A HARTE APPETITE: SOMETHING GOTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK

As the globe becomes increasingly interconnected, it's no longer always necessary to visit the country of origin to taste authentic versions of so-called foreign foods. For example, arguably the best sushi in the world is served in New York City (at Nobu's), not in Japan.

But there are still a few items which are altogether different in their home countries than anywhere else. French bread is one. Gelato, or Italian ice cream, is another. And so is Danish pastry.

Having recently returned from a visit to Copenhagen, I can readily attest to the fact that what often passes for Danish pastry over here bears little resemblance to the real thing over there. As Karina Porcelli, an American living in Denmark who writes for Fodor's Travel Publications, observes, "I believe above and beyond every gastronomic specialty a country offers, there is one, just one, perfect, delicious bit or bite or drop of something or another that sums up everything the country is and ever has been." And she goes on to argue that the essence of Denmark can be found in its pastries.

As she puts it, "A Danish is effortlessly elegant, unobtrusively hedonistic, and often packed with a surprise an edible metaphor of the Danish experience." I couldn't agree more. After diligently searching out and sampling the wares at the best bakeries in Hans Christian Andersen country (there's a bakery named after him near Tivoli Gardens), I discovered that the stories I'd heard about the virtues of true Danish pastry were not fairy tales.

American pastry maven Rose Levy Beranbaum declares, "Danish pastry is truly one of the world's great pastries."

Not at all like the cakey American-style version, it is crisp on the outside and tender and slightly flaky on the inside. The best Danish bakeries make it as many as two or three times a day to insure that whenever you buy it, that's the way it will be. One taste of the real thing and you won't be surprised to learn that along with the likes of Paul Bocuse, Emeril Lagasse and Jacques Pepin, Joseph Amendola has also been inducted into the Distinguished Visiting Chefs Hall of Fame at Rhode Island's Johnson and Wales University College of Culinary Arts. His specialty is Danish pastry and is repertoire includes nearly 100 varieties based on two different doughs.

As Beranbaum points out in her authoritative Pie and Pastry Bible (a work worth studying religiously), Danish pastry is in the same family as phyllo, strudel, croissant and brioche doughs because all consist of the same basic ingredients (flour, liquid, and fat) in different proportions and assembled in varying ways.

Specifically, Danish dough is a variation of puff pastry which was invented in 1654 by a French pastrycook apprentice named Claudius Gele. Apparently he forgot to add butter to his dough and attempted to correct his mistake by folding lumps of it into the dough after the fact. To the astonishment of everyone, when the dough was baked the butter did not leak out of it but instead the butter's moisture produced steam, which lifted the pastry into distinct layers. Gele went on to perfect his invention creating a technique wherein butter is wrapped with dough, then rolled out and folded several times. With each fold the number of layers in the dough increases exponentially. Typically puff pastry is given six folds, or "turns" to use the pastrycook's terminology, to produce 729 layers. With only one more fold the number of layers jumps to over 2000!

Though there were experiments with it at the royal court as early as 1840, the conversion of puff pastry into Danish dough took place during the latter part of the 19th century when Danish bakers went on strike protesting the fact that they were paid with room and board rather than real wages. Austrian bakers were brought in to do the work and they popularized the layered dough technique. After the strike, Danish bakers started making layered doughs, only they added yeast and eggs to the recipe. Their debt to the Viennese is recognized by the fact that Danish pastries are still known as Wienerbrod (Viennese bread) in Denmark. Just to make it more confusing, in Vienna they're called Copenhageners.

Danish dough, then, differs from straight puff pastry because it contains both yeast and egg. Actually, if you add only yeast to puff pastry dough you have croissant dough, so Danish dough is really croissant dough with the addition of egg. This makes it less flaky (yet it still has some 27 layers), but richer and more tender.

More critical to the success of Danish pastry than its ingredients, however, is procedure. As Robert Capon writing in the New York Times points out, "There are some culinary triumphs that are at least three-fourths technique. ... Nowhere is this more true than in the confection of homemade Danish pastry. The actual formula is almost a triviality compared with the labor of mastering the method involved."

