Romsnegle - Rum Rolls
Romsnegle is a stable at a Danish baker's shop, much like the regular danish (spandauer). This is much like a cinnamon roll made with puff pastry dough and with another filling and icing. Same, - but totally different. This sweet filling pairs so well with the (imitation) rum icing. Ohh so yummy.
Making these rolls with puff pastry makes for a flakier and softer roll. Of cause this is a time consuming bake. But well worth the effort.
The Danish pastry is a laminated yeast dough much like the French croissant. There are many ways to make this lamination. The amount of layers are different from country to country and from baker to baker. You get the flaky layers by folding sheets of dough with butter.
One of the more important things in puff pastry is the butter. You want to use a european style butter. The European butter contains less liquid and more milk fats than American butter. Most people opt for unsalted butter, but I always use salted butter in my baking.
There are different kinds of folding/turning when it comes to pastry and croissant dough:
Letter fold or Single turn: Dough folded in thirds, like you would do a letter going into an envelope. (I did this for this recipe.)
1. Turn: makes 3 layers of butter
2. Turn: makes 9 layers of butter
3. Turn: makes 27 layers of butter.
Book fold or double turn: Dough folded to the middle and folded again on the middle like a book. This makes 4 layers per fold or turn as they are called.
1. Turn: makes 4 layers of butter
2. Turn: makes 16 layers of butter
3. Turn: makes 64 layers of butter
Some people claim that any more layers than 3 turns using a letter fold, will make the dough like a brioche instead of providing the flaky layers. The 3 turns makes 27 layers. You can mix the folding methods to get the amount of layer you want.
Makes 20.
Ingredients:
Dough:
375 g all-purpose flour
200 ml milk
25 g live yeast or 2 teaspoons dry yeast
45 g sugar
50 g butter, salted and soft
1 egg
Butter block:
350 g butter, cold (use a European style butter, it contains less water, than the American butter)
all-purpose flour for dusting
Remonce:
100 g butter, salted and soft
100 g sugar
70 g marzipan
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Icing:
1 egg white (pasteurized)
Confectionery (powdered) sugar
1-2 teaspoon imitation rum
multicolored sprinkles
Directions:
Dough:
Heat the milk to lukewarm (99℉/37℃). Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Add the sugar. If using dry yeast, let the yeast wake up for about 5-10 minutes, until creating a foam on top. Incorporate the egg.
Mix in half of the flour, forming a sticky dough. Mix in the softened butter. Finally mix in the rest of the flour and knead the dough until you have at shiny, slightly sticky and elastic dough, for about 3-5 minutes.
Place the dough on a very lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper and one hand, work the dough into a round. The tension will build as the dough achieves to the surface as you rotate it.
Place the dough back in the bowl and let it rise until doubled in size, for about 60 minutes.
Butter block:
Place the cold butter on a well floured surface. With your palms press the butter a little flat. Using a rolling pin pound on the butter to flatten it. Fold the butter into its self, and keep pounding and folding until the butter has the same consistency as the dough. You want to end up with a 15x15 cm / 6x6 inch square of soft but still cold butter. If the butter is too warm or too hard, it will be hard to roll it out in the dough, and it might make holes in the dough, instead of the lamination.
Laminating
Laminating:
Place dough on a lightly floured surface, roll 4 wings out from the center, leaving a center (15x15 cm / 6x6 inch), the same size as the butter block.
Place the butter block over the center, fold the wings over the butter, making sure not getting too much flour in between the layers. Turn the dough over, so the seams are facing down.
Roll the dough to a rectangle, 3 times as long as the hight. Keep it lightly floured so the dough do not stick to the surface. Make sure to roll the dough with straight edges. This will ease the folding.
Making a fold.
1. Turn: Fold the rectangle in thirds, like a letter. Now you have 3 layers of butter. Place the dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes to cool the butter again.
Repeat this 2 times, making 3 turns and ending up with 27 layers of butter. Let the dough rest on the kitchen counter for 10-20 minutes. (If your kitchen is warm, do the resting in the refrigerator.)
Now the dough is ready to use as a puff pastry for sweet or savory dishes.
If you want to make sweet pastries, you want to make the 3. Turn on a surface sprinkled with about 100 g granulated sugar, and sprinkle another 100 g granulated sugar on top. This will make the dough sweeter and more crispy.
Remonce:
Mix the all the ingredients so you end up with a soft fluffy mixture. You want to have a soft mixture, so you won't rip the dough, while spreading the remonce. The added flour will prevent the filling to ooze out of the rolls while baking.
Making the rolls.
Making the rolls:
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll it to a large rectangle (16x16 inches/40x40 cm).
Spread the filling in a thin layer onto the dough, leaving a thin edge closest to your self, without filling.
Line 2-3 bakings sheets with parchment paper.
Roll the dough into a large log. Cut the log into 20 slices. When you place the slices on the prepared baking sheets, tuck the lose ends under the roll, and give the roll a little press. Leave a good spacing between them, so they can spread out without "growing" together. Cover the rolls with a tea towel to rise for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 355℉ (180℃).
Bake the rolls for 14-16 minutes until deep golden brown.
Let the rolls cool completely, before icing.
Enjoy!
Tips:
The unbaked pastry can be frozen just, after shaping, individually, and can be baked straight out of the freezer, just add about 5 more minutes to the baking time.
