baking & roasting

Leftover scraps of pastry can bekneaded together and rolled out again.If it becomes dry and crumbly, add alittle beaten egg. Short-crust pastrycan be prepared in advance, and keptfresh for up to three days in therefrigerator.Quark and oil doughThis is a quick version of yeast dough,and the baked result is very similar. Itis ideal for cakes containing fresh fruit,apple turnovers and raisin whirls, aswell as for pizza bases.When making cakes and biscuits, sugaris added to the mixture.Whisked batter (foam cakes)This is made by beating the ingredientstogether until the mixture is smoothand creamy. Care should be taken, as ifit is beaten too long or too vigorously itwill not hold its shape during baking,and will have a tendency to sink. All theingredients should be the sametemperature (especially eggs, butter ormargarine), preferably roomtemperature, before starting to mixthem. If the temperatures of thedifferent ingredients differ widely, themixture may curdle.A whisked mix should have a softdropping consistency. You don’t want itto be either too runny or too stiff. If itis too stiff, add a little liquid, e.g. milk,a tablespoon at a time until the righttexture is achieved.Traditionally, the butter is creamedfirst, then the eggs and sugar addedalternately a little at a time, mixingthoroughly each time. Finally the flour,sieved with baking powder and/or cornflour is folded in. Alternatively, all theingredients can be placed in a foodprocessor and mixed until smooth.Here, the liquids are added at the sametime as the flour.Wash any dried fruit (currants, raisins,apricots) if necessary, and place onkitchen paper to dry. Sprinkle with alittle flour, and fold into the mixture.25