Braided Fruit Danish… with video!

Braided danish from artisan bread in five minutes a day

It’s not really braided.  Here’s another, with savory fillings from an earlier post; same idea but with Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nuts.

The trick is not difficult, check out the video of how it’s done (recipe is below)…

The Recipe:
1 1/2 pounds (cantaloupe-sized portion) Brioche dough (can swap Challah dough from our first book for a lighter effect)

1/2 cup softened cream cheese or substitute almond cream (blend 1/2 cup almond paste with 1/4 cup softened butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1 egg, and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract in a food processor; freeze excess)

1/2 cup raspberry or strawberry jam or preserves

1 cup fresh raspberries or sliced strawberries

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)

Sugar for dusting the top

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Roll out the dough into a narrow rectangle 1/8-inch thick.
Place the dough onto the lined cookie sheet.  Cover the center third of the dough with the cream, jam, and berries as in the video.
Use a pizza wheel to cut about 12 strips down each side; each strip should be about 1/2-inch wide.  Fold the strips, left over right, crisscrossing the filling.  Allow to rest for 40 minutes (20 in a pinch).
Preheat the oven to 375F.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle generously with sugar.
Place cookie sheet in center of the oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.  Can serve slightly warm.

And we have a savory version, with spinach, feta, and pine nuts…

50 thoughts to “Braided Fruit Danish… with video!”

  1. I can’t wait to try it. Wonderfully easy and the finished product looks amazing! I LOVE this site. Keep the blog posts and videos coming.

  2. Ohhh… I know what I am making today for Breakfast tomorrow! I have some strawberries to use up. Mmmm

    Thanks for all the tips and recipes. My family and I love your bread!

  3. Instead of the cream cheese you can use a savory fruit filling. I’ve done this with leftover prune filling I made for hamantaschen, then topped it with a sweet roll type icing with confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla.

  4. I’ve just started my bread routine with Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (basic recipe page 25) and I’m loving it! One question: My bread seems to be expanding vertically instead of spreading horizontally. There don’t seem to be any problems with taste/texture, but my most recent loaf expanded so much vertically that it busted open its bottom. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?
    Thanks! Ellen

    1. Hi Ellen,

      Try letting the loaf rest longer before baking it, an hour usually does it. This will prevent the loaf from busting out in the wrong directions.

      Thanks, Zoë

  5. Are those black sesame seeds as toppings in the savory “braid”?

    I’m getting baby spinach from my CSA on Thurs w/ a potluck on Friday. Y’all know what I’m baking!

    1. Hi Helen,

      Enjoy the fresh spinach, we are almost ready for some in MN, but not quite yet. Those are black sesame or nigella seeds.

      All the URLs related to the books come to this website. We cover topics related to all the books right here. Looking for anything in particular? If you don’t see it after doing a search, let us know.

      Thanks, Zoë

  6. Is PizzaIn5.com a seperate site? Seems to re-direct back here to ABin5.

    Which is fine w/ me, I just wanted to know if there’s a seperate site dedicated to pizza and your techniques. Thanks

  7. Amazingly enough, I just baked similar braided Challah loaf. I used home made farmers cheese with lemon peel and 1 egg plus some sugar in it; topped it with some apricot jam… My family and everybody else who had a chance to try it loved it. Thank you for your wonderful recipes and a tip to freeze the dough for longer storage time!

  8. This inspired me to put together brioche dough last night. Today I used the brioche dough two ways; loaves and sticky buns. The sticky buns are awesomely delicious! The loaves will be good for toast but not for sandwiches I think. Kind of dry, but that might be because I used cast iron bread pans. Never the less, Artisan Bread in 5 is the best thing that has happened to my bread making!

  9. Are you sure you used 1 1/2 pounds of dough for this? When I rolled out that much dough I was still at 1/4″ plus when I got close to the size shown in the video. I ended up with more of a loaf of bread, rather than a Danish pastry.

    1. Kathy: It’d make a really big one, bigger than what I photographed. Try it with less dough and see what you think– you’re right, it’ll be easier to get really thin when you start with less.

  10. My Danish turned out amazing! Love it! Thanks for sharing so many recipes with videos. I own both the Artisan and the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I make bread often. Friends are raving and I keep sharing my secret, so sales should be going up! 🙂

  11. Ah! I’m so glad you can get the elegant braided look without actually braiding the pastry. Thanks for sharing this helpful little video.

  12. I have Healthy Bread in 5mins a day.

    Is it possible to mix the dough (e.g. master recipe)directly into a loaf pan,to refrigerate it in the pan overnight,let it rest at room temperature the next day and then bake it without ever taking the dough out of the loaf pan making a ball and stretching it around?

    Or is the making of a ball and stretching the dough around critical to good bread? What does this process do?

    1. Roy: Sure, see our FAQs tab above and click on “Dense crumb…” I’ve done exactly what you suggest– not quite as much structure and shape, but quite good.

  13. Do you have any suggestions as to what i might be doing wrong? I have been making the cinnamon raisin bread from your first book recently. It tastes wonderful. However, I keep getting a split in the side of the loaf. It looks like a seam breaks open, but the seam is on the bottom of the loaf. I thought it might be because I have rolled the dough to thin, but it is happening on every loaf, no matter how I roll it out. If I knew how to add a picture to the comment field, I would show you.

    I am really enjoying making the different breads. I had never tried making bread before your book. Thank you for making it easy.

