Rosemary's guide to reaching the upper crust

Rolling out pastry with Rosemary Shrager looking over your shoulder is quite a daunting experience. "You seem nervous," she says. Too true. This doesn't seem like the moment to confess that I usually succumb to buying the ready made stuff.

Elsewhere in the kitchen, somebody is attempting to slice a loaf of bread in the correct manner – Rosemary's instructions boom out, "No, no, not like that, use the whole of the knife."

There is no slacking allowed during this morning of getting to grips with baking but it turns out to be great fun. We are soon pummelling dough, creaming together eggs and sugar and trying to remember Rosemary's instructions to think of "air, air, air" when we are baking.

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Soon we are contemplating the amazing lightness of our scones, dipping our cheats' ciabatta into some lovely olive oil and knocking up a trayful of delicious biscotti di prato biscuits.

This special class with Rosemary Shrager was being held in the cookery school at Swinton Park, near Masham. She is now a guest "celebrity chef" at the school which she started before becoming something of a television favourite. She is currently the resident chef on the Alan Titchmarsh programme and has proved herself a force to be reckoned with in the series Ladette to Lady.

Right now she is keen to promote the joys of baking as this week is National Baking Week. All of a sudden, baking seems to be getting trendy again. Look at the fashion for cupcakes (something, long before Nigella, that we in the East Riding knew simply as buns) and the popularity of the recent Great British Bake Off on television.

"There's a huge audience out there, I've noticed that since last year," says Rosemary. "When I talk about baking people love it but they are scared of trying it. I want to take the fear out of it and give people the confidence to do it. If you are interested and understand a bit about the fundamentals, then you can do a million things."

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One of the problems is that a whole generation has grown up without knowing how to bake because they didn't do it with their parents. "Now we need to show them how to do it. There are rules in baking, that's why people are frightened but they are simple rules. I want to

teach people that the old skills work, things like lightness of touch and resting things."

And then she is off at a cracking pace, rattling out instructions as we try some recipes that she promises are "fail-safe". We make soda bread and olive oil bread followed by a wild salmon quiche. Lots of pastry tips here. First of all make sure everything is cold and yes, you can make it in the mixer. Then knead the pastry and roll it out. Ease the pastry into the tin and make sure you press it gently into all the flutes. Roll a rolling pin across the top of the tin to remove the excess pastry, rather than using a knife. Then put it in the fridge

to rest for half an hour, before baking blind (scrunch up greaseproof paper and fill to the top with beans or rice.)

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In three hours, we also make scones, biscotti and a cake called Ciambella which is made in a ring mould and served with baked peaches and Amaretto.

"Don't think about it, just do it," orders Rosemary if we are seen to hesitate. The results are delicious and we definitely feel more confident. Now all we need to do is keep on baking.

Olive Oil Bread

1kg strong flour

30g fresh yeast

600ml water

90ml olive oil

30g salt

Oven 220C/ 425 F/ gas mark 7.

First, mix the flour and yeast. Add the water and mix until it begins to come together into a dough. Next add the oil to bring it together and then add the salt. Knead for at least 15 minutes.

Roll out the dough to about a 2cm thickness and put it on a floured tray, cover it and leave it to rise until it has doubled in size.

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When it is ready, turn it out carefully on to a floured board and, using a floured knife, cut it into squares of about 4cm. Transfer these carefully on to a tray and allow them to rise for a few minutes more. Put them in the oven for about seven minutes.

Biscotti di Prato

Makes 32 biscuits, approximately.

250g flour

150g sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

50g butter, melted

50g whole almonds

pinch of salt

three eighths teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Pour the flour into a mound on a work surface. Make a well in the centre and put the sugar, egg and egg yolk, baking powder and salt into it. Add the melted butter and gradually work the flour into the ingredients in the well. Mix it with your hands until smooth.

Knead the almonds and orange peel into the dough thoroughly and keep kneading for about five minutes, sprinkling with additional flour if needed. Do not work it too much.

Butter and flour two baking sheets that are at least 37cm long. Divide the dough into two. Roll each piece of the dough on a floured surface into a 5cm-6cm wide flat log and place the logs at least 5cm apart on the baking sheet. Beat the egg yolk and brush over the dough logs.

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Bake for 15 minutes at 180C, reduce the temperature to 160C

and cook for a further 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. Cut the logs diagonally into 1cm slices and lay them on the sheets. Return to the oven for another five minutes and then cool them on racks.

The theme of this year's National Baking Week is Bake and Share. For more information and ideas go to www.nationalbakingweek.

co.uk.

Rosemary Shrager's new book, Foolproof Classic Cookery, will be published in May.

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