this weeks challenge called for making a batch of danish dough, something my current schedule did not have time to accommodate. hard to believe but that actually worked in my favor. way back when, in january, i was testing recipes for a project i am working on. one of the recipes was for a danish dough. after testing the recipe, i put half a batch in my freezer to see how it would work out after being frozen. needless to say, the dough will tolerate freezing but not being frozen for 9 months! my guess is that 3 months is the maximum time it could be frozen and thawed and still rise properly. while it was past its prime, it was still pretty good, just a little denser than i would prefer.
to bake a braid like the tuesdays of dorie bakers, buy a copy of baking with julia or visit the contributing baker’s, beatrice ojakangas, contribution to the woman today website. to see how the tuesdays with dorie bakers did with this challenge, visit the website.
since i was already breaking the rules by not making the dough-let’s just call this my effort to clean the freezer, i decided to wing it completely. for the filling, i used a sweet red apple, a gala apple to be precise. after peeling and slicing it, i mixed it with a little dark brown sugar, some spice and a little flour. to complete it, i sweetened a little cream cheese and added an egg yolk to it and used that as a base for the apple filling.
forming a braid is really simple. the most time you will spend is marking out the dough and making the cuts. it is really important to have a flap at the bottom and the top. these are folded in over the filling to help keep it from oozing out during the rising and the baking. then, going from left to right, fold a strip in to the opposite side to give the illusion of braiding the dough.
so, if you need any assistance, call me. i will be in the kitchen breaking rules and not following directions and misbehaving in general. this all has consequences-usually of the dessert kind…
will garden for cake 
hahahaha – in the kitchen being a renegade! Your braid does look good – a lot neater than mine. I filled mine with apples too.
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Beautiful Braid! I thought about using apples in mine, but got lazy and did not feel like peeling them. For some reason I really hate peeling apples. May I ask which dough recipe you used for your danish?
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amazing!!
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The apple filling looks terrific!!!
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Fantastic pics! Your Danish braid looks great! And your pastry looks so lovely and flaky…really great pics.
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Following directions is so overrated (sometimes) Kitchen renegades unite!
Love the apple filling. I still have a hunk of dough in the freezer and it is apple season… Hmmmm
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Loved your post! Great job!
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Mmm, apple filling – so seasonal! Maybe with some Apple Brandy 🙂
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So impressive! Love this.
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Gorgeous!! I love apple filling, so your version sounds particularly scrumptious. My strawberry cream cheese version is rising right now! I can't wait to taste it!
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Good idea to have a flap at the ends… we weren't sure what to do with the extra dough there. And what a nice fall filling idea!
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Your apple filling together with the cream cheese sounds quite delicious and your presentation is so very pretty too! Your Danish Braid looks just wonderful! It seems that this recipe was really enjoyed by all!
Have a great week!
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Beautiful Danish braid! I too went the apple route, just an apple pie type filling, nothing else. It was delicious. Your slats are perfectly aligned! I wish I had taken a bit more care in cutting mine.
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Original dessert for any ocassion, is different and looks delicious would like to do one of these myself Panama Recipes
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