I’m totally in Danish pastry fever! I haven’t dared to try croissant dough or Danish pastry for a long time, but once you get the hang of it, you want to bake Danish pastries with sourdough every weekend. Last weekend I decided to make Danish pastry with a cheese filling. And because the rhubarb was ripe at the time, I made rhubarb Danish pastries as well.
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Why you should definitely try the sweet cheese Danish pastries
The homemade Danish pastry dough for the Cheese pastries is made using only natural sourdough and works without yeast. You can either use the dough to bake classic Danish pastry pockets with cheese filling or fill the pastries with rhubarb or other fruit. The dough is quick to make and rests overnight in the fridge.
You can also use the Danish pastry dough to make sourdough croissants, German Franzbrötchen or pudding pretzels with sourdough or pain au chocolat.
You need these ingredients for sourdough Danish pastry with cheese filling
- Wheat flour: Type 550 or Bread Flour.
- Water: Cold in summer and lukewarm in winter.
- Sourdough starter: It is not necessary to constantly feed the sourdough starter fresh, but the last refreshment should not be longer than a week ago. If you have a sourdough discard I will be happy to provide you with suitable recipes. My personal method is to feed my sourdough with an equal amount of water and flour. I use a mixture of wheat flour and wholemeal rye flour. If you choose a different water-to-flour ratio for your sourdough, remember to adjust the amount of water in the recipe accordingly. Here are some helpful tips to keep your sourdough starter vital and healthy at all times.
- Soft butter or vegan butter for the dough and for the butter layer.
- Sugar, vanilla extract and salt for flavour.
- Smooth cottage cheese or ricotta for the filling. You can use low-fat or full-fat cottage cheese.
- Egg yolk for the filling.
In three steps: How to make sourdough danish pastries with cheese filling
Prepare the dough and the butter sheet.
For the dough, mix* the flour, water, sugar, salt, butter and sourdough.
Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for about an hour. Then stretch and fold once.
In winter, leave the dough to rest overnight at room temperature. In summer, leave the dough to rest for two to three hours at room temperature and then place in the fridge overnight.
For the butter layer, mix 200g soft butter with 40g flour. Then place in the centre of a sheet of baking paper. Fold the baking paper around the butter so that a 20 x 20 centimetre square of butter is enclosed in the baking paper. A rolling pin helps with this.
Place the butter layer in the fridge overnight.
Laminate the Danish pastry dough
Roll out the dough into a square and place the butter plate (without the baking paper) in the centre of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough around the butter plate to form an envelope.
For the first tour, carefully flatten the dough with a rolling pin* and roll out until a rectangle is formed. Fold in a third of the dough on the left-hand side and fold the right-hand third over it so that there are three equal layers of dough on top of each other. Wrap the dough in a tea towel and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Then unwrap the dough again, carefully flatten with a rolling pin* and roll out into a long rectangle. For the second tour, fold the rectangle in again to create three layers of dough.
Shape and bake the Danish pastry
For the filling, mix the cottage cheese with the sugar, vanilla sugar and egg yolk and set aside.
After the third round, the dough is rolled out into a large rectangle. Cut off the edges of the rectangle with a pizza cutter* (optional) and divide into four equal strips on the long side. Divide the big rectangle into three parts on the short side to make a total of 12 rectangles.
For Danish pastry pockets with cheese filling: Spread the cottage cheese filling on the rectangles, fold over the corners and press together in the centre. Place the Danish pastries on a baking tray, brush with milk, water or egg, cover and leave to rest for two to three hours – depending on the room temperature.
For Danish pastries with rhubarb: Fold the corners of the rectangles towards the centre. Place the pastries on a baking tray, brush with milk, water or egg, cover and leave to rest for two to three hours. Press the centre in slightly, spread the cottage cheese filling on top and place the rhubarb pieces on the cottage cheese.
Brush the Danish pastries with milk or egg again before baking.