Having tried my hand at puff pastry, I understand what he means. But the process really isn't all that difficult. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the butter needs to be just the right temperature. Too cold and firm and it will tear the dough. Too soft and it will melt into the dough eliminating any layering.

They know the technique well at Konditori La Glace, for they've had plenty of practice. The establishment, operating in the same spot since 1870, is the oldest confectionery in Copenhagen. My wife and I became a familiar sight to the aproned ladies at this genteel pink, green and gold tearoom since we visited at least twice a day during our stay. (Had they not closed at 5:00 we might have gone more often.) Before I left town I had tried practically every variety of Danish which they offer. And with each one my resolve to start making my own Danish became stronger. I know I'll never attain the level of perfection exhibited at La Glace, but the following recipes, one truly authentic and the others quite simple but exceedingly good imitations, will produce pastries far better than anything I am likely to buy at the store. Try them if, like me, you're no longer willing to settle for anything less than wonderful, wonderful Copenhageners.

Basic Danish Pastry Dough

D'Angleterre is the grand dame of Copenhagen hotels and the place where the late G.L. Wennberg, the acknowledged master of weinerbrod, worked his magic. This recipe is based on his version as printed several years ago in the Glasgow Herald.

Ingredients:

2 packages active dry yeast

3/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 pound butter

4 cups flour

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of the milk. Heat remaining milk to lukewarm and add sugar, egg, yolk, salt, cardamom and 6 tablespoons of the butter. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add flour and knead until smooth and pliable. Cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down dough and roll out into a 12-inch square. Pound remaining butter with a rolling pin to soften it and knead until pliable. Shape into a square and place on dough making sure entire surface of dough is covered. Cover with parchment or wax paper and roll into an oblong shape. Remove paper and fold dough into thirds like a business letter. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Repeat rolling and chilling two more times. Roll dough into a half-inch thick oblong and fold in half. Chill at least 30 minutes before rolling and shaping into pastries.

Mock Danish Pastry

Though not a true Danish pastry dough, this facsimile works quite well and is far easier to manage than the authentic variety. The recipe is based on one appearing on an Internet site devoted to Danish pastries and managed by Joan Ross.

Ingredients:

4 to 6 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 sticks butter

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup warm milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 jars thick preserves

3 cups chopped nuts

powdered sugar

Directions:

Sift together 4 cups of the flour with the salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Dissolve sugar and yeast in milk and let sit until foamy. Add to flour mixture along with eggs and mix thoroughly. Add additional flour to make a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Divide dough into three parts and roll each on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle. Spread one jar of preserves over each rectangle of dough and sprinkle with 1 cup of the nuts. Bring up both long sides of the rectangle towards the center, overlapping slightly. Tuck under side edges. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden. Dust with powdered sugar.

Cheese Danish Puffs

This clever concoction mimics real Danish pastry by using a standard pastry crust on the bottom and cream puff pastry on the top. The recipe, to which I couldn't resist the temptation to add cream cheese, is a variation of one found in April Moon's wonderful "The Flying Biscuit Cookbook."

Ingredients:

2 cups flour, divided

2 sticks butter, divided

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, divided

1 teaspoon almond extract

3 eggs

1 pound cream cheese

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar, divided

2 tablespoons cream

Directions:

Cut 1 stick butter into 1 cup flour until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons water and mix until dough forms a ball. Pat dough into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle and place on baking sheet. Beat cream cheese and 1 cup powdered sugar until smooth and soft. Spread over rectangle. Bring remaining 1 stick butter and remaining 1 cup water to a boil. Remove from heat, add extract, then whisk in flour all at once until mixture pulls away from pan. Beat in eggs one at a time. Spread over cream cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes until brown. Let cool. Combine remaining 1/3 cup powdered sugar with cream and beat until smooth. Drizzle over pastry and cut into three strips. Cut each strip into serving pieces.

Listen to A Harte Appetite every Saturday at 11:59 a.m. following "Whad'ya Know" on KRCU, 90.9 on your FM dial. Send suggestions for this column to A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu.

Tom Harte is a professor at Southeast Missouri State University and writes a food column every other week for the Southeast Missourian.