this happens, you can 'push' the points back together as soon as they come out of the oven.
Cool the pastries, slightly - Let the pastries cool before adding the glaze otherwise, it will just melt off.