This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2012) |
Type | Pastry, doughnut or fritter |
---|---|
Place of origin | United States |
Main ingredients | Dough, almond paste |
Ingredients generally used | Raisins |
A bear claw is a sweet, yeast-raised pastry, a type of Danish, originating in the United States during the mid-1910s. [1] [2] [3] [4] In Denmark, a bear claw is referred to as kamme. [5] France also have an alternate version of that pastry: patte d'ours (meaning bear paw), created in 1982 in the Alps. The name bear claw as used for a pastry is first attested in March 1914 by the Geibel German Bakery, [1] located at 915 K Street in downtown Sacramento. [6] [7] The phrase is more common in Western American English, [8] and is included in the U.S. Regional Dialect Survey Results, Question #87, "Do you use the term 'bear claw' for a kind of pastry?" [9]
Most Danishes include the same basic ingredients such as eggs, yeast, flour, milk, sugar, and butter. [5] The bear claw is also made with "sweet dough" which is "bread dough with more shortening than usual". [10] One of the differences between most Danishes, besides taste, is seen in their shape. [5] A bear claw is usually filled with almond paste, [11] and sometimes raisins, and often shaped in a semicircle with slices along the curved edge, or rectangular with partial slices along one side. [12] As the dough rises, the sections separate, evoking the shape of a bear's toes, hence the name. [13] A bear claw may also be a yeast doughnut in a shape similar to that of the pastry. [13] Such doughnuts may have an apple pie-style filling, or other fillings such as butter pecan, dates, cream cheese, grape or cherry.
A bear claw can be made by hand or by machine. [14] Bear claw can be hand-made by using a bear claw cutter that was invented in 1950 by James Fennell. [15] A 1948 patent describes the process of assembling the bear claw as rolling out the dough, layering filling onto it, folding the dough over, cutting small incisions to create the claw-like look, and finally cutting the dough into separate pastries. [14] The pastry can be curved into a half-circle at this point, which causes the "toes" to separate. [16]
Similar to other pastries, the bear claw is typically high in carbohydrates and fats. Example nutrition information can be seen from a version produced by the restaurant chain Panera Bread. [17]
A cookie, or a biscuit, is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories: bakers' confections and sugar confections. The occupation of confectioner encompasses the categories of cooking performed by both the French patissier and the confiseur.
Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as bakers' confectionery. The word "pastries" suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called pastries as a synecdoche. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches, croissants, and pasties.
A doughnut or donut is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty vendors. Doughnut is the traditional spelling, while donut is the simplified version; the terms are used interchangeably.
A croissant is a buttery, flaky, viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough. Croissants are named for their historical crescent shape. The dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a thin sheet, in a technique called laminating. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a puff pastry.
A Danish pastry is a multilayered, laminated sweet pastry in the viennoiserie tradition. The concept was brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers, where the recipe was partly changed and accommodated by the Danes to their liking, and has since developed into a Danish specialty. Like other viennoiserie pastries, such as croissants, it is a variant of puff pastry made of laminated yeast-leavened dough that creates a layered texture.
A bun is a type of bread roll, typically filled with savory fillings. A bun may also refer to a sweet cake in certain parts of the world. Though they come in many shapes and sizes, buns are most commonly round, and are generally hand-sized or smaller.
Kringle is a Northern European pastry, a variety of pretzel. Pretzels were introduced by Roman Catholic monks in the 13th century in Denmark, and from there they spread throughout Scandinavia and evolved into several kinds of sweet, salty or filled pastries, all in the shape of kringle.
A hamantash is an Ashkenazi Jewish triangular filled-pocket pastry associated with the Jewish holiday of Purim. The name refers to Haman, the villain in the Purim story. In Hebrew, hamantashen are also known as אוזני המן, meaning "Haman's ears". "Haman's ears" also refers to a Sephardic Purim pastry, "Orejas de Haman", thought to originate in Spain and Italy, that is made by frying twisted or rolled strips of dough.
A Berliner is a German jam doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in lard or cooking oil, with a jam filling, and usually covered in powdered or conventional sugar.
Gata is an Armenian pastry or sweet bread. There are many variations of gata in Armenia. Typically, specific towns or regions will have their own version. It can be found in a variety of shapes, sizes and may be decorated or left unadorned. Long ago, gata was baked in a tonir, but it is now baked in ovens. The bread is traditionally eaten at the feast of Candlemas, but is eaten during other festivities too or simply baked to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.
A babka is a sweet braided bread which originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine. It is popular in Israel and in the Jewish diaspora. It is prepared with a yeast-leavened dough that is rolled out and spread with a filling such as chocolate, cinnamon, fruit, or cheese, then rolled up and braided before baking.
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