Wienerbrød - The Danish Pastries

Many people think of a "danish" as a type of iced donut with jelly in the middle, but in Denmark it is known as wienerbrød and they will have many varieties at the local konditori.

In 1850 Danish bakers went on strike, so the bakery owners hired foreign workers from Austria to replace them. The Austrians brought their own recipes, which became very popular, and when the strike ended the pastries continued to be made as "Vienna bread" or wienerbrød.

The base of wienerbrød is a dough rolled with butter in many thin layers making the finished pastry very light and airy. It can be shaped in many different ways and filled with marzipan or preserves or topped with nuts, seeds, or chocolate.

Here are some classic types

clockwise from the top left are:

• frøsnapper - a twisted pastry with poppy and sesame seeds
• tebirkes - hollow with a smear of marzipan inside and poppy seeds on top
• spandauer - with a lemon cream and almond centre
• snegle - a spiral pastry topped with chocolate

Other types usually offered at konditori are:

• hindbærsnitter - a sweet icing topped pastry filled with raspberry preserve
• studenterbrød  - a chocolate square with icing and nonpareil (coloured sprinkles)
• romkugler -  rum flavoured nonpareil crusted truffles
• linser - a kind of mini tart
• æblesnitter - apple filled turnover with nuts

Every neighbourhood will have a konditori where these and other pastries are available as well as various breads and cakes.

A kringle with a crown on top is the traditional sign of a konditori and dates back to the time of guilds in the 1500's.

Most bakeries have a small eating counter where you can enjoy your wienerbrød and coffee.

  Konditoriet that I like in Copenhagen:

• Enghave Konditori - Enghave Plads 7 - in Vesterbrø
• Johansen's Konditori - Amagerbrøgade 48-  in Amager
• La Glace - Skoubogade 3 - downtown, Denmarks oldest
• Reinh. van Hauen - Gammel Kongevej 177 - in Frederiksberg
• Sø Konditoriet - Nørrebrogade 12 - in Nørrebro

Here is a short video about La Glace, Denmarks oldest konditori (in Danish)

La Glace - photo from culinary-denmark.com



cinnamon snegle

æblesnitter at Johansen's

linser at Johansen's

pastries in the window

photo from ibyen.dk

Knish is Delish!

I love knishes. I used to get them at Charlie C's in Bayview Village when I was a kid. When Meyers Deli was still on King St. my father and I would meet after work for a knish and a beer.

There are no delis in Denmark and the chef students had no idea what a knish was, so I made knishes for staff meal.

The knishes I make are baseball size rounds of crispy mashed potato with a pastrami filling and smothered in gravy. I know there are many kinds of knish doughs and fillings, but this is as I remember it at the delis in Toronto.

Knish Recipe - makes 4 to 6

To make the dough I start with a basic choux paste recipe:

150ml Water

65g Plain Flour

50g Butter

2 Eggs, beaten well

Pinch Salt

Method:

1. Place the butter water and into a saucepan.
2. slowly heat until the butter melts, then bring to a boil.
3. Remove from the heat, add all of the flour and quickly stir until the mixture forms a soft ball and leaves the sides of the saucepan clean.
4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
5. Very gradually add the eggs, whilst beating the mixture, to produce a firm smooth dough.

To finish the dough mix with equal part mashed potato.

For the filling chop 400g pastrami and two shallots finely. Add a pinch of crushed juniper berry, and mix together with a splash of whipping cream until you can form balls that hold together


Flour a work surface and roll 10cm rounds of dough about a ½cm thick. Place a large ball of filling in the centre and wrap the dough around, pinching it closed.



Deep fry the knish in 180° vegetable oil for 3 or 4 minutes until golden brown. Drain and serve with brown gravy. Delish!