In my home town, Dunedin, Tangente Cafe was a favourite spot for
weekend brunch. Not only did they make fantastic cafe mochas with Whittaker's
Sante bars, but my main reason to go there was their 'Spiralled Eggs'. These
were a freshly baked savoury swirl, lightly toasted, topped with a gooey
poached egg & a rich hollandaise sauce. I remembered them being so light
and flakey with fillings like ham & avocado or pesto & bacon.
When my GCSE students were
looking for ideas of products that could be sold from the counter of a coffee
shop, I remembered these and we managed to find the recipe in the 'Ask a Chef'
feature of The Otago Daily Times, the local Dunedin newspaper. I was
disappointed to find that they were made with a scone dough, which really
wasn't how I had envisaged them being made, so I needed to make my own version.
With the help of Signe Johansen's Danish
Pastry from her book, Scandilicious Baking, I created my own savoury swirls.
They aren't a quick bake, but are well worth the effort. I generally make the
dough on a Friday or Saturday night, so that I then have a full day for the
laminating and filling.
Ham, pesto & cheddar swirls
Danish pastry dough
250-300ml milk
500g strong white
flour
10g fine sea salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
7g fast action dried
yeast, or active dried yeast
1 medium egg, beaten
250g unsalted butter,
chilled
Filling
5 tbsp basil pesto
180g thinly sliced
ham
120g grated cheddar
cheese
Glaze
1 egg, beaten
Directions
1.
Heat 250ml milk in a small saucepan until scalding point (you should see
small bubbles around the edge), then allow to cool. If using active dried
yeast, you will need to activate it first by sprinkling over the warm (not hot)
milk and leaving in a warm place for about 10minutes until foamy.
2.
Sift the flour, salt and sugar together in a large bowl, sprinkle in the
fast action yeast and stir through (if using dried yeast it will be in the
milk).
3.
Make a well in the centre, add the beaten egg and then the milk (which
should be warm rather than hot to the touch).
4.
Stir everything together until the mixture comes off the sides of the
bowl, adding as much of the remaining 50ml of milk as you think is needed,
until the dough looks 'doughy'. Note: I usually do the mixing of
the dough with an electric mixer using a dough hook on a slow speed until the
mixture comes away from the side of the bowl and the dough is no longer sticky.
5.
Shape the dough into a rough rectangle shape, cover with lightly oiled
cling film and refrigerate over night.
6.
Take the dough out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature
(30-60 minutes depending on how cold your fridge is).
7.
Using a cheese slicer or very sharp knife, cut the butter in to thin
slices and arrange them in a rectangle about 10x25cm on a sheet of baking
parchment.
8.
Lightly flour your work surface and your dough and roll the dough out to
a rectangle about 45x15cm and about 1cm thick. Put the parchment paper, butter
side down, at one end of the dough leaving a border of a couple of centimetres
between the butter and edge of the dough. Peel back the parchment, leaving the
butter in place so that two-thirds of the dough is covered in butter and there
are no large lumps sticking out.
9.
Fold the unbuttered third of dough over to sit on top of half of the
buttered dough and then fold the remaining buttered dough on top, so that you
end up with a rectangle of dough a third of the original size but three times
as thick, like you had folded a letter in thirds to go in an envelope.
10.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll out again to a rectangle about 45cm x
15cm and 1cm thick. Fold in thirds again, cover with cling film and refrigerate
for one hour.
11.
Remove from the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a
rectangle about 50cm x 10-15cm and 1cm thick. Now fold both shorter ends in so
they meet in the middle and then fold one half on top of the other, as if you
are closing a book.
12.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll out again to a long rectangle about
1cm thick. Fold in thirds one last time, cover in cling film and refrigerate
for about an hour or so.
13.
Finally, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle
about 60cm x 40cm, turn the dough so that one of the 60cm sides is towards you.
14.
Spread the pesto over the dough so that it is evenly covered over the
whole rectangle. Evenly cover the dough with the ham and then scatter over the
cheese.
15.
Starting at the long edge, roll the dough up keeping the filling inside.
16.
Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment, slice the rolled dough
into 2-3cm slices and place on the tray with the cut-side up, leaving a 2cm
gap. Cover and leave to prove in a warm place for 20 minutes. While they are
proving, heat the oven to 230C/210C fan/gas mark 8.
17.
Brush the top & sides with beaten egg to glaze and bake for 5
minutes before reducing the heat to 200C/180Cfan/gas mark 6 for a further 7
minutes until they are golden brown and crispy.
18.
Leave to cool on a wire rack for a little while before enjoying. They
will keep well in the fridge for 3 days and make great work lunches.
Variations
There are any number
if variations you could make of these; pesto, sundried tomatoes and cheese
works well and you could always try the ham & avocado version from
Tangente.
