AI-generated image
Tebirkes
Tebirkes: Danish poppy seed pastries with a sweet butter-marzipan filling
Tebirkes are the Danish bakery breakfast pastry: flaky, laminated dough folded round a sweet remonce of butter, sugar and marzipan, then smothered in poppy seeds so that half of them end up on your plate and the table. Copenhageners pick them up warm on the way to work or buy a bag on Sunday morning. The mistake is letting the dough get warm while laminating: the butter melts into the dough and you get bready rolls, not layers. Chef's tip: chill the dough for 15 minutes between every fold, and if butter starts breaking through, put it back in the fridge before you go on.
- Total time
- 78 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
For the dough
- 14 oz strong white bread flourplus extra for rolling
- 1 oz sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup whole milkcold
- ¼ cup watercold
- 1 egg
- 7 oz cold unsalted butterfor laminating
To finish
- 1 eggbeaten
- 2 ⅛ oz poppy seeds
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/9 doneStep 1: Mix 14 oz strong white bread flour, ¼ oz fast-action dried yeast, 1 oz sugar and 1 tsp salt. Add ¾ cup whole milk, ¼ cup water and 1 egg and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Flatten into a rectangle, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
5 minStep 2: Beat 7 oz cold unsalted butter between two sheets of baking paper with a rolling pin into a 20 × 20 cm square. Chill it until firm but pliable.
Step 3: Roll the dough to 20 × 40 cm. Lay the butter on one half, fold the other half over and seal the edges.
Step 4: Roll to 20 × 60 cm, fold in three like a letter, wrap and chill 15 minutes. Repeat the roll, fold and chill twice more, for three folds in all.
Step 6: Roll the dough to a 30 × 50 cm rectangle. Spread the remonce along the middle third, fold one side over it, then the other side over that, and press gently.
Step 7: Turn the strip seam side down, brush with 1 egg and cover thickly with 2 ⅛ oz poppy seeds. Cut on the diagonal into 12 pieces.
Step 8: Set on two lined trays, cover and leave to rise for 45–60 minutes, until puffy and wobbly when the tray is shaken. Heat the oven to 400°F (350°F fan).
Step 9: Bake for 15–18 minutes, until deep golden and the layers look crisp at the edges. Some filling will leak and caramelise; that is part of it. Eat the same day.
18 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 360 kcal
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbs
- 34 g
- Fat
- 22 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tebirkes take?
- About 78 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 18 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of strong white bread flour?
- Plain flour, same amount (the dough will be softer and rise a little less).
- What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?
- Fresh yeast, three times the weight.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Reform torta
Belgrade pastry shops have sold reform torta since the early twentieth century, and it is still the cake Serbian families bring out for birthdays, weddings and the slava. Three thin layers of walnut meringue, crisp at the edge and chewy inside, are stacked with a dense chocolate butter cream made with egg yolks cooked over steam until thick. It is very rich, so cut thin slices and serve with strong coffee. The usual slip is beating the butter into a chocolate mixture that is still warm, which melts it and splits the cream; let it cool to room temperature first. Chef's tip: assemble the cake the day before; overnight in the fridge the meringue softens a little and the cake slices cleanly with a hot knife.
Ma'amoul
Ma'amoul are delicate shortbread-like pastries made for Eid and Easter across the Middle East. A soft, rose-scented butter dough is wrapped around a filling of dates, walnuts, almonds and pistachios cooked with cinnamon, marked with a fork, baked pale and dusted with icing sugar. Makes 35; they keep well in a tin.
Banana and cashew slice
A soft, moist low-calorie slice made without flour, eggs or refined sugar: ripe bananas are blended with sunflower oil, vanilla and cardamom, then cashews, desiccated coconut, oats and grated apple. Baked and cut into wedges, it is naturally sweet and good with tea or in a lunch box.
Indian