Pear and tarragon Danish

Makes 16 Cakes, Bread and Pastries

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Method

Begin with the poached pears. Place 500ml water and all the ingredients except the pears in a stainless steel saucepan. Peel the pears and place them directly into the pan to prevent browning.

Place on a medium heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer. Place a lid on the pan. Once cooked, remove the pan from the heat and allow the pears to cool in the syrup. They are cooked when a fine
knife is inserted into the middle of the fruit easily. Allow to cool, then transfer to an airtight container and store, chilled, for up to 1 week.

To make the crème pâtissière, bring the milk and the tarragon to a simmer in a large saucepan. When it’s almost boiling, remove from the heat and allow to stand for 15-20 minutes to infuse. Strain the milk and then continue to recipe, right. Allow to cool completely before using.

For the pastry, retrieve the dough and return to your lightly floured work surface. Very gently roll the dough into a square of roughly 40cm. If the dough starts to resist too much or shrink back during this process, gently fold it in half and chill for 10-20 minutes.

When your dough has reached the right size, gently lift to make sure it hasn’t stuck and allows for any natural spring back. Your square dough should be big enough to allow you to trim the edges to make them straight and still be left with a square of around 36cm and 0.5cm thick.

Using a ruler, measure and make a small notch every 9cm along the bottom and the left-hand side of the dough. Horizontally cut 4 long strips of dough where you have marked the 9cm notches. Use the 9cm marks at the bottom to the cut each long strip into 4 equal squares. You should have 16 squares measuring 9cm.

To make the kite shape, gently fold the square in half diagonally. Make 2 diagonal cuts 1.5cm in from the outside edge. Make sure these diagonal cuts don’t join at the tip of the triangle. Unfold the dough and brush the surface with a little egg wash. Take the outer ‘frame’ edge and fold it over until it meets the cut you made. Repeat on the other side, pulling it over the first edge to form a diamond shape. Do this on all of the squares.

Arrange the shaped pastries on 2 lined baking sheets and brush the square ‘ridge’ with egg wash. Place the tarragon crème pâtissière into a piping bag and pipe into the square centre of the pastry. Keep any excess crème pâtissière as you can often fit more in once they have proved a little. Allow to prove immediately or chill overnight until ready to bake.

Prove the Danish pastries in an oven preheated to around 25C
for 10-15 minutes then turned off. Make sure the oven door is closed while proving. They will take 30-60 minutes at this temperature, but keep an eye on them in case your oven is extra efficient. You can of course prove them at
room temperature, however, if you are in a colder climate, this can vary time-wise and can take as long as 3 hours. If they aren’t quite ready, don’t be afraid to prove them for longer. You can tell if they are ready by carefully shaking the baking sheet; the Danishes will slightly jiggle, like a just-set custard. You should also be able to see the layers of dough beginning to separate all around the edge of the Danish pastries. They should be doubled in size and the edges should look almost wing-like. Once proved pipe any excess crème pâtissière into the centre if there is space but be careful to not overfill. Remove the pastries from the oven if using to prove and preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.

Just before baking, give the pastries their second coat of egg wash. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until evenly golden brown and the crème pâtissière has sunk back on itself slightly. Remove from the oven, let sit for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. Brush the edges with a little of the pear syrup.

Cut the pairs into quarters and remove the core. Placing the pear quarter core-side down, cut 5 very thin slices. Keeping the slices close together, fan the slices out like feathers. Place the pear on top of the crème pâtissière. Dust one half of the pastries with icing sugar. Once cooled, garnish with a sprig of fresh tarragon.

Croissant Dough

DAY ONE evening
Combine all the dough ingredients along with 150ml water and knead for 10 minutes by hand or for 3-4 minutes in the bowl of a free-standing mixer at a low-medium speed. The dough should come together and reach a stage of low-to-moderate gluten development. You are not looking for a huge amount of elasticity, but you should notice the dough is soft and springy. Unlike with breadmaking, you do not want too much gluten development because you will struggle with the dough fighting back during laminating. Flatten the dough into a rough rectangle and cover with cling film. Transfer to a baking sheet and chill overnight. This makes it easier for you to roll it out the following day.

DAY TWO midday
Cut the chilled butter for laminating lengthways into 4 equally thick slabs. Arrange the pieces of butter on greaseproof paper, then cover with another layer of greaseproof paper. Use a rolling pin to pound the butter until it is 5mm thick and roughly 20cm square. Straighten the edges of the butter and press any excess back into the square. Wrap in cling film, then chill until needed, or for at least 1 hour.

DAY TWO afternoon
Retrieve the dough and place on a very lightly floured work surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to roughly 30cm square. Try to get the square as even as possible in terms of thickness. If you make sure that your thickness is always consistent, your layers will be consistent also.

Retrieve the slab of butter and place it in middle of the dough at a 45-degree angle. You should have 4 equal triangles of dough still exposed, with the butter covering the middle. Fold each triangle of dough over the butter, so the points of the triangle meet in the middle. The edges of the dough flaps should slightly overlap to fully enclose the butter. With the palm of your hand, lightly press the edges to seal the seams, but make sure you don’t press too hard and damage the first layer.

With a lightly floured rolling pin, start rolling out the dough to a rectangle of 20 x 60cm. Do this gently and gradually, starting from the middle of the dough
and working out towards the edges. This helps ensure an even thickness. Make sure you always roll away from yourself, moving the dough when required as opposed to the rolling pin. Rolling in one direction only also helps with consistency. You want to lengthen the dough rather than make it wider and try to keep all the edges as straight as possible. Don’t use too much flour on the work surface as this can make the layers of the dough tough and ruin the effect. If your dough remains cold enough, you shouldn’t have issues with it sticking. Brush off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush.

Fold the top of the dough over itself, by 5cm. Fold the bottom half of the dough up on itself so that the seams meet. You should end up with a seam near the top of the dough and a rectangle that is now 20cm wide and 30cm tall. Fold the dough in half to form a 20cm x 15cm rectangle. This is called a book fold.

Cover in cling film and chill for 30-60 minutes. The trick here is to keep the butter cold enough so it doesn’t get absorbed into the dough, but warm enough that it can be rolled. If you find the butter cracks and splits when you roll
it out, it has been chilled for too long. Leave at room temperature for 15 minutes, then try again. You want the butter to stay as a single thin, continuous layer.

Repeat the rolling and folding one more time, following the above instructions. Make sure you turn the dough 90 degrees before rolling again. The open ‘end’ of the dough (ie where you would open the book) should be on the right-hand side if your dough is vertically in front of you after the turn. After the second fold, allow the dough to chill for another hour.

It is worth noting that sometimes the dough will resist any more rolling before you reach 60cm. If this happens, stop rolling, cover the dough and chill for 10-20 minutes before continuing. If it is fighting you, don’t fight back, as you risk damaging the layers. Patience is key here.