Danish pastry

food

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Last updated

June 25, 2026

Quick Summary

A Danish pastry is a rich, raised dough pastry. It is made from flour, salt, fat, and a small amount of liquid, often with sugar or flavorings. Unlike most pastries leavened by steam, Danish pastry uses yeast.12

The distinctive characteristic of Danish pastry is its layered structure, achieved by interleaving layers of butter into the yeast-leavened dough. This process involves folding and resheeting the dough multiple times to create many thin layers of alternating dough and fat. This technique, known as wienbrod, results in a flaky baked product with a rich, glossy crust. The dough typically undergoes a short fermentation period before and after shaping. The term "Danish" can also refer to a piece of Danish pastry.324

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baking
Danish dough
Although various portion-size sweet goods are often called “Danish pastry,” the name originally referred only to products made by a special roll-in procedure, in which yeast-leavened dough sheets are interleaved with layers of butter and the layers are reduced in thickness, then folded…
Read More
Although various portion-size sweet goods are often called “Danish pastry,” the name originally referred only to products made by a special roll-in procedure, in which yeast-leavened dough sheets are interleaved with layers of butter and the layers are reduced in thickness, then folded…
Read More