Daring Bakers June Danish Braid

Once upon a time I noticed quite a few bloggers posting the same scrumptious recipe photos on the same exact date. These Daring Bakers are a somewhat secretive society whose mission is to try the same recipe and then inundate the web with photos of the most fabulous looking baked goods. I started anticipating their monthly postings--wondering what would appear at the reveal. And then I just really wanted to be in the know and bake whatever secret thing they were all baking that month. So I joined the Daring Bakers and completed my first challenge this month...danish braid chosen by Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking The rules for the danish braid? Follow the chosen recipe and fill it with any homemade filling of choice.

This recipe called for cardamom which is a somewhat gingery, cinnammony spice--it's unique enough that it's hard to describe, but once you use it, you'll identify it in other foods immediately. I purchased whole green pods and extracted the little black seeds myself. The scent of those little seeds carried through the entire place. The dough also called for orange zest and a vanilla bean I luckily had on hand. Using whole vanilla beans is truly decadent and is miles above extract.

This was not my first danish dough recipe, but it was a new technique for incorporating all of the butter. This was a mixture of butter and flour that was spread over a yeasted dough. The butter was a bit soft at first since it was at room temperature for spreading. After a book fold, you roll it out and fold again and refrigerate. Repeating this a few times creates a very flaky and buttery dough.

Once I had completed my final turn, I pulled it from the refrigerator and rolled it out. I had originally planned on a marzipan and peach filling, but had volunteered at the Passionate Palette the night before. The owners, Ben and Jen, had a recipe for a fritter that was filled with almond, raspberries and chocolate and it was sinfully delicious. I executed a scope change on this project immediately. That's nerddom at it's finest.

This smell was excruciatingly delicious during baking. A couple of my braids came a bit loose, but between Minxaroo and me...well, we didn't care. Actually she could not have cared less.

It was a great first challenge...and was absolutely delicious. I think that next time around I'll either leave the cardamom out, or do a more complimentary filling. I'd also love to try it without and see how much the vanilla bean shines without the cardamom. Cardamom is probably fabulous with an apple filling, which is what the recipe originally suggested.