German Baking Today - German Baking Today
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Top/bottom heat: about 200 °C/400 °F (preheated),
Fan oven: about 180 °C/350 °F (preheated), Gas mark 6 (preheated),
Baking time: about 15 minutes.
5. Serve the cheese whorls hot or cold.
Tip: Cooled cheese whorls freeze very well. Defrost the cheese whorls on the baking sheet in the oven at a temperature of about 180 °C/350 °F (bottom and top heat) for about 3 minutes.
ADVICE
Meringue confectionery
Meringue pastries are light and airy. They are made from egg white and sugar, usually with the addition of other ingredients. Typical meringue confectionery includes „baisers“ and macaroons.
Preheating the oven
Preheat the oven thoroughly at the top and bottom. If the baking time is 30 minutes or less, even fan ovens and gas ovens must be preheated. If the baking time is over 30 minutes, preheating will not be necessary in the case of fan and gas ovens.
Preparing the baking sheet.
Line the baking sheet with baking parchment. When the whisked egg white is put or piped onto baking parchment, the baking sheet should be lightly greased so that the baking parchment does not slip.
Whisking the egg white until stiff
To whisk egg white stiff, the bowl and whisk must be absolutely free of fat and there must not be a trace of egg yolk in the egg white. The egg white should be whisked with a hand mixer with whisk at the highest setting until it is stiff enough to form stiff peaks.
Only whisk the egg white just before using it.
If sugar is added to whisked egg white it will loose its stiffness if left to stand and it is not possible to whisk it stiff again.
Folding in sugar
Quickly whisk in the sugar and flavouring little by little with the mixer at the highest setting.
Using the meringue following the recipe
Carefully fold in the other ingredients depending on the recipe, for instance, desiccated coconut (it is important not to stir vigorously because the meringue would collapse), and then continue following the recipe.
Baking (drying) the meringue pastry
Many meringue pastries are not cooked but just dried, which is why they need a long time in the oven.
If the recipe recommends a low baking temperature, it is best not to use a gas oven because the temperature fluctuates too much at low settings.
When the meringue is cooked, remove it from the baking sheet with the baking parchment and slide onto a rack to cool down. Macaroons should not be cooked for too long. They should still feel soft to the touch when taken out of the oven. They will dry out enough while cooling down on the rack.
Storing
Meringue mixture is not suitable for freezing.
Macaroons will remain crisp for a while if stored in an airtight container.
MERINGUE CONFECTIONERY
107 | Meringue confectionery basic recipe
For the baking sheet:
baking parchment
For the egg white mixture:
whites of 4 medium eggs
200 g/7 oz (1 cup) caster sugar
1. Preheat the oven at the top and bottom. Line the baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. To make the meringue, whisk the egg white with a hand mixer with whisk at the highest setting until it forms stiff peaks. Quickly whisk in the sugar little by little at the highest setting.
3. Put the whisked egg white in a piping bag with a star nozzle, pipe or spoon with 2 teaspoons the egg white in the shapes of your choice. Slide the baking sheet in the oven.
Top/bottom heat: about 120 °C (preheated),
Fan oven: about 100 °C (preheated),
Baking time: about 70 minutes.
4. The pastry should rise only a little and turn a pale yellow. Slide the baking parchment with the meringue off the baking sheet and put on a rack to cool down.
MERINGUE CONFECTIONERY
108 | Meringue fruit tartlets
For guests–good for preparing in advance (8 pieces)
Preparation time: about 30 minutes, excluding cooling time
Baking time: about 70 minutes
For the baking sheet:
some fat
baking parchment
For the egg white mixture:
whites of 2 medium eggs
100 g/31⁄2 oz caster sugar
For the filling:
1 can or jar gooseberries (drained weight 350 g/12 oz)
500 g/18 oz strawberries
3 teaspoons sugar
For the glaze:
2 teaspoons arrowroot
4 teaspoons sugar
250 ml/8 fl oz (1 cup) gooseberry juice (from the can or jar)
Per piece:
