Puff Pastry Danish Uncooked

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First attempt at full puff. Cream cheese danish with dallop of preserves on top. Lots of butter leaking out but very good puff, crispy with good lamination, at edges. However, under the filling the dough was uncooked, no rise whatsoever. Is the weight/moisture of the filling keeping the dough from crisping underneath? Thanks for any help!
 
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Most common cause of leaking butter during baking is due to dough temperature and proofing temperature problems. Mainly it is over proofing the dough.
You need to control the dough temperature from start to finish.
  • Desired Dough Temperature (DDT) 72°F (22°C) to 77°F (25°C)
  • First fermentation 45 – 60 mins 40°F (5°C); may retard 8hrs – 15 hrs.
  • Resting time between folds 30 – 45 minutes
  • Final proof 78°F (26°C) - 80°F (27°C)
  • Final proof relative humidity 65% (you can get away with a bit higher humidity, but I wouldn’t go much above 75%)
For the filling, did you whip the cream cheese with confectioner’s sugar and an egg yolk?

226g cream cheese 100%
40g confectioners sugar 17.6%
18g (1 large) egg yolk 7%
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
pinch of salt
 
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If the dough under the filling puffed up the filling would be all over the tray.
Let it proof first and fill just before baking.
The weight of the filling will collapse the dough under the filling and create the pocket.
 
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Lots of butter leaking out but very good puff, crispy with good lamination, at edges.
It might need another fold to retain the butter, but you lose a certain amount of flake with more folding.
You can get more flake by using margarine too.
I usually get around 80 layers.
 
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It might need another fold to retain the butter, but you lose a certain amount of flake with more folding.
You can get more flake by using margarine too.
I usually get around 80 layers.

No offense but bakers should not use all that flour on the work surface. A lot of that extra flour gets worked into the dough, changing the baker’s percentage.
 
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Experience proves the concern unfounded.
observe I dont add any flour through the whole folding process, and never need to use a flour brush, there is no excess to be removed.
You can't beat success .

danish.jpg
 
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Experience proves the concern unfounded.
observe I dont add any flour through the whole folding process, and never need to use a flour brush, there is no excess to be removed.
You can't beat success .

View attachment 3889

I’m sorry but while that looks like a nice pastry, laminated danish dough has distinct layering like a croissant.
 
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The reason a baker spends hours laminating dough is for the layers. Why would a baker spend all that time and energy to just end up with a plain dough with no visible layers? The whole purpose of lamination is those visible layers.
 
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Thank you all for your responses!

We tried again this week and it went alot better. Initially, used silicone mat and tried one plain pastry and one filled. Yuk. Too much butter pooling on the baking sheet.

Second attempt was alot better. Used parchment paper instead of the silicone mat. Less filling on the pastries. No egg wash (that was my mistake). Put the assembled pastries back in the frig while preheating baking sheet/oven. Perhaps that extra bit of chilling did the trick but regardless, the pastries puffed up nicely around the filling, the lamination was obvious on all edges. There was virtually NO butter on the baking sheet. They were yummy!

I know, we should have made one change at a time - now I have no idea what actually made the difference, but regardless, we will definitely repeat this procedure.

Again, thank you everyone for your response. Good baking to all!
 

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Thank you all for your responses!

We tried again this week and it went alot better. Initially, used silicone mat and tried one plain pastry and one filled. Yuk. Too much butter pooling on the baking sheet.

Second attempt was alot better. Used parchment paper instead of the silicone mat. Less filling on the pastries. No egg wash (that was my mistake). Put the assembled pastries back in the frig while preheating baking sheet/oven. Perhaps that extra bit of chilling did the trick but regardless, the pastries puffed up nicely around the filling, the lamination was obvious on all edges. There was virtually NO butter on the baking sheet. They were yummy!

I know, we should have made one change at a time - now I have no idea what actually made the difference, but regardless, we will definitely repeat this procedure.

Again, thank you everyone for your response. Good baking to all!
Oh, one more thing... we did sprinkle a minimal amount of flour when working the dough (didn't do it the first time). I do believe it helped minimize handling and lessened warming the dough during folding and preparation. Also used a thin metal spatula, trying everything to keep the dough and butter from warming during the handling process.
 
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Oh, one more thing... we did sprinkle a minimal amount of flour when working the dough (didn't do it the first time). I do believe it helped minimize handling and lessened warming the dough during folding and preparation. Also used a thin metal spatula, trying everything to keep the dough and butter from warming during the handling process.


This video is for croissant dough, but the only difference between a croissant dough and puff pastry is yeast. The she demonstrates excellent technique for hand lamination. Note the amount of flour she uses. It is still too much.

Proper way to flour work surface, take a pinch of flour between Forefinger and thumb. Yes, there is a pinch of flour between my fingers.

A3499C2D-A1EA-41F7-861E-F41AEFC8C726.jpeg


In as sideways motions, as is throwing a frisbee, scatter the flour across the counter. Do not try to smear the flour with your hands across the counter. Just let it be. Place the dough flour on the counter. If needed, lightly rub the dough over the flour.
E4C7E4E4-8EBF-40A8-AC19-35C9959F19F6.jpeg


This is all the flour that I scattered. Through the entire lamination process I may flour my surface twice. In class we were not even given a bowl of bench flour. If we wanted flour, the instructor literally walked over and threw a pinch on the bench, turned and walked away.
7DE5D99F-573C-4A70-8BA9-AFF4391E0D8D.jpeg





The fewer passes that you can make with the rolling pin the better. Tap the dough to elongated it before rolling. The roll. See photo below. BE VERY CAREFUL! Take care not to break the butter. By tapping out the dough it quickly shapes the dough into the size you need without excessive rolling; so avoids over heating. It helps to prevent stretching and overworking the dough and developing too much gluten. That technique is something to use whenever you roll any kind of dough.

065ED4A9-4436-4697-83D4-531983837B57.jpeg





you should see visible layers in laminated though after it is baked

3980F9C8-F3D4-450A-A3B9-652BDFFA931B.jpeg




 
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Thank you all for your responses!

We tried again this week and it went alot better. Initially, used silicone mat and tried one plain pastry and one filled. Yuk. Too much butter pooling on the baking sheet.

Second attempt was alot better. Used parchment paper instead of the silicone mat. Less filling on the pastries. No egg wash (that was my mistake). Put the assembled pastries back in the frig while preheating baking sheet/oven. Perhaps that extra bit of chilling did the trick but regardless, the pastries puffed up nicely around the filling, the lamination was obvious on all edges. There was virtually NO butter on the baking sheet. They were yummy!

I know, we should have made one change at a time - now I have no idea what actually made the difference, but regardless, we will definitely repeat this procedure.

Again, thank you everyone for your response. Good baking to all!
Its the mat, with puff its better to start it fast and hot to jump the puff up, then moderate heat to bake it through.
The mat allows it to melt before it can bake.
 

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