Danish pastry

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A glazed apple Danish.

Danish pastry, usually referred to as a Danish, is a sweet pastry which has become a specialty of Denmark and is popular throughout the industrialized world, although the form it takes can differ significantly from country to country. The ingredients include flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and generous amounts of butter. A yeast dough is rolled out thinly, coated with butter, and then folded into numerous layers. If necessary, the dough is chilled to ease handling. The rolling, buttering, folding, and chilling is repeated several times to create a dough which is buttery and flaky.

A Danish varies from country to country, in the UK various ingredients such as jam, custard, raisins/sultanas or a caramalized toffee are placed on or within sections of divided dough, which is then baked. Cardamom is often added to increase the aromatic sense of sweetness.

The Danish as consumed in Denmark can be topped with chocolate, marzipan, sugar or icing, and may be stuffed with either jam or custard. Shapes are numerous, including circles, figure-eights, spirals (known as snails), and the pretzel-like kringles.

Danish pastry is, like the croissant, said to originate from Vienna and is called wienerbrød (IPA: [ʋenɐ̥b̥ʁœð̥], lit, "Viennese bread" (corresponding to the French Viennoiserie) in Denmark as well as Iceland, Norway and Sweden. In Vienna, however, the pastry is known as "Kopenhagener Gebäck" or "Dänischer Plunder"[1], and its origin may well be the Turkish baklava.

Both the croissant and Danish are laminated doughs, and as such are categorized as viennoiserie products.

1 L. C. Klitteng's Influence
2 Cartoon controversy
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] L. C. Klitteng's Influence

A Praline Peach Danish

L. C. Klitteng, of Læsø, Denmark, popularized "Danish pastry" in America in the years 1915-1920. The Danish was, according to Klitteng, the dish that he baked for the wedding of United States President Woodrow Wilson in December 1915. Klitteng toured the world to promote his product, and he was featured in such 1920 periodicals as the National Baker, the Bakers' Helper, and the Bakers Weekly. Klitteng opened a short-lived Danish Culinary Studio at 146 Fifth Avenue in New York City^{[citation needed]}.

Herman Gertner owned a chain of New York City restaurants, and Gertner brought Klitteng to New York to sell Danish pastry. Gertner's obituary appeared in the January 23, 1962 New York Times:

"At one point during his career Mr. Gertner befriended a Danish baker who convinced him that Danish pastry might be well received in New York. Mr. Gertner began serving the pastry in his restaurant and it immediately was a success."

[edit] Cartoon controversy

During the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2006, several Iranian groups advocated changing the name of Danish pastry given its association with the source country of the offending cartoons.[2].

"Roses of the Prophet Muhammad" is the name the Iranian confectioner's union designated as the new name for Danish pastries made in the country as of February 15, 2006. Related to this, many protesters, angered by the pictures of Muhammad, boycotted Danish goods.

According to the Iranian Student News Agency, the Iranian Commerce Ministry called for changing the name, which was proposed in a letter to the ministry.

[edit] Trivia

In the television show Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and Rory typically eat danishes on "Danish Day" every week.

In the film Breakfast at Tiffany's Audrey Hepburn's character Holly Golightly eats a danish pastry in the opening sequence while window shopping at Tiffany's. Audrey Hepburn hated Danish pastries, making filming the famous opening scene a bit of a chore for her.[3]

In the movie Tango & Cash Ray Tango (Sylvester Stallone) and his partner Gabriel Cash (Kurt Russell) escape from a mob controlled prison. Cash gets out, while Tango has to fight an angry inmate before he gets out. When they meet again, Cash asks something close to "What did you do up there? Stop for coffee and danish?" Tango replies "I hate danish". The film was released in 1989, while Stallone and Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen divorced in 1987, and this lead to many theorys about messages in this passage.