Cinnamon Danish pastry swirls
Making cinnamon Danish is a lengthy process but time well spent. Prepare the dough the night before, then bake first thing for a very special elevenses treat
For the dough:
250g strong white flour 40g caster sugar 1 tsp salt 7g (2 tsp) fast-action dried yeast 1 egg 45ml tepid water 65ml milk 250g unsalted butter 1 egg, beaten For the filling: 175g unsalted butter 60g soft light brown sugar 3 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp icing sugar For the lemon drizzle: 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp grated lemon zest 75g icing sugar
To make the dough, put the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a food mixer fitted with a dough hook, making sure the salt and yeast don’t come into contact. Start mixing, adding the egg, water and milk a little at a time. Knead the dough for about 6 mins.
Lightly dust a worktop with flour and tip the dough out. Roll the dough into a ball and place it in a clean, dry plastic bag in the fridge while you prepare the butter.
Place the butter between two sheets of baking paper. Hit it with a rolling pin to flatten it into a rectangle. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out on the floured surface into a large rectangle, shorter sides up. Place the flattened butter in the middle and fold the dough over it, envelope style, first bottom, then top.
Turn it 90 degrees then roll the dough out to a large rectangle again. Fold into thirds again, then follow these turning, rolling and folding steps twice more. Cover the dough with cling film and return to the fridge for 1 hour.
Once rested, roll out the dough and fold, turn and roll twice more. Return the dough to the fridge for 30 mins.
Remove from fridge, roll out the dough and fold again, twice, then leave dough to rest in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.
To make the filling, soften the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat just until it’s beginning to melt but not too runny. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, cinnamon and icing sugar and mix well.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle, roughly 40–50cm long, and spread over the filling. Roll each long side of the rectangle in to meet in the middle, then cut across the rolls to make ten slices, roughly 5cm thick. Place the slices on a lined baking tray with space in between and leave to prove for 2 hours, or until they have doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/400F. Brush some beaten egg on top of each pastry and bake for 15–20 mins.
To make the drizzle, mix the lemon juice, lemon zest and icing sugar in a bowl to form a nice runny icing, then drizzle it over the baked, still-warm pastries. These are best eaten the same day, but will keep in an airtight container for two days.