1. Danish Danishes (aka wienerbrød)
Katherine Waters

2. What is a “Danish?”
In America, flaky pastries (usually with cream cheese or fruit) are known as Danishes
In Denmark, the same pastries are called “wienerbrød,” or Viennese Bread
“Viennese Bread” not only comes from the pastry’s country of origin, but also the “Viennoiserie” style
Viennoiserie pastries include croissants, brioches and pain au chocolat
In Vienna, the pastries are called Kopenhagener Gebäck or Dänischer Plunder

3. Wienerbrød History Originated in Paris by Viennese baker August Zang
“His style of baking was not yet popular in Paris. Zang’s dough was made like a normal bread dough, with yeast added that expands. Later a variety of ingredients – for example eggs, cream, milk or sugar – were added to the mix, giving it the consistency and sweetness of pastry dough.” – CPH Post
The pastry made its way to Denmark when Danish bakers went on strike in 1850 and Viennese bakers were hired to replace them.
Once Danish bakers began to make wienerbrød, they added more egg and made a higher-fat pastry. This is the pastry that is still sold today.

4. How are they made?
“Place flour into bowl of food processor with steel blade. Cut butter into 1/4 inch slices and add to flour. Pulse flour and butter until the butter is the size of kidney beans.
In a large bowl, dissolve active dry yeast in warm water (between degrees F). Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the cream, cardamom, salt, eggs and sugar. Using a rubber spatula, turn the flour/butter mixture into the liquid and carefully mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, overnight or up to 4 days.
Turn the dough out onto a moderately floured surface. Roll out dough to make a 16 to 20 inch square. Fold dough into thirds, rotate dough a quarter of turn and fold into thirds again, making a small square. Turn over dough. Repeat rolling and folding another two times (making it a total 3 times of rolling and folding). Ending with a small square, wrap dough and chill for 30 minutes or overnight.”

5. Chocolate pastries
Most “chocolate” pastries are simply pastries with chocolate inside (such as with pain au chocolat) or on top
It is possible to make a croissant dough with cocoa powder incorporated, but you can’t use regular cocoa powder, only Dutch processed
Regular cocoa powder is highly acidic, and the acid doesn’t allow the dough to rise, making the croissants flat
As for wienerbrød, the alkalinity of Dutch processed cocoa may react with the protein in the eggs: “Proteins (especially egg proteins) that set (cook) to hold baked goods together need a certain acidity to coagulate (cook). If the batter is not acidic enough, the cake or baked good will never set. You have pudding instead of cake. Because of its alkalinity, Dutch process cocoa can prevent the setting of baked goods.”- American Chemical Society

6. Citations
Corriher, Shirley O. "Cocoa." The Elements of Chocolate. American Chemical Society, Oct Web. 29 Jan
Gitte. "Wienerbrød- Danish Pastry Braid." Web log post. My Danish Kitchen. Wordpress, 10 Jan Web. 29 Jan < braid/>.
Txfarmer. "Double Chocolate Croissant with Sourdough Starter - can bread be mysterious and sexy?" The Fresh Loaf. N.p., 4 Aug Web. 29 Jan