Danish Sourdough Pastries Recipe

Flaky danish sourdough pastries with cream cheese and jam filling and drizzled with a glaze makes the most decadent dessert or breakfast. 

This is not one of those recipes you will be making on the daily (like sourdough tortillas, bread, or pancakes), but an extra special treat that everyone will be raving about.

Over on YouTube and my podcast, I talk a lot about how homemaking is never boring. There is always something to do, something to learn, and a new skill to cultivate. And learning to make these sourdough danish pastries was a new and fun skill to master. 

Sourdough croissants became a staple in the house a little while ago, and one day I just had a thought to try my hand on making danish pastries. Maybe it was a pregnancy craving. The baby needed pastries, how could I say no? And they are to die for.

The flaky pastry with layers of butter filled with a delicious filling and drizzled with a sweet glaze. So good. And they can be totally customizable. 

Switch up the fillings. Fresh berries, lemon curd, jam and cream cheese are my favorites.

It takes a little time (ok a long time), a little patience, and a good amount of butter. But it is totally worth it.

Tips:

• During lamination you don’t want the dough to get too warm, so you want to work fairly quickly. The butter will just melt into the dough rather than creating the flaky layers. If the butter does get too warm, you can stick it in the fridge for 10-30 minutes and then continue working on the dough.
• The dough and the butter should be about the same temperature. This is so when you are laminating the dough the butter doesn’t push out.
• This recipe uses natural yeast to give the danish dough rise. If you are totally new to sourdough, make sure to check out how to make a sourdough starter here. 
• Sourdough isn’t just for bread! You can check out over a hundred sourdough recipes here on the blog. From breakfast, to dessert, and everything in between.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

FAQ:

Sourdough Danish Pastry Ingredients:

Dough

All purpose flour

Sugar – Cane

Sourdough starter– You want this to be bubbly and active. Fed within 4-12 hours and has about doubled in size.

Whole milk – This is an enriched dough, so whole milk is preferred for the fat and flavor content.

Egg

Vanilla extract – Homemade or store bought. It is super easy to make your own homemade vanilla extract.

Salt – Preferably sea salt, real salt, or pink Himalayan salt.

Butter for laminating

Unsalted butter – You want to use unsalted for this recipe so you can control the salt.

All purpose flour

Cheese filling

Cream cheese – Softened. Preferably full fat.

Sugar

Egg yolk (I like to use the yolk that is leftover from the egg wash)

Lemon juice

Vanilla extract

Other Filling ideas:

Lemon curd

Pie filling

Jam – Peach and strawberry are my favorite.

Fresh berries

Egg wash

Egg white, beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon cold water

Glaze

Confectioners’ sugar – This creates a really nice smooth consistency.

Milk – Any kind will work

Vanilla extract – You could also substitute with another extract if desire. Lemon, almond, even cherry. Choose something that would go nicely with the flavors of your filling.

Pinch of salt

Tools you may need:

Stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Could also use a hand mixer for creating the cream cheese filling.

Rolling Pin

Baking sheet – I like these stainless steel baking sheets

Pastry brush

Parchment paper

Large bowl

How To Make Sourdough Danish Pastry

Create the dough

Add the flour, sugar, sourdough starter, milk, egg, vanilla and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached. Mix on low speed until the dough becomes smooth and glossy. You can also easily do this by hand. Mix and knead to make a shaggy, sticky dough. Continue to knead for about 5-10 minutes

Form the dough into a ball and place in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, foil, or a beeswax wrap and place in a warm spot for about 4 hours. 

Place the bowl in the refrigerator to continue fermenting for 8 hours, or up to 3 days.

Laminating the dough with butter

To roll the butter block out into a 6 by 8 inch rectangle, place the sticks of butter on a large piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle it with flour.

Fold the parchment paper around the butter, so that the butter will fill the entire envelope once you roll it out. You are aiming for a butter block that is 6 inches by 8 inches. It doesn’t need to be too precise here. You just want to make sure the pastry dough can entirely encase the butter when you roll it out for laminating.

Tap out the butter with a rolling pin lightly to start to spread the butter, then roll smooth.

Chill the butter for 10 minutes. You want the butter to stay nice and cold to create the flaky butter layers. Too warm and it will just smush out. Cold butter is essential.

Remove the pastry dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface.

Roll it out into a 16 by 8 inch rectangle.

Place the butter packet in the middle of the dough. Fold the edges over, so they meet in the middle and completely encase the butter. Pinch the middle seam and sides closed, so none of the butter can escape.

First fold

Roll the dough, with the butter sealed inside, back out into a 16 by 8 inch rectangle.

Fold each side into the center again; then fold one side over the other to make a rectangle with 4 layers of dough. (See picture) 

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Second fold

Roll the dough out into another 16 by 8 inch rectangle.

Again, fold each side into the center; then fold one side over the other to make a rectangle with 4 layers of dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator for 2 hours or up to 12 hours.

At this point in the folding process there should be layers upon layers of dough and butter

Make the pastries

Roll out into a 16 by 12 inch rectangle.

Cut in thirds down the center lengthwise.

Divide the three long strips each into 4 equal parts  (We are going for 12 4” by 4” squares.)

Place the 4 corners into the middle and press with your finger to seal.

Place in a warm spot and allow to rise until puffy, about one hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Create the cream cheese filling

While the oven is preheating, create the cream cheese filling.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, granulated sugar, egg, lemon juice, and vanilla on medium-low speed until well combined.

This makes a small batch of cream cheese filling, so that you don’t have a whole lot leftover. I like to fill a few with cream cheese filling and do some of the others with only jam. I mix it up!

Place the danish pastries onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush with an egg wash.

Add a tablespoon of your desired filling into the center of each pastry. I love a combination of the cheese filling and jam, preserves or pie filling. You will use about a tablespoon of filling in each pastry.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool for a few minutes and then drizzle with glaze.

Storage:

Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. Can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Allow to cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe ziploc bag. Remove as much air as possible.

More Of My Favorite Sourdough Recipes:

• No-Knead Sourdough Bread
• The Best Sourdough Pretzels
• Easy Sourdough Discard Bagels
• Same Day Sourdough Bread Recipe
• Sourdough Snickerdoodle Cookies

If you make this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone with your delicious creation.

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