REAL DANISH PASTRY

DANISH PASTRY: The authentic Danish pastry which is sold as a bake-off product outside Denmark, comes from a bakery established by monks almost 900 years ago

In Denmark, a Danish pastry is called Wienerbrød – Viennese bread. In Vienna meanwhile, the delicacy is called Kopenhagener Gebäck – Copenhagen pastry. The confusion is completed by the fact that Danish pastry was invented neither in Copenhagen nor Vienna, but has its historical roots in Turkey, where the sugary baklava is the great-great-grandmother of the Danish pastry.

Developed in Denmark
“Nonetheless it was Danish bakers who developed the Danish pastry into the delicious speciality that it is today, and thereby justified its name abroad” says director Laila Finding of Mette Munk.

Mette Munk has roots stretching back to the Viking Age. In 1175, monks in the city of Odense, which was later to become the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, built a water mill which produced flour for centuries. The name of the mill was Munke Mølle, and it was from here in 1962 that one of the world’s oldest mills began exporting the famous and genuine Danish pastry.

Delicious and crispy “Mette Munk was the first Danish bakery to export the genuine product,” says Laila Finding. “It is based on a yeast dough which is folded with butter or margarine 27 times. Then it is formed and filled with jam, cream and spices, and decorated in various ways. When baked, it acquires this wonderfully airy texture of consistent crispiness. For some reason, only Danish bakers have succeeded in making it the right way – until now, when you can take a short cut by baking our Danish pastry yourself which we produce as a bake-off product. Whether you bake it in Tokyo, Johannesburg or San Diego, it will be an authentic Danish pastry.”

Private labels
The bulk of Mette Munk’s bake-off Danish pastry is sold as private labels in large supermarket chains all over the world. In addition catering companies, petrol stations and fast-food chains with in-house bakeries offer Mette Munk pastries.

“My husband and I acquired the bakery recently and are currently tidying up the range which includes a large number of tarts and industrial Danish pastry products. We will now primarily concentrate on Danish pastry,” says Laila Finding. “We are constantly developing new variations to suit any taste or local tradition, but always in a way that ensures it is the authentic Danish pastry.”

http://www.mettemunk.dk