Danish Pastry (Weinerbrod) Story

Sometimes shortened to just “Danish” the popular Danish pastries are most well known for being, well, Danish!

The flaky layers and fruity fillings are staples at most bakeries, but this delicate pastry wasn’ tactually created in Denmark.

During the 1850’s Danish bakers went on strike and the bakery owners were left scrambling to satisfy their customers. Their solution was to recruit bakers from Austria who brought with them a new technique of pastry making, which included adding layers of butter and repeatedly folding and chilling the dough. This is called the Viennese lamination, and the resulting pastry was called wienerbrød (Vienna bread) as a nod to its origin. The resulting flaky pastries were an instant success, and have since become popular in the US.

— Submitted by Nate Kramer, Comparative Arts and Letters