Cheese Danish

A friend asked me if I could make him cheese danish and I told him that I'd give it a whirl.  I wasn't particularly keen on the idea of making a croissant-like dough. Too time consuming.  

I found the original recipe in the NY Times' archives, from December, 2006. I was attracted by its ease and more, that it was adapted from a baker named "Mindel Appel".

It requires no kneading, pounding, turning, counting or any of those pagan dough rituals. You mix it and it rests overnight in the fridge.  Period. 

As I put together the dough last night, the intoxicating aroma of the yeast made me realize how special an ingredient yeast is in the kitchen. 

Trader Joe's doesn't agree.  

When I asked for yeast at their store, there wasn't any. The eager to help and kind man in his Hawaiian shirt reported that yeast is a seasonal item - fourth quarter. I guess they do well with their own confections - especially those cat cookies. There were plenty of cat cookies.

Fairway carries Red Star yeast all year round.

Cheese Danish (Delkelekh)

adapted from The New York Times' adaptation of Mindel Appel's recipe

For the dough:

1 Tbsp. yeast

1/3 cup whole milk

2 large eggs, room temperature

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 c. sour cream, room temperature

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3 cups all purpose flour, measured and then sifted

For the filling:

1 1/2 c. (12oz.) farmer's cheese 

1/3 c. sour cream

1/3 c. sugar

2 Tbsp. flour

2 tsp. vanilla 

1 large egg yolk

finely grated zest of 1 small lemon (use your Microplane!)

For assembly:

Color guard in the back of auditorium, school stands and is ready, play introduction to Grand Old Flag ...segue to recipe...

Flour for dusting work surface

Pastry brush

1 large egg mixed with 1 Tbsp. water (egg wash)

Confectioner's sugar (10X) for dusting (optional, but nice)

Procedure:

(The night before)

1. In microwave, (or stovetop if you're one of those) warm milk to just like warm ... not too hot, or you'll kill the yeast. 

2. Proof the yeast for a few minutes ... make sure it's active and bubbly - by sprinkling it over the warm milk.  Mix it up and add a little sugar if you're in the mood for some action.  In a few minutes, it'll begin to resemble the trailer for The Blob.

3. In bowl of an electric mixer, mix together:  milk/yeast, eggs, butter, sour cream, sugar, salt and flour. Use paddle attachment, scraping down a couple of times. Continue to mix until dough becomes uniform and can be formed into a ball (in the neighborhood of 5 minutes). Cover the bowl and let rest for 30 minutes. Then, put it in the refrigerator overnight.

4. For the filling: In bowl of electric mixer, combine all the 'filling' ingredients and mix well. Transfer to a covered container. (If you make this ahead of time, refrigerate until needed, up to 24 hours. Or, you can make it the next morning, when you're ready to assemble the pastries.)

5. The morning after assembly: Preheat oven to 350º and line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat. 

Lightly dust work surface with flour and roll dough to 1/8" thickness.  

Cut into approximately 4" squares.  A pizza cutter works well for this. 

Spoon about one Tbsp. of filling into center of each square, spreading just a little, but not to the corners.  

Lift opposite corners of square and press together and then the other two.  Make sure all seams are well sealed. 

(NB:  At this point, you can put the pastries on a tray, and freeze them solid and then wrap them well. When you want to bake them, you have to remove them from the freezer and proof them, on the parchment lined baking sheet, with a piece of waxed paper (I love waxed paper) over them, at room temperature until they are defrosted and look 'ready' to bake again. Then, egg wash them and bake them.) 

6.  Arrange on pastry sheets, about 1 1/2" apart.  

"Seal" them with egg wash, pressing slightly with the pastry brush to cover and further seal the seams.  

(Most will open somewhere, but as long as they don't open everywhere, they'll be fine.) 

7. Bake until golden, 20-30 minutes. Cool and dust with 10X* 

Yield: approx. 24  cheese danish 

These are best eaten the day they are made, but you can wrap them well and freeze them. Defrost and warm them in the oven before serving.  

*10X is confectioner's sugar .. you should know this.