The History of Danish Pastry (Danishes)

Danish pastry has become a beloved staple in many parts of the world, including the United States, where it is frequently served as a breakfast pastry. Despite its name, however, it is not Danish in origin and was actually created by mistake! According to the Danish bakers’ union, the unique dough was created over 400 years ago by Claudius Gelee, a French apprentice baker. Gelee realized he’d forgotten to add butter to the flour while making pastry dough and tried to cover up his mistake by folding lumps of butter into the dough. However, when he baked the dough, he and his colleagues discovered that it yielded an incredibly light dough — in fact, it was much lighter than anything baked in France at that time! Gelee then opened a café in Paris in 1622 and began to serve his accidental discovery there. It quickly caught on among his French patrons and soon after, he opened a bakery in Florence, Italy, where the pastry also became very popular. Italian bakers brought the pastry to Austria, where it was referred to as “Viennese bread” (today it is called “Viennese pastry”). When Danish bakers went on strike, Gelee’s pastry was imported from Austria to Denmark to satisfy the public's desire for pastries. When the strike ended, Danish bakers learned how to make Gelee’s pastry. Because Danish bakers later emigrated to a wide variety of countries, the pastry became known as “Danish pastry.” Today, Danish pastries are popular all over the world. In the United States, they are so well-known that they are often referred to simply as “Danishes” by customers.