P: 1 g, F: 0 g, C: 27 g, kJ: 502, kcal: 120
1. Preheat the oven at the top and bottom. Grease the baking sheet and line with baking parchment.
2. For the meringue, whisk the egg whites very stiff with a hand mixer with whisk at the highest setting so that it forms stiff peaks. Whisk in the sugar briefly little by little at the highest setting. Put the meringue in a piping bag with star-shaped nozzle and pipe in the shape of tartlets (about 7 cm/23⁄4 in in diameter) with a border about 2 cm high on the baking sheet.
Top/bottom heat: about 120 °C/240 °F (preheated),
Fan oven: about 100 °C/210 °F (preheated),
Baking time: about 70 minutes.
3. Slide the tarts with the baking parchment off the baking sheet and put on a rack to cool down.
4. For the filling, drain the gooseberries in a sieve and collect the juice. Wash the strawberries, drain, remove the stalks, cut in half and sprinkle with sugar if desired. Fill some tarts with the gooseberries and others with the strawberries.
5. Make a glaze with the gooseberry juice and arrowroot. To make arrowroot glaze, take 250 ml/8 fl oz (1 cup) gooseberry juice (top up with water if necessary). Blend 2 teaspoons arrowroot with a little of the liquid, then stir in the rest of the liquid. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1⁄2–1 minute until it is clear. When it has cooled a little, coat the fruit with it using a pastry brush.
Tips: Instead of gooseberries you can also use sour cherries, stewed rhubarb or mixed berries.
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
When cooking at a low temperature do not use a gas oven.
MERINGUE CONFECTIONERY
109 | Mocha and egg liqueur ice cream torte
Takes some time (about 16 pieces)
Preparation time: about 60 minutes, excluding cooling and freezing time
some fat
For a springform tin (diameter 28 cm/11 in):
some fat
For the baking sheet:
baking parchment
For the shortcrust pastry:
150 g/5 oz (11⁄3 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 pinch baking powder
50 g/13⁄4 oz (4 tablespoons) sugar
3 drops vanilla essence in 1 tablespoon sugar
100 g/31⁄2 oz (1⁄2 cup) soft butter or margarine
For the egg white mixture:
whites of 4 medium eggs
200 g/7 oz (1 cup) caster sugar
For the filling:
1 litre/13⁄4 pints (41⁄2 cups) chilled whipping cream
3 drops vanilla essence in 1 tablespoon sugar
5 tablespoons egg liqueur
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
2 teaspoons water
In addition:
2 tablespoons redcurrant jelly
some cocoa powder
Per piece:
P: 4 g, F: 24 g, C: 29 g, kJ: 1470, kcal: 351
1. Preheat the oven and grease the base of a springform tin.
2. To make the pastry, mix together the flour and baking powder and sift into a mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients for the dough and stir with a hand mixer with kneading hook, first briefly at the lowest setting, then at the highest setting to make a smooth dough. Then shape the dough into a ball using your hands
. Roll out the dough on the prepared base of the spring-form tin, prick several times with a fork and put the ring round the base again. Put the mould on a shelf in the oven.
Top/bottom heat: about 200 °C/400 °F (preheated),
Fan oven: about 180 °C/350 °F (preheated), Gas mark 6 (preheated),
Baking time: about 15 minutes.
3. Loosen the pastry base from the springform tin base immediately after taking it out of the oven but leave it on the base to cool down on the rack.
4. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites with a hand mixer with whisk at the highest setting until it forms stiff peaks. Quickly whisk in the sugar little by little at the highest setting. Put the stiffened egg white in a piping bag with a small nozzle. Draw 1 circle (28 cm/11 in in diameter) on each of 3 sheets of baking parchment and pipe the meringue in circles to fill the inside. Pipe the remaining egg white on the baking sheet to make small motifs such as hearts or rounds. Put the meringue bases on a baking sheet and bake in the oven one after the other.
