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| Type | Pastry,doughnut orfritter |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Main ingredients | Dough,almond paste |
| Ingredients generally used | Raisins |
Abear claw is a sweet,yeast-raisedpastry, a type ofDanish orViennoiserie originating in the United States during the mid-1910s.[1][2][3][4] In Denmark, a bear claw is referred to as akam[5] and inGermany asKamm. France also has an alternate version of that pastry:patte d'ours (meaningbear paw), created in 1982 in the Alps. The namebear claw as used for a pastry is first attested on 13 March 1914 by the Geibel German Bakery,[1] located at915 K Street in downtownSacramento.[6][7] By the next year, bear claws were on the breakfast menu at German-owned Hamburger's Los Angeles, which was then the largest department store west of Chicago.
The phrase is more common inWestern 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 withalmond paste,[11] and sometimesraisins, 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 abear's toes, hence the name.[13] A bear claw may also be ayeast doughnut in a shape similar to that of the pastry.[13]
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 chainPanera Bread.[17]
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