The night before baking, begin preparing the pastry dough by following the steps in our wienerbrødsdej recipe. Or if using the easier pastry dough recipe, you can begin the same day! The next day, follow the lamination instructions in the danish pastry dough recipe.
While the dough is resting between folds, mix the ingredients for your filling (softened butter, sugar, vanilla extract). Mix together really well, until you have a smooth paste.
Once you have completed all laminations according to the danish pastry dough recipe up to the shaping part and the dough has rested, roll out your dough until it is about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Trim the edges so you have an even rectangle.
Cover half of your dough in your remonce filling.
Then, fold the other half over the filling.
Mark 12 rectangles in the pastry dough by scoring the top. This will help cut them out after topping.
Egg wash the top of the pastry dough and top with an even mixture of sesame and poppy seeds.
Cut into the 12 rectangular shapes.
Twist each rectangle 1 to 1.5 revolutions to create the twisted shape. Place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper (6 pastries on each sheet). Cover with plastic wrap.
Now leave your shaped pastries to rise for at least 2 hours, perhaps longer.
Look at the difference between the previous picture and the picture below! This is a very important step, because under-proofing these means major butter leakage (we are speaking from experience!). You’ll know the pastries are ready when they feel super light and airy (almost wobbly when you touch them) and have doubled in size. Another test is to poke the dough, and if it leaves an impression and doesn’t spring back immediately, it should be ready.
Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 C).
Egg wash the exposed areas with no seeds on them. Bake your pastries for about 15 minutes until golden brown and flaky. You can either bake both baking sheets at once if you adjust the oven racks, or bake each sheet one at a time in the center rack of the oven. Don't worry if some of the filling leaks out on these ones - that's just because the shape exposes the seam more than some other enclosed pastries! Enjoy :)