Danish Dough

For the dough: Whisk 1 1/2 cups of flour with sugar, yeast, and salt in medium bowl. Place milk and egg in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Add flour mixture and knead at low speed until smooth ball of dough forms, 7 to 8 minutes. (Dough should be sticky, but if more dough is sticking to sides of bowl than to itself, add remaining 1/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, as necessary.) Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the butter square: Following illustrations below, mix together butter and flour and form into even 5-inch square. Refrigerate butter square until ready to use, at least 30 minutes.

Lightly dust work surface with flour. Following illustrations below, roll dough into 9-inch square. Place chilled butter square diagonally onto dough. Fold corners of dough up over butter square so that they meet in middle and pinch ends of dough together to seal. Using rolling pin, gently tap dough, starting from center of dough and going outward, until square becomes larger and butter begins to soften. At this point, start gently rolling dough into 11-inch square, checking often to make sure dough is not sticking and dusting with additional flour as necessary. Do not let butter square break through dough. Fold square into thirds to form long rectangle, as if folding business letter. (This method of folding is called a “turn.”) Starting at narrow ends, fold rectangle in thirds again to form square. You have now given dough 2 turns. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Repeat step 3, giving dough 2 additional turns (for total of 4 turns) and chilling again for at least 4 hours. Fill and shape dough using one of the related recipes, or the shape of your choice.