Bread Baking Babes Bake Holiday Perfect Pastry

It's always a bit of a challenge coming up with a recipe for December because there are the twin pulls of 'let's do something festive' and 'let's do something easy' given that the month is often crowded with events, parties, and family festivities. As Kitchen of the Month for the Bread Baking Babes this was actually something I had to figure out.

After considerable thought I decided to go with something that I hope covers both. Although the recipe looks complicated, it's really just a buttery base, some choux paste, some purchased marzipan, some purchased jam or caramel sauce (although you could make your own), and some purchased flaked almonds or pecan halves and an easy glaze. You can actually do the baking part in advance and then put on the toppings and glaze right before serving. You can also do the whole thing in one go if that works better for you. Since there is no rising time needed, you can get on with holiday decorating, wine drinking (or something stronger), and package wrapping and things like that.

This is an American Kringle. I made this for Christmas last year and although it would probably have been better if I chose something new to me for our challenge, this year has been and promises to be more stressful than usual for me, so I'm taking the easy way out. I can tell you that this makes a delicious pastry that looks impressive and it may become your new Christmas tradition. I realize that it is a departure from our yeasted breads, but we've done that before, and I hope this is fun for everyone!

According to Wikipedia, in the Netherlands the kringle is pretzel shaped but in the United States kringles are a Danish pastry using dough that has been rested overnight before shaping, filling, and baking. Many sheets of the flaky dough are layered, then shaped into an oval. After filling with fruit, nut, or other flavor combinations, the pastry is baked and iced.

Racine, Wisconsin has historically been a center of Danish-American culture and kringle making. A typical Racine–made kringle is a large flat oval measuring approximately 14 inches by 10 inches and weighing about 1.5 pounds. The kringle became the official state pastry of Wisconsin on June 30, 2013.

I discovered a wonderful kringle recipe on the King Arthur Flour site and adapted it, using raspberry jam and some marzipan instead pecans and caramel. 

King Arthur website says, "This layered pastry is a great favorite in the Midwest. Our version combines a buttery base with an easy, piped-on layer of pâte à choux, baked to perfection and finished with a lavish caramel pecan topping and a sweet glaze." The buttery base isn't layered so this isn't really a traditional Danish pastry, but it goes together fairly quickly and is quite delicious. I'm going to give you both the King Arthur caramel version and my raspberry version, but you are welcome to create your own version, with or without marzipan. If you make this to be a Buddy, I would ask that you use this type of buttery base and pate a choux, although you may choose to use other flours. Be as creative as you like with toppings. 

To be a Buddy, just bake the Kringle and post about it by Dec 29th and by that date send me an email about your baking experience. Include the post URL and a photo so I can include you in the roundup. My email is plachman *at* sonic *dot* net.

Be sure to visit the other Bread Baking Babes sites to see what they have done to make the Kringle their own. I'm sure you'll be inspired!

Here is a link to Kelly of A Messy Kitchen, the first post I've seen. HERE. She includes some notes on making choux paste that will be very helpful.

These links are from last month, but still get you to their blogs. Happy Baking!

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna

King Arthur's Butter Pecan Kringle

Base

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons, 113g) unsalted butter, cut into pats

1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour, preferable unbleached

1/2 teaspoon salt*

 1/4 cup (57g) cold water

*Reduce salt to 1/4 teaspoon if you use salted butter.

Pastry

1 cup (227g) water

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons, 113g) unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt*

1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour, preferable unbleached

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon butter-rum, eggnog, or vanilla-butternut flavor, optional but delicious

*Reduce salt to 1/4 teaspoon if you use salted butter.

Topping

12 ounces caramel, cut from a block (about 1 cup, packed); or about 3 dozen individual caramel candies*, unwrapped

 2 cups (227g) toasted pecan halves

*Use fresh, soft caramels. If using harder, supermarket-type caramels, add a couple of tablespoons milk or cream when melting, to keep them soft on the kringle; or substitute caramel sauce.

Glaze

 1 cup (113g) confectioners' or glazing sugar

2 tablespoons (28g) heavy cream, half & half, or milk, enough to make a thick but pourable glaze

1/8 teaspoon butter-rum, eggnog, or vanilla-butternut flavor, optional but good

 pinch of salt

Instructions

1.   Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) a baking sheet that's at least 18" x 13"; or a 14" round pizza pan.

