At Down Under

The good find at the farmers market this past week-end was the Luisa plums. They are quiet particular, shaped like a small mango, with a nice yellow and red hue and a sweet taste. They were very ripe, so I’ve made a jam.
The other plum that has my preference is the greengage, la reine-claude. And you may have noticed that already.
All green and round this plum is delightfully sweet and juicy.

On Sunday night, like an impulsion, I started to prepare the laminated dough to make a variation of the apricot danish with the little greengage. The dough is nothing else than a croissant pastry.
It’s been a long time since I played with this type of dough, so I was not too sure, but in the end it all went fine. The pastry is rich enough, so I’ve skipped the usual custard filling and simply placed greengage on top.
The pastries are all gone by now and I may use a part of the remaining dough for croissants this time…

Greengage Danish

Please note I’ve used only half of the pastry for the quantity of fruit indicated.
Adapted from this recipe.

-20g / 6 tsp fresh yeast
-100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter, dice and at room temperature
-500g / 4 cups flour
-10g / 1 1/2 tbsp salt
-50g / 1/4 cup caster sugar
-240g / 1 cup whole milk

6 greengages, halved and pitted
1 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp boiling water to brush pastry

Proof the yeast in the lukewarm milk with a pinch of sugar. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, salt. Add the diced butter and knead lightly to incorporate into the flour mix. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and pour the milk and yeast in. Stir with a spatula until it comes together. Transfer the dough on a lightly four-dusted bench top and knead for 5 minutes. Let the dough rest in a bowl wrapped with cling wrap for an hour or until it doubles in size. On a lightly dusted flour bench top, roll out the dough into a rectangular shape, wrap it and place it in the fridge for an hour. Sandwiched between two sheets of cling wrap, flatten the butter with your palm or a rolling-pin to make a rectangle of similar size as the dough. Wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour. Remove the dough and butter from the fridge. On a lightly flour-dusted bench top, roll out the dough to make it two times larger. Place the butter rectangle in the middle and fold the dough extremities in the centre to lock the butter. Fold again the dough on itself like you would close a book. Roll out the dough, turn the dough 90° -clockwise- and fold again bringing the extremities to the centre and then folding the dough in two. Roll out the dough, rotate 90° -clockwise- and repeat the previous folds one more time. Wrap the dough in a plastic film and refrigerate for an hour. On a lightly flour-dusted bench top, roll out the dough less than 1/2 inches thick or 1cm thick. Cut out squares about 3 inches / 8cm length size. On each square diagonally cut 1 1/2 inches / 4 cm from the corners to the centre of the square. Fold one tip of each corner toward the centre to make a rosace shape. Let the pastry rise for an hour at room temperature on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Before baking place halved greengage cut side facing up on top and centre of each pastry and brush the pastries with the syrup made with the sugar and water. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until nicely golden on top.

LA SUITE EN FRANÇAIS…