Bear Claw Pastry

Step 1

Prep the yeast: Warm ½ cup of the milk in the microwave or a small saucepan, just until warm to the touch (not hot) or about 40C/104F. Too hot and you'll kill the yeast, too cold and the yeast won't bloom.

Step 2

To the warm milk, add 1 tablespoon sugar and all the yeast and mix. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to become frothy. If it doesn't look frothy, the yeast is no good and you'll need to start again with a new pack of yeast.

Step 3

Combine dough ingredients: To a large bowl add the flour, remaining sugar and the salt. Give it whisk to combine.

Step 4

Whisk the remaining ½ cup milk and the egg into the yeast mixture until well combined, then pour it into the dry ingredients.

Step 5

Use a spoon or spatula to mix the ingredients together to a rough and sticky dough.

Step 6

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and just knead it enough to pull it together fully. Re-dust the work top with flour if needed but be careful not to add too much flour as it will dry out the dough. Form a simple rectangle.

Step 7

First roll & adding butter: out to a large rectangle roughly 30x40cm (12x16inches). Use a box grater to grate the cold butter over the top - as quickly as you can so it doesn’t start melting in your hand. Fold the dough letter style in thirds (fold the shortest side over the middle third, then the other side over that). Fold the whole thing in two, into a square.

Step 8

Roll and folds: Roll it out to a large rectangle again sprinkling over a little flour to stop it sticking to the rolling pin or worktop if needed. Fold, letter style again, then repeat this roll and fold 3 more times.- Each time you fold it, brush off any excess flour from the folded section.- The last time, the dough will be getting quite tight and tough to roll out. If it’s too tight, just let it sit there for 5 minutes to give it a chance to relax and come back to it. You could stop at the third time but that extra roll and fold makes a huge difference.

Step 9

Cut the dough into two square pieces, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 4 or up to 24 hours.

Step 10

The bear claw filling: Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or into a large bowl if using a handheld electric mixer. Start beating on low.

Step 11

Once it starts coming together, add half the almond paste, torn into smaller pieces. Beat to combine.

Step 12

Add the egg white and almond extract and beat until combined and smooth before beating in the remaining almond paste.

Step 13

Transfer to a piping bag with roughly a ½ inch opening.

Step 14

Cut, fill and shape the bear claws: On a lightly very lightly floured surface, roll the first piece out to just over 27cm square (11 inches square) - I say just over so that you have enough overhang to trim the edges square. Trim the edges from the rolled dough to square them up so that it is now exactly 27cm/11 inches square.

Step 15

Cut the rolled dough into 3 even strips, 9cm/3 ½ inches wide.

Step 16

you can repeat the rolling and cutting process for the second square of dough or wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for a second batch at a later time.

Step 17

Pipe a line of almond paste mixture down the centre of each one using about 1/6 of the filling per strip of pastry. If you’re freezing half the dough, you can also freeze half the filling separately.

Step 18

For each strip, run a damp finger along the right hand edge, then fold the long edges together, over the filling. With the edge of your hand on the seam, gently press on the filled side to flatten it very slightly.

Step 19

The logs might have stretched out so just tap the ends in to get it back to around 27cm/11inches long. Cut each log into 3 even pieces.

Step 20

Seam side facing away from you, cut 4 slits, 2cm/¾ inch deep, in the folded/filled side of each pastry.

Step 21

Place the pastries onto a large baking sheet lined with baking paper and carefully curve them so the “claws” splay open a little.

Step 22

Sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to rest and puff a little and try to keep away from any warm spots. They won’t rise up much, that’s ok but resting is important.

Step 23

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan) / 395F.

Step 24

Brush the tops of the pastries with egg wash. Sprinkle over demerara sugar and sliced almonds.

Step 25

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden, 1 tray at a time, until golden brown.

Step 26

Totally optional: Some of the almond paste pushes out between the claws and it still looks gorgeous but to get the look of the individual claws, I just use a knife to gently push that filling back inside the claw while still hot.

Step 27

Let the pastries cool at least to room temperature, then mix together the icing sugar and water so that it’s just pourable (not too runny) and drizzle over the pastries.

Step 28

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