By Samantha Seneviratne
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus several hours for resting and making dough
- Rating
- 5(146)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This braid is a dazzling use of this shortcut Danish dough recipe, a large braid filled with tender, sweet pears on a bed of ground almonds. Be sure to add 1 teaspoon of coarsely ground fresh cardamom with the flour in Step 1 of the Danish dough. (Grind it yourself using a grinder or mortar and pestle; the coarse grind allows the spice to permeate the dough, but not in an aggressive way. If you use pre-ground cardamom, you will likely need less.) The apricot glaze adds a festive shine to the finished pastry, but it is not essential.
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Ingredients
Yield:10 servings
- 5tablespoons/71 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2tablespoons/30 grams packed light or dark brown sugar
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- 3cups/380 grams diced pear (from 2 to 3 firm Bosc pears)
- ⅓cup/52 grams raw almonds
- 3tablespoons/21 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1large egg yolk
- ⅛teaspoon almond extract
- 1batch Danish dough with cardamom added (see recipe)
- 1large egg, lightly beaten
- ¼cup/80 grams apricot preserves, for glaze (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
154 calories; 9 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 107 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
To prepare the pear filling, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Add the pears and cook, gently stirring occasionally, until they are tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer the pears to a plate and let the mixture cool completely.
Step
2
Use a coffee grinder to blend the almonds to a fine meal. Transfer the almond meal to a medium bowl. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter, the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, the confectioners’ sugar, egg yolk and almond extract. Mash the mixture into a paste with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon.
Step
3
On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll the dough into an 11-by-14-inch rectangle. Arrange so a short side is facing you. With a bench scraper or the backside of a knife, very lightly mark off a 3-inch section lengthwise down the center of the dough. (Don’t cut through the dough, you’re just creating a guide for yourself.) Cut 1-inch strips perpendicular to the lengthwise guidelines, on either side of the 3-inch section. (These strips will be folded up to become the braided top.) Cut off the top and bottom corner strips, leaving the center flap.
Step
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Spread the almond mixture down the 3-inch section of the pastry, leaving about an ⅛-inch border on all sides. Top evenly with the pear mixture, leaving any accumulated liquid on the plate.
Step
5
Beat the egg in a small bowl. Very lightly, brush a 1-inch border around the edges of the pastry with some of the beaten egg. (You'll be brushing the pastry that's been cut into strips, and the two end flaps.)
Step
6
Fold up the top and bottom ends of the center section to create a barrier for the filling. Starting at the top, fold each strip in at a slightly downward angle over the filling, alternating from left to right. Make sure the strips are overlapping by about ½ inch so they don’t open up while baking. Using the parchment, move the filled pastry onto a rimmed baking sheet.
Step
7
Cover the pastry loosely with plastic wrap and let rest until slightly puffed, about 1 hour. Note the thickness of the strips when you first set it aside and use their growth as a guide. It’s ready when the dough bounces back slowly when pressed lightly. (If it bounces back too fast, it hasn’t risen enough; if it doesn’t bounce back at all, it’s gone too far.) While dough is rising, heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Step
8
Gently brush the top and sides of the pastry with some of the remaining beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes then turn the pan and reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Bake until deep golden brown and puffed, 10 to 15 minutes more.
Step
9
Meanwhile, make the apricot glaze if desired. Heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan, stirring, until loose. Strain the jam through a mesh sieve into a small bowl; discard the solids. Brush a thin coat of apricot glaze over the warm pastry. Let cool slightly before serving.
Ratings
5
out of 5
146
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Cooking Notes
deegee
For the love of Pete, this one requires a diagram with all those flaps, sections, center lines, strips and folds. Can't make it out this way at all! And what on earth is a bench scraper? Something to remove snow from my outdoor furniture? Have mercy.
Nathan
Some fine-tuning of the braiding directions may be called for: I understood the 1/2 inch overlap to apply to neighboring flaps, which of course very quickly ran out of any possible overlap, before my wife suggested the overlap should be in the middle, with the flaps coming from the opposite side. What can I say? 1st time I've braided anything. (I've been upbraided, but that experience didn't help.)
Matt
If ever a recipe here called for an accompanying video, this is it.
Laurie
Gorgeous dough, bakes up as good as a bakery. Don't worry too much about overlapping the strips with neighboring strips; they bake together and prevent the filling from spilling out. Don't waste the cut out corners - roll them up and bake them as croissant bites.
Agreed with a comment on the cheese Danish recipe that the initial baking temperature seemed too high - tented the loaf with foil after the initial 10 minutes to keep it from over browning.
Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor
Freeze it unbaked, then bake it frozen (after brushing with some beaten egg) at 375 until golden brown and puffed. Probably about 30-35 minutes, but keep an eye on it.
EarlThePearl
Instead of apricot jam, I reduced to a syrup the reserved juices from the cooked pears with a 1/2 cp of icing sugar to glaze the final braided loaf, which really zinged the “pearishness” of this sweet piece of cuisson. It’s also fairly easy to replace the almond paste with cream cheese but that’s another dish entirely.