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*. Bake the Danish pastries for 10 minutes with steam and about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Possible timetable for the Danish pastries with cottage cheese filling
| Day 1 | 5 pm | Mix* all the ingredients to form a dough, cover and leave to rest. Mould the butter layer and place in the fridge. |
| 6 pm | Stretch and fold the dough and cover again. In winter, leave the dough to rest overnight at room temperature. | |
| Between 8 and 9 pm | Put the dough in the fridge in summer. | |
| Day 2 | 8 am | Place the dough in the fridge. |
| 9 am | Roll out the dough*, fold the butter layer into the dough and make three simple rounds. If the dough gets too warm, place in the fridge for 30 minutes between laminations. | |
| 10 am | Prepare the cottage cheese filling. Roll out the dough and cut* into 12 rectangles. Fill the pastries, brush with egg or milk, cover and leave to rest. Prepare the cottage cheese filling. Roll out the dough and cut* into 12 rectangles. Fill the pastries, brush with egg or milk, cover and leave to rest. | |
| 11.30 am | Preheat the oven with a steam tray consisting of astainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*. | |
| 12 pm | Bake the sourdough Danish pastry pockets until golden brown and crispy. |
Helpful tools – My recommendations
✨ The links with an star* are affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and buy something, I get a small commission and you support my work (thanks for that 🧡). This does not change the price for you. You can find more information on privacy policy here.✨
- A grain mill* for freshly ground wholemeal flour.
- A Danish Whisk* – especially if you don’t use a kitchen machine. This allows you to mix your ingredients without the whole dough sticking to the spoon.
- A kitchen scale*.
- You can use a stainless steel dough knife* to cut your dough pieces or shape your loaves.
- A wooden rolling pin*.
- A steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven mould* and lava stones*. The tray is filled with the stones and placed on the bottom of the oven during preheating. When you put your bread in the oven, pour hot water onto the stones. This creates steam, which ensures that your bread rises well.
- A cooling rack* for bread, rolls and waffles.
- A pizza cutter* for sweet knots, croissants etc.
You can find more product recommendations here.
More Sourdough Danish pastries
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Step by Step Sourdough Pain au Chocolat – French Chocolate Croissants
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Recipe: Homemade Danish Sourdough Pastry with Cheese Filling and Rhubarb
Ingredients
dough
- 300 g water
- 50 g sourdough starter
- 500 g wheat flour bread flour (or type 550)
- 50 g soft butter or vegan butter
- 25 g sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
Butter Layer
- 200 g soft butter or vegan butter
- 40 g wheat flour bread flour (or type 550)
Cottage cheese filling
- 250 g cottage cheese or ricotta
- 1 egg yolk
- 80 g sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Other
- 1 egg white or milk or a plant-based milk
Instructions
Day 1
- For the dough, mix* the flour, water, sugar, salt, butter and sourdough.
- Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for about an hour. Then stretch and fold once.
- In winter, leave the dough to rest overnight at room temperature. In summer, leave the dough to rest for two to three hours at room temperature and then place in the fridge overnight.
- For the butter layer, mix 200g soft butter with 40g flour. Then place in the centre of a sheet of baking paper. Fold the baking paper around the butter so that a 20 x 20 centimetre square of butter is enclosed in the baking paper. A rolling pin helps with this.
- Place the butter layer in the fridge overnight.
Day 2
- Roll out the dough into a square and place the butter plate (without the baking paper) in the centre of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough around the butter plate to form an envelope.
- First round: Carefully flatten the dough with a rolling pin* and roll out until you have an elongated rectangle.
- Fold in a third of the dough on the left-hand side and fold the right-hand third over it so that there are three equal layers of dough on top of each other.
- Wrap the dough in a tea towel and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Then unwrap the dough again, carefully flatten with a rolling pin* and roll out into a long rectangle.
- For the second round, fold the rectangle in again to create three layers of dough.
- Perform a total of three rounds. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes between batches.
- For the filling, mix the cottage cheese with the sugar, vanilla sugar and egg yolk and set aside.
- After the third round, the dough is rolled out into a large rectangle.
- Cut the rectangle into twelve equal rectangles using a pizza cutter*.
- For cheese Danish pastry pockets: Spread the cottage cheese filling on the rectangles, fold over the corners and press together in the centre.
- Place the Danish pastry pockets on a baking tray, brush with milk, water or egg, cover and leave to rest for two to three hours – depending on the room temperature.
- For Danish pastries with rhubarb: Fold the corners of the rectangles towards the centre. Place the pastries on a baking tray, brush with milk, water or egg, cover and leave to rest for two to three hours.
- Press the centre in slightly, spread the cottage cheese filling on top and place the rhubarb pieces on the cottage cheese.
- Brush the cheese Danish pastries with milk or egg again before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 230 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*.
- Bake the Danish pastries for 10 minutes with steam and about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
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