2.   For the base: Mix together the butter, flour, and salt in a medium bowl until crumbly. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing in between until you’ve made a soft, sticky dough. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll each piece into a 9" rope. Connect the pieces into a 12" x 8" oval on the prepared baking sheet and, with wet fingers, flatten the dough to 1 1/2 ̋" wide, retaining an oval opening in the center.

3.   Wet your hands, pick up the dough, and shape it into a 12" x 8" oval ring on the sheet pan; or a 10" ring in the pizza pan. This will be messy going, but just keep wetting your fingers and pushing it into a ring. An easy way to approach this is to first divide the dough into four pieces; roll each piece into a 9" rope, then connect the ropes and shape them into a ring.

4.   For the pastry: Place the water, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture is cohesive and forms a ball. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl and beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating until each egg is absorbed before adding the next. Add your choice of flavoring at the end.

5.   Spread or pipe the pastry over the ring, to make an oval of pastry that completely covers the oval of dough. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

6.   For the topping: Melt the caramel in a heatproof measuring cup at half power in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring after each round, until the caramel is smooth. Pour the caramel over the pastry and immediately top with the toasted pecans. Let cool.

7.   For the glaze: Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, salt, flavoring, and enough cream (or milk) to make a pourable glaze. Drizzle over the kringle before serving.

8.   Store at room temperature, lightly tented with plastic wrap, for a day or so; freeze for longer storage. Kringle is best served the same day it's made. If you plan on serving it the next day, add the caramel, nuts, and glaze just before serving.

9.   Want to get a head start? Bake the base pastry up to two days ahead, then cool, wrap, and store at room temperature. Top with filling and icing just before serving.

Here is my version which is non-dairy:

Almond Raspberry Kringle
Based on a recipe from King Arthur Flour

BASE

• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) non-dairy margarine, cut into pats
• 1 cup  all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
•  1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 4 oz. almond paste

PASTRY TOPPING

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) non-dairy margarine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
•  3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

FILLING

• about 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 2-3 tablespoons sliced almonds

GLAZE

• 1 cup confectioners'  sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy milk, enough to make a thick but pourable glaze
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1.    Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) a baking sheet that's at least 18" x 13"; or a 14" round pizza pan.

2.    To make the base: Combine the margarine, flour, sugar and salt, mixing until crumbly. I used a pastry blender to cut the fat into the flour mixture. Add the water, and stir to make a soft, sticky dough. I used a fork and added the water slowly as I do for pie crust.

3.    Wet your hands, pick up the dough, and shape it into a 12" x 8" oval ring on the sheet pan; or a 10" ring in the pizza pan. This will be messy going, but just keep wetting your fingers and pushing it into a ring. An easy way to approach this is to first divide the dough into four pieces; roll each piece into a 9" rope, then connect the ropes and shape them into a ring.

4.    Once you've made the ring, flatten the dough so it's about 1 1/2" wide; basically, it'll look like a train or NASCAR track. Make a thin rope out of the almond paste and put it over the dough, connecting the ends so that the whole 'track' has a ring of almond paste in the middle of the track.

5.    To make the pastry topping: Place the water, margarine, and salt in a saucepan, and heat over medium heat until the margarine is melted and the mixture is boiling.

6.    Immediately add the flour, stirring with a spatula until the mixture is cohesive and starts to form a ball.

7.    Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the almond extract at the end.

8.    Spread the pastry along the ring, covering it and the almond paste completely; you'll now have a much wider ring, though it won't be completely closed in the center; it should still look like a ring.

9.    Bake the kringle for 50 to 60 minutes, until it's a deep golden brown. When the kringle is done, remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool completely on the pan.

10. To add the filling: First, have the sliced almonds all ready beside the pan of kringle; you'll be sprinkling them atop the jam as soon as you put it on.

11.    Stir the jam with a fork to break it up and then spread it over the kringle in a thin, even layer, mostly in the middle. Sprinkle sliced almonds atop the raspberry jam, pressing them in gently. Allow the kringle to cool completely.

12.    To make the glaze: Stir together the confectioners' sugar, salt, almond extract and enough soy milk to make a pourable glaze. Drizzle it over the kringle.

13.    To serve, cut the kringle in 2" slices.

If you prefer, you can bake the base, almond paste and cooked dough topping the day before serving, then wrap well and let sit on the counter overnight. In the morning add the jam, almonds and glaze.