Top/bottom heat: about 100 °C/200 °F (preheated),
Fan oven: about 100 °C/200 °F (preheated),
Baking time: about 75 minutes per baking sheet.
5. Put the meringue, still on the baking parchment, on a rack to cool down.
6. For the filling, whip the cream stiff with the vanilla sugar, then some cocoa powder stir the egg liqueur into 1⁄4 of the cream. Dissolve the coffee in the water and stir into 1⁄3 of the rest of the cream.
7. Put the pastry base on a cake plate and cover with the redcur rant jelly, stirred to make it smooth. Put one of the meringue bases on top and cover with the cream and egg liqueur mixture. Now put the second meringue base on top and cover with the coffee cream mixture. Finally, put the third meringue base on top and cover with half of the remaining cream.
8. Put the rest of the cream in a piping bag with a small nozzle and decorate the sides of the torte with it. Put the torte in the freezer compartment overnight so that it freezes. Remove the torte from the freezer about 11⁄2 hours before serving. Finally garnish with „baiser“ motifs and sprinkle with cocoa powder.
MERINGUE CONFECTIONERY
110 | Coconut macaroons
Popular (about 80 pieces/about 2 baking sheets)
Preparation time: about 25 minutes
Baking time: about 25 minutes per baking sheet
For the baking sheet:
baking parchment
For the egg white mixture:
200 g/7 oz desiccated coconut
whites of 4 medium eggs
200 g/7 oz (1 cup) caster sugar
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 drop almond essence
Per piece:
P: 1 g, F: 2 g, C: 3 g, kJ: 110, kcal: 26
1. Preheat the oven. Line the baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. Roast the desiccated coconut on the baking sheet until light brown and slide onto a large plate to cool down.
3. Whisk the egg whites with a hand mixer with whisk at the highest setting until they form stiff peaks. Quickly whisk in the sugar, cinnamon and flavouring little by little at the highest setting and carefully fold in the roasted desiccated coconut. Using 2 teaspoons, spoon small blobs of stiffened egg white onto the baking sheet and put the baking sheet in the oven.
Top/bottom heat: about 140 °C/275 °F (preheated),
Fan oven: about 120 °C/250 °F (preheated), Gas mark 1 (preheated),
Baking time: about 25 minutes.
4. Slide the macaroons, still on the baking parchment, off the baking sheet onto a rack to cool down.
ADVICE
Pastries fried in fat
This type of pastry includes several kinds of dough which are deep-fried in hot oil instead of being baked in the oven. All deepfried pastries are small.
The following kinds of dough can be deep-fried:
• Choux pastry
• Shortcrust pastry
• Curd cheese and oil cake mixture
• Yeast dough
Either a deep-fryer or a large saucepan is used to deep-fry pastries.
Preparing the dough
Make the dough according to the recipe for the particular type of dough and prepare for deep-frying following the recipe.
Heating the oil and deep-frying
Choosing the right oil is vitally important when deep-frying. The oil must be 100% vegetable oil with a neutral taste.
The oil should always be used on its own and never in combination with solid fat.
The deep-fryer must contain sufficient oil for the pastries to be covered by it.
Different kinds of pastries can be fried one after the other in the same oil. The high temperature of the oil prevents the taste of one food being transferred to another.
The oil should be cleaned after frying by straining it through a metal sieve lined with kitchen paper.
The oil can be used between six and ten times.
The temperature of the oil is also very important.
When the pastry is lowered into the oil, the temperature of the oil must be neither too hot or too cold. If it is too hot the pastry will brown too quickly, it will not cook properly and it will remain doughy inside. If the oil is too cold the pastry will absorb too much oil.
In addition, if the oil is not hot enough it may foam when the dough is lowered into it. The foaming can be so strong that delicate pastries can be torn apart. As soon as the oil begins to foam, the heat must be increased.
