Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Wienerbrød
The original "Danish": flaky laminated pastry with custard or jam, glazed and eaten with coffee.
Danish · advanced · serves 8
prep 40 min · cook 20 min
~661 cal · 10g protein · 59g carbs · 43g fat · 2g fiber · 11g sugars · 26g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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What the world calls a "Danish", the Danes themselves call wienerbrod, "Viennese bread", and the name is an honest piece of history. The laminated, butter-layered pastry was brought to Copenhagen in the 1800s by Austrian bakers during a labour dispute, and Danish bakers then took the technique and made it unmistakably their own.
The dough is the marvel: yeast-raised and folded with butter over and over so it bakes up in countless shatteringly crisp, flaky layers. It is shaped into spirals, combs, and envelopes, filled with custard or a sweet almond paste called remonce or with jam, and finished with icing or a scatter of nuts.
It is the classic morning pastry of Danish cafes and bakeries, eaten fresh with coffee, and in Denmark the quality of a bakery is judged in large part on it. Rich, buttery, and layered, the wienerbrod is a small daily luxury that Denmark quietly perfected.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
4 cups flour (for the laminated dough)
1.25 cups butter (for lamination)
1 cup milk (for the dough)
2 egg (for the wash)
2 tsp yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground
1 cup pastry cream filling (or jam)
Instructions
1
Make a yeasted dough scented with the cardamom, then laminate it with the butter through several fold-and-roll turns, chilling between each.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the dough and butter cold throughout the folding. If the butter warms and melts into the dough, you lose the flaky layers that define wienerbrod.
2
Roll out the laminated dough and cut it into squares or strips.
3
Add custard or jam and shape into spirals or envelopes.
4
Proof the pastries until puffy, brush with egg wash (or plant milk), and bake at 400F (200C) until deep gold.
5
Glaze while warm and serve with coffee.
Zealand tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Zealand (Copenhagen). The New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto was written in Copenhagen in November 2004 by a group of Nordic chefs including Claus Meyer and Rene Redzepi, and what it argued for was already sitting in the local larder: seasonality, purity, and the region's own ingredients in place of imported luxury.
🗺️
Denmark. Denmark gave the world smørrebrød, elaborate open-faced rye sandwiches, and, more recently, the New Nordic movement of foraging and hyper-seasonality. Pork, rye, herring, and pastry anchor a comforting Scandinavian table.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Denmark
Smørrebrød (Three Classics)Denmark’s open-faced rye sandwiches, built in proper order: egg & tomato, potato & chive, and beet & apple.
FrikadellerPan-fried pork-and-veal meatballs, flattened and golden, the everyday staple at the heart of Danish home cooking.
RisalamandeA cold almond rice pudding folded with whipped cream and cherry sauce, the Danish Christmas dessert with a hidden almond.
Browse all Denmark recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Rolling pin.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Denmark meal
RisalamandeDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Wienerbrød?
The original "Danish": flaky laminated pastry with custard or jam, glazed and eaten with coffee.
Where does Wienerbrød come from?
Wienerbrød is a Danish dish from Zealand (Copenhagen), Denmark.
Can Wienerbrød be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Wienerbrød recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Wienerbrød safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Wienerbrød take to make?
About 60 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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