Flaky Sourdough Danish Pastries with Step by Step Instructions

Delicious and flaky sourdough danish pastries leavened with butter and sourdough starter. The dough in this sourdough pastry recipe is similar to my sourdough croissants but it’s more enriched, with milk, egg and a touch of fragrant cardamom.

They’re topped with a sweetened lemony cream cheese and blackberries (or berries of your choice),or vanilla custard and (fresh or canned) peach slices.

Sourdough Danish pastries

Like the sourdough croissants, making sourdough Danish pastry is a drawn-out process, however it’s not difficult.

I’ve changed the timings a little in this recipe, compared to the croissants, so that you can do the majority of the steps in one day, and then shape and bake the dough when you’re ready.

If your room temperature is above 25°C you may struggle to keep the dough and butter cool.

The Starter- The Night Before

First things first, you’ll need an active starter for this recipe. To save some time, I feed the starter in the late evening and let it rise overnight so that in the morning I can get right into the dough making.

I need 150g active starter, and because I’m giving it such a long rising time, I want to slow it down so that it doesn’t peak before I’m ready to use it. I’ll feed my starter at a ratio of 1:3:3. If I’m planning to use it sooner, within 8 or so hours, I would feed it 1:2:2.

For example, at a 1:3:3 ratio I could take 30g starter and feed it 90g water and 90g flour. Once doubled this gives a total of 210g active starter, I can take my 150g that I need, and the remaining starter I can give a feed and pop into the fridge for the next time.

At this stage, if you keep your butter in the refrigerator, take out all the butter needed so it can come to room temperature overnight.

The Next Morning

The next morning the starter should be doubled, if not tripled and ready to use. In a large bowl mix all the dough ingredients together to form a sticky dough.

Tip it on the bench and knead it for 5 minutes, pushing it forward and pulling it back, until it begins to smoothen. Shape it into a ball and place it into a clean, greased bowl.

Cover the bowl with a plate and leave this to sit at room temperature for 3 hours.

Now take the remaining 250g butter and slice it into rough 2cm slices. Lay these out on a sheet of baking paper to form a rectangle. Place another sheet of paper on top.

Alternatively, you can first mix the room temperature butter with 1 1/2 tbsp of flour, like I do in the sourdough croissants. This creates a malleable butter mixture that can be easier to roll out.

Now, roll this butter out into an even rectangle measuring 20cm by 30cm. Once rolled, if the butter is squishy and starting to melt, place it in the refrigerator to firm up a little bit. Later, this butter needs to be the same consistency as the dough, so want it cool but still nice and pliable, not rock hard.

Rolling the Sourdough Danish pastries

After the dough has finished its 3 hour ferment, roll it out on a lightly floured bench into a rectangle that measures about 45 by 65cm, just over double what the butter rectangle is.

Check first that the butter isn’t too hard. Then the butter can be placed on one half of the dough, and the remaining dough half can be folded over. Once folded over, turn it 45 degrees and roll it out again into a long rectangle, around 45 by 65cm again.

Roll firmly but take care not to tear the dough, and try keep it in a rectangle as much as possible.

Once it has been rolled out, it’s time to fold the dough like a pamphlet. Take one end and fold it into the middle, then take the other end and fold it over the first end.

Wrap the dough up well in the baking paper used for the butter and place it in the fridge for around 20-30 minutes. This was the first turn.

Repeat this process two more times, so that’s three turns in total.

If you find that during the rolling out, that the butter is shattering, it may mean the butter is too cold. If this happens you can leave the dough to rest on the bench instead of the fridge before rolling it out again. At the same time, ensure the butter does not melt into the dough or you won’t achieve flaky layers. It’s a bit of a balance that will get easier with practice.

After the third turn, the dough needs be kept in the fridge for at least 8 hours. I leave it overnight.

Shaping the Sourdough Danish pastries

When you’re ready to bake the dough, take it from the fridge. I like to cut the dough in half and roll half at a time.

Roll half the dough out into a square and cut it into 9 squares.

I stick to two basic basic shapes. The first is a simple square with each of the corners folded in to meet in the middle.

The second is a little more intricate looking but so simple to make. Take a pastry square and make a slit from one corner to nearly the middle. Do this on each side, but ensure they don’t meet in the middle. Then take one side of each cut piece and fold it into the middle, folding up the same side on each piece. That’s probably a terrible explanation, but the picture below should help!

Roll out the remaining dough and cut into 9 squares, then shape them.

Place each shaped piece on the baking paper used previously and let them proof for around 4 hours. They’ll puff up a bit, but don’t expect a huge rise. This stage is so important though, for light danishes.

Then, add the toppings.

We like either a spoonful of cream cheese mixture and a couple berries or custard and canned peach slices. We have a bunch of frozen blackberries in the freezer which are just perfect on these danishes.

Then they’re brushed with an egg wash and into the oven. A hot oven will ensure they puff up quickly, but just watch that they don’t burn, especially the windmill style danish. The thin points cook quickly.

Once baked, let them cool for about 30 minutes. Then, drizzle with an icing glaze or simply sprinkle with icing sugar.

Have you made these Sourdough Danish pastries? Tag me and let me know! @home_grown_happinessnz

If you’re after a traditional sourdough loaf, try my Basic Sourdough Loaf.

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