Do not put too many pieces in the oil at the same time because this would cause the oil to cool down.
Check the temperature of the oil before putting the food in. To do this, dip the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil. Small bubbles should form round the handle. The right temperature is 170–190 °C/340–375 °F.
After frying, drain the pastries on kitchen paper to ensure that the excess fat does not become absorbed by the pastry. Leave the pastry on a rack to cool down.
Storing
Deep-fried pastries taste best when fresh. At most, they can be kept for one day, after which they can be crisped up briefly in the oven, heated at the top and bottom to a temperature of 150 °C/ 300 °F.
Deep-fried pastry can also be frozen. It should then be defrosted in its wrapping at room temperature and briefly crisped in the oven.
Finally, dust with icing (confectioner’s) sugar or pour a glaze on top.
PASTRIES FRIED IN FAT
111 | Doughnuts (Berliner)
Classic–popular (16 pieces)
Preparation and baking time: about 60 minutes, excluding rising time
For the yeast dough:
125 ml/4 fl oz (1⁄2 cup) milk
100 g/31⁄2 oz (1⁄2 cup) butter or margarine
500 g/18 oz plain (allpurpose) flour
1 packet fast action dried yeast
30 g/1 oz (3 tablespoons) sugar
3 drops vanilla essence in 1 tablespoon sugar
1–2 drops almond essence
1 level teaspoon salt
2 medium eggs
yolk of 1 medium egg
For frying:
frying oil
For coating:
some sugar
For the filling:
300 g/10 oz jam to taste
or
250 g/9 oz plum purée or jelly
Per piece:
P: 5 g, F: 13 g, C: 25 g, kJ: 1001, kcal: 239
1. Warm the milk in a small pan and melt the butter or margarine in it.
2. For the dough, sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the dried yeast and mix well. Then add the other ingredients and the warm milk-fat mixture. Stir briefly with a hand mixer with a whisk at the lowest setting, then at the highest setting for about 5 minutes to make a smooth dough. Cover the dough and put in a warm place to rise until it has visibly increased in volume.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep-fryer to a temperature of about 180 °C/350 °F so that bubbles form round a wooden spoon handle lowered
into it.
4. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour, take it out of the bowl and knead briefly again on the work surface. Divide the dough into 16 pieces of similar size. Roll each piece into a ball on the work surface, using your thumbs and the palms of your hands. Make sure that there are no tears in the dough. Place the dough balls between 2 floured tea towels and leave until they are visibly increased in volume.
5. Put the dough balls a few at a time in the hot oil and fry until golden brown all over. Remove from the oil with a skimming ladle and drain on kitchen paper. Coat the doughnuts in sugar when still hot and put on a rack to cool down. For the filling, rub the jam through a sieve or stir the jelly or plum purée until smooth and put in a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe the filling into each doughnut along the pale ring round the ball.
Tip: The doughnuts can also be glazed with icing (confectioner’s) sugar. To do this, sift the icing sugar and stir just enough water into it to make a spreadable glaze.
PASTRIES FRIED IN FAT
112 | Almond fritters
Traditional (about 80 pieces)
Preparation and baking time: about 80 minutes
For frying:
frying oil
For the shortcrust pastry:
325 g/11 oz (31⁄4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
11⁄2 level teaspoons baking powder
100 g/31⁄2 oz (1⁄2 cup) sugar
8 drops rum essence
2 medium eggs
1 pinch salt
100 g/31⁄2 oz (1⁄2 cup) soft butter or margarine
some sugar
Per piece:
P: 1 g, F: 3 g, C: 4 g, kJ: 201, kcal: 48
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep-fryer to a temperature of about 180 °C/350 °F so that bubbles form round the wooden spoon handle lowered into it.
2. Mix together the flour and baking powder, sift into a mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients, stir with a hand mixer with kneading hook, first briefly at the lowest setting, then at the highest setting to make a smooth dough. The shape into a cylinder.