    1. Hi Karen,

      Is the break in the dough happening on the top of the loaf or the bottom? If it is splitting at the top, it may just be the nature of the dough, which may split as it rises in the heat of the oven. If you want a more controlled split, you can cut a slash along the length of the loaf and it will open more uniformly, but it won’t be a rounded top.

      If the loaf is splitting at the bottom, I wonder if it is due to not pinching the seam closed well when you roll up the dough?

      Thanks, Zoë

  14. Hi Jeff & Zoe!

    First, I love your books and make your recipes all of the time!

    I have a question: I’d like to make a half-portion of the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (p92, HBin5). I’ve had a lot of success halving your recipes in the past…but this one calls for 5 eggs. Do I use 2 eggs and increase the water/honey, or use 3 eggs and increase the flours, or something else?

    Also, if I add a 1/2 cup of oats to the bread (for texture, flavor, and nutrition), will that affect the rising?

    Thanks!

    1. RSC: I’d use smaller eggs (we call for “large”), then you can use the regular amount. Or just add a little less water (2 tablespoons?). You could also do 2 eggs with adjustment as you note, probably just as good.

      Adding oats will make it denser, less rising will happen. Though nice.

      1. I did the same thing! (halved the recipe for soft whole wheat sandwich bread). I used two eggs, then I scrambeled a third and used about half of it (I just fried the other half for breakfast the next day). It was delicious and made great grilled sandwiches.

  15. I am really enjoying this site and my HB5 book.

    My nephew is allergic to eggs but his allergy is low so he can have products with eggs made into things like bread, pasta, cake etc. He cannot have eggs by themselves. Do you have an idea for a good alternative to egg wash?

    Angela

    1. Hi Angela,

      You can just use water with a bit of honey or sugar in it, or just the water if it is a savory bread!

      Thanks, Zoë

  16. I’m making this recipe to share with my early morning book club tomorrow. I plan on baking it this evening and bringing it tomorrow. Since it has cream cheese in it, should I refrigerate it after I finish tonight? Will that ruin it? Or should I prepare it but not bake it tonight?

    1. Hi Claire,

      If you have not already baked it, I would set up the loaf tonight, set it on a sheet pan lined with parchment and loosely cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the danish and then bake it fresh in the morning. You don’t even have to let it rise on the counter before baking, just set it out while you preheat the oven and slide it right in.

      Thanks, Zoë

  17. Oh man, we just made it!! We went ahead and made two loaves. What is different is the flour we used. My wife and son are gluten free. We bought HB&5 and FB&5. We love your books!

  18. Just finished my first piece. It tastes every bit as wonderful as it looks. My husband has requested the savory one tomorrow. I make the brioche recipe about once a week so it is nice to have something new to try with it. Love all three cook books and recommend them to all my friends.

  19. I can’t believe how versatile this dough is! I wanted to make the braided danish but the dough was lumpier than I was used to. (This was my first time making brioche and I got interrupted in the mixing and thought I hadn’t mixed enough.) So I made crescent rolls. They turned out fine so I made a danish (next time I want to try goat cheese and apples/pears), monkey bread and empanandas all with the same dough! Thanks for the great recipe. I can’t wait to try the whole wheat brioche.

    1. Ashley: Don’t be alarmed by that lumpiness– it’s a result of some honey and butter coalescing into little particles during the mix– they never persist in the final product.

  20. On occasion we get pastry from a local bakery, in spite of the 20 minute drive, because it is the best in the city. This morning I baked a pastry with your brioche dough and I don’t think we will ever go to a bakery for pastry (or bread) again! I have never made any kind of pastry or brioche before and this was so easy and so good. I made the brioche dough from ABin5 about 3 weeks ago but got busy so I froze it in 1 pound sections. I followed your instructions for preparing the dough but I put lemon curd and blueberry’s on it. Instead of the braid over the top I made a small braid around the edge and topped it with streusel and icing. It was just like the bakery makes it, and it was the best we’ve ever had!

  21. Thank you for your lovely books. I use them often. I would like to move onto using a biga as a starter to get a more sour and complex flavor to my bread. Can you help me incorporate your no knead, 5 minutes a day method into the “feed the dough” over and over again style of bread making?

  22. Hi,

    Was wondering if you guys will ever put out a book focused on pastrys/pastry dough? Like “Artisan Pastry in Five Minutes a day”.

    Thanks, Ellen

  23. I wanted to point out if you are using a Silpat baking mat as linked above that it is recommended to not cut on those.

    They contain fiberglass. If you cut on it you risk contaminating your food with pieces of it.

    Angela

      1. Unfortunately I know that all too well ! My kids sliced bread on mine a few years ago. I was so sad to through it out.

        No one touches my new one : )

        Angela

  24. Zoe replied on April 22 to my question about my cinnamon raisin bread splitting. The splits are on the sides of the loaves. I may get a slight split at the top, but I have been consistently getting a split on the side.

    1. Karen: Sorry we missed your question– first thing to try is a deeper slash– go 1/2-inch or more. And check your oven temp with something like https://ow.ly/8CVPU. If it’s too hot you can get too much oven spring and uncontrolled splitting. Or just turn down the heat and bake longer?

  25. I LOVE this! I usually snip the strips with kitchen scissors, much quicker and one less thing to wash.
    Creme fraiche and fruit works well as a filling. Sometimes I sprinkle with coconut, makes a nice change.
    I also love all your books – brilliant!

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