Apple Danish Braid

A few weeks before starting this blog I tried out a Julia Child inspired Danish Braid, filled with apricot puree and pastry cream.  It was a great success for a first attempt, but way way too sweet to call brunch  We had friends over this morning though, so I took the opportunity to try it out again, just with a toned down apple filling.

I was given a fantastic Pastry textbook for Christmas from the CIA,Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft that I wanted to use this time.  The most obvious difference though between a professional formula and a lay-persons is one of scale.  Perhaps someday I’ll need 10.5 lbs of Danish dough, but not this weekend.  Rather than sweat through the math, it was back to Julia again.

Overall it worked out as expected, but I ran into a similar problem that I had making puff pastry, when half the butter melted out of the dough in the oven, leaving a pastry floating in a puddle of fat.  If anybody out there has experienced this before, or knows what I’m doing wrong, your comments are most appreciated.