Bonnie
This was an easy recipe and absolutely delicious. I made the braided danish but since I had a jar of sour cherries I used them instead of pears and it came out fantastic. (I cooked the cherries with some sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon to thicken up the cherries. The dough handled well and had no issues in rolling it out. Braiding it was not an issue at all. Just follow the instructions. It is time consuming, but hey, that's what good danish is all about.
fall-girl
I used to bake danish for a small bakery and we made our own almond paste by grinding blanched almonds (which we did ourselves, much fresher tasting) with sugar in a food processor and then adding the other ingredients for the filling. It's really a lot easier to both grind the almonds into meal and incorporate the other ingredients in a food processor rather than by hand in a bowl.
Paul
I made this recipe successfully and took some photos. The dough handles quite easily, did not have any problems with the flour quantities (someone in the dough recipe complained about flour).
If you read the paragraph about the cutting/folding a few times, it's clear.
I would drain the pears after saute--I had too much liquid even though i tried to leave liquid on the plate. Also, make sure you leave enough on the lower and upper flaps to fold up. Otherwise, worked surprisingly well.
Thomas Sherman
I loved this recipe and greatly enjoyed making it - exactly as described. It was beautiful coming out of the oven. My German wife and German neighbor were very impressed.
Julie
DG... a bench scraper is a rigid piece of metal, approx. 4x6", with a wooden or plastic handle along one long side. It is very handy for scraping, cutting or lifting soft dough dough or anything else off your counter. The King Arthur Flour web site. among others, sells them.
Julie
Think of the dough as being made into a rectangular box with 1 " wide 'fringes' along each long side. By removing two fringes, one on each side, at both ends of the box, you leave the middle section remaining, which is pulled up, to form the ends of the box. The 'fringes' are then placed alternating to form the cover for the filling. Hope this helps.
fall-girl
Actually, 1/3 c. is too small amount to grind in a food processor, unless its a mini, so please disregard my earlier post. Sorry, it takes at least a cup to work effectively.
stephanie
Try putting your half sheet pan stacked on another sheet pan, as if storing them, when you bake. The added insulation helps keep the. Ottom from burning. Bake in the middle to top third of the oven.
Giovanni
I am very pleased with the receipe, it is detailed and clear to follow, admittetly I had to read it twice. It is a time consuming process but I enjoyed it from start to finish and love the end result. Thank you, will certainly bake it again.
rdeangelo
Terrific recipe! I’ve made the dough for other applications and this was first time I made danish with almond but I substituted some apple compote I made few days earlier. Overall outstanding! I will make again.
PASallen
This pastry is delectable! Rather than putting the pears on a plate after sautéing, I drained them in a colander, saving the resulting liquid. As someone else suggested, I used the liquid to make a loose icing, which I brushed onto the braid as soon as it came out of the oven.
hz
I loved the filling (used 2 honey crisp apples 1 Granny Smith and cooked about 10 mins to soften. For the almond paste I used TJ almond meal and mixed ingredients in small food bowl of processor.) but the danish dough recipe didn't work well for me... more cake than flake. Will try to find a non-shortcut method next time (with Video)!
Kate
This is a beautiful pastry. No issues with braiding, just followed instructions. I made the filings first and set them aside until the dough was ready. The outside was gorgeous (used foil after 10 min) but the inside was still a bit doughy after the 10 min @ 425 20 min @ 375.
Wendy A
Google King Arthur’s Braided Lemon Braid for a video tutorial on how to braid the same type of pastry.
Alex Trnka
This is the same braiding technique that Samantha uses, though she cuts the strips straight rather than at an angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TqapbmQYLs&ab_channel=Dominic
suzanne
I usually don't mess up technical stuff but this one threw me for a loop. Getting the suggested 1/2" overlap was a challenge and I ended up using the leftover corner strips to bandage up any gaps. Consequently I now have a pear and almond mummy. Next time I'll try cutting the strips at an angle instead of perpendicular to the center area and see if that helps. Any tips from those who were successful?
ai20001
This was delicious (!!!!) and I was surprised how much easier making the dough was than I thought it would be. My only mistake was that I didn't do the folding in the dough instructions and let it rise again (ugh), I just rolled it out after refrigerating for three hours. I thought it would have turned out flat, but it was still excellent! In the future, I am also going to bake it a few minutes less at the higher temperature - it browns rather quickly.
Anne
Blanch the almonds?Peel the pears??Thx
EarlThePearl
Instead of apricot jam, I reduced to a syrup the reserved juices from the cooked pears with a 1/2 cp of icing sugar to glaze the final braided loaf, which really zinged the “pearishness” of this sweet piece of cuisson. It’s also fairly easy to replace the almond paste with cream cheese but that’s another dish entirely.
EllenG
I think I understand - the 11“ width is comprised of 3” on each side, with 5” in the middle where the filling will go. Each 3” side is sliced in 1” braiding strips that run perpendicular to the center.
Karla
No 3 inches down the middle with 4 inches on either side 4 + 3 + 4 = 11 inches width.
MM
This one could use a video for usDanish making novices
Kerry
This thing is stunning! I actually found the braiding quite easy. I didn’t use quite all of my pear & in retrospect I would’ve cause my braids overlapped a bit too much & some of the tucked in dough didn’t bake quite enough. Next time I’ll stuff a little fuller and probably won’t bother with the higher heat baking time as it colored beautifully and I had to tent it for about 1/2 of the lower temp baking time. Now I want to make a savory one stuff with eggs, bacon and some veg!
Matt
If ever a recipe here called for an accompanying video, this is it.
KaZ
you said it!
Virginia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY2cLh-ZiCImany can be found at youtube.
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