I'm going to start out by saying right off that baking with yeast is not my favorite thing to do. Oh I have made bread in a bread machine with no problem. But this recipe for the June challenge, chosen by our hosts, Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking started out scary because you do not proof the yeast. And it appears to be a recipe that requires patience, of which I have none. This recipe calls for making a dough, laminated with a butter block. No, I have not had the pleasure before.
I made my danish on a Saturday and baked it for a Sunday breakfast. I made the dough recipe as written. It gave me a chance to try my mortar and pestle that my friend Kim picked up for me during an Ikea trip. I opened the cardamon pods and tried to crush the seeds but couldn't get them fine enough so I used my coffee grinder first and then used the mortar and pestle. I didn't have an orange left in my fridge like I thought, so I used water and orange extract instead of orange juice and zest. I had a little fun incorporating the butter into the dough, because it actually seemed to come together like it was supposed to! I did sneek little unbaked bits and it seemed tasty enough.
For my filling I used 8 oz of cream cheese, 1 egg and 1/2 cup sugar. Next time if I fill with cream cheese I will double the filling as it seemed not enough for our tastes.
I think I may have voodooed the dough into not rising to my satisfaction or maybe I was hasty and baked too soon. I also think my dough could have used more flavoring, but maybe more filling would help. I have the second slab of danish dough in my freezer to try again later. I'l try to be more patient!
Daring Bakers are such a fun group. Always something to learn and stretch our cooking skills. Anyway, you can find the long recipe at the hosts' blogs.
