It takes me about three days to make these Danish pastries made with 100% whole wheat flour – two if my sourdough starter is already bubbling strongly. I normally start preparing the dough for these pastries at the same time I bake bread because then my sourdough starter is highly active and thriving and I can kill two birds with one stone – prepare bread and pastries.
Danish Pastries Made With Hundred Percent Whole Wheat Flour
My Danish pastries made with hundred percent whole wheat flour are that they are made with wild yeast (sourdough starter). I grind the wheat grains myself before they are fermented in sourdough starter and turned into pastry dough. I have no white flour in my kitchen. White flour is devoid of nutrition. Wheat grains are loaded with nutrition but to access them you need to ferment them and that is why I need about two days to make my Danish pastries.
It is a myth that you can’t use hundred percent whole wheat flour to make them. I make them this way time and time again and they are perfect.
When Kevin and I stay at hotels we usually take the breakfast buffet that comes with our stay. A well stocked breakfast buffet must have Danish pastries. I cringe at the Danish pastries at these places. They are just airy, empty shells made out of starchy white flour, probably bleached and mixed with commercial yeast.
White flour pastry is devoid of the richness of flavour that only sourdough pastry can give. Let the wild yeast work its way through wholesome, freshly ground wheat flour with no additives whatsoever and you will have some of the finest Danish pastries. I don’t think you will find them in the hotels, though because it takes time to create not only the best tasting Danish pastries but also the healthiest. Commercial establishments don’t spend this much time to create the best food. If you can’t grind your own flour, get them at health food stores. If you need softer flour for buns for eg just buy sifted, stone ground whole wheat flour
It was a delight to make this batch last Sunday morning. They sat on the rack to cool down before I packed them in the car and took them to church. Danish pastries made with hundred percent whole wheat flour and fermented by wild yeast/sourdough starter lasts longer. Those made with white flour and commercial yeast go stale in just one day.
Make Your Own Filling And Use Whole Berries
I know there are many different fillings for Danish pastries, but thus far I have been making them with creme patissiere which I make with kefir and eggs from my hens. Maybe one day I will try a different filling. On top of the creme patissiere I have put loganberries and blackberries from the garden and store bought organic blueberries. I was pretty excited to use these home-grown berries as they have been in my freezer for about four months.
The lovely thing about baking your own Danish pastries is that you can add a lot of creme patissiere and berries. Hotels and bakeries only give you a swab of both and the rest of it are all just flaky crust of the pastry. I like the pastry but only with a generous helping of the filling and berries.
With these Danish pastries, I piled them on as much as I could without them dripping. There must be enough to ooze into your mouth with every bite, unlike commercial ones where you chew on flaky crust all through and get only a trickle of the filling and maybe only the flavour of berries and hardly any whole berries.
Shaping Danish Pastries Made With Hundred Percent Whole Wheat Flour
I made them in three different shapes – the pinwheel, vol-au-vent and the cinnamon rolls which you can also call the snail shape. I always have a bottle of cinnamon sugar handy for my baking needs. I grind sugar with pure Cinnamon quills which is Ceylon Cinnamon and not the Cassia variety. That is all there is to it to making cinnamon sugar. This way the sugar too becomes very fine, like castor sugar.
Cinnamon Rolls Among The Danish Pastries Made With Hundred Percent Whole Wheat Flour
The cinnamon rolls have a thick layer of creme patissiere sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and raisins within its spiralling layers. In this sense it is slightly different from the other Danishes and lends a lovely contrast of flavours in a delightful breakfast basket.
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