Quark addict
This food has nothing to do with sub-atomic particles!
In cooking, quark is a fresh dairy product that is most popular in central and northern Europe, particularly in German-speaking countries and Scandinavia.
It is also popular among Slavic people. In Poland, it is called twaróg, in the Netherlands kwark, whilst it is known as kvarg in Norway and Sweden and творог in Russia.
History
What the quark?!
Quark is made by warming soured milk until it causes the whey in the milk to split from the curd, and then the solids are gathered up and turned into quark.
Local heritage
The use of quark has been recorded as long ago as the 14th century. In Roman times, the historian Tacitus records that a Germanic people ate a sort of thick milk which could well have been quark.
Interestingly, and unlike so many other traditional foods and particularly cheeses, quark seems not to have been introduced by settlers or immigrants to North America and has only recently been discovered in countries outside Europe. This may be because such a fresh cheese would have been difficult to keep for long in the days prior to refrigeration, both in the home and in shops or restaurants.
A versatile food
In most countries where it is eaten, versatile quark is consumed at any moment of the day, from breakfast to supper, in snacks and main dishes and in sweet and savoury recipes. It can be, and often is, used instead of yoghurt.
It is a special favourite for use in tarts, so the Swiss have their quarktorte, the Germans prepare quarkkuchen or käsekuchen, the Czechs make tvarohovnik, the Poles sernik and the Dutch kwarktaart.
Quark is gaining new fans
However, it now seems that quark is making new conquests, particularly among the younger generations. Quark fits in perfectly as a delicious food for those paying attention to a balanced diet and healthy eating.
As well as providing minerals such as calcium, which we need to have strong bones, quark is naturally low in fat and high in protein and it has the added advantage of making us feel fuller for longer, so the temptation to snack is easier to resist.
Quark is a thoroughly modern food of the 21st century and it may well be thanks to its newly-promoted nutritional aspects that quark is now gaining increased popularity and even being produced in places.
Recipes
Quark Sablée
Sablée dough
| Salted butter (18°) | 340g |
| Powder sugar | 300g |
| Egg yolk | 130g |
| Flour | 450g |
| Baking powder | 22g |
Mix butter and sugar together, add the egg yolk. Sift the flour and baking powder and add to the mixture. Cool down in the fridge and roll out to 6 mm.
Florex crunchy
| Florex* (sugar mix) | 200g |
| Candied orange (little dices) | 75g |
| Sliced almonds | 75g |
| Orange zest | 1pc |
Mix all ingredients.
Composition & Decoration
Make the sablée dough and roll out to 6 mm. Cut to size with the tart ring and put base on a baking tray. Pipe the Deli Quark* in the middle and decorate with some non-baked Florex crunchy. Bake for approx. 35 min at 180°C. Allow to cool down and finish with Harmony Neutral* (glaze). Decorate with some baked Florex crunchy and an orange slice.
* Puratos product
Quark de Nata
Ingredients
| Total flour weight (100%) | 1000g |
| Flour (100%) | 1000g |
| Water (46%) | 460g |
| Salt (2%) | 20g |
| Sugar (10%) | 100g |
| Yeast (5%) | 50g |
| Mimetic Incorporation* (speciality fat) (5%) | 50g |
| Sapore Carmen* (sourdough) (5%) | 50g |
| S500 CL* (bread improver) (1%) | 10g |
| Mimetic 20* (lamination fat) (25%) | 250g |
Total dough weight: 2060g
Working method
| Mixing spiral | 4 min slow, 4 min fast |
| Dough temperature | 21°C |
| Bulk fermentation | Laminate dough at 7 mm, 30 min freezer. Then make two single folds at 7 mm with Mimetic. Allow to rest for another 30 min in fridge at 5°C. Make a final single fold and roll out to 3.5 mm. |
| Scale | Use round cutter and cut circles of Ø 15cm |
| Make up | Put into oiled small round tart moulds |
| Final fermentation | 28°C, 80% R.H. for 1.5 hours |
| Decoration before baking | See description of filling below. Put into the centre |
| Oven temperature | 220°C |
| Baking time | 18 min with slight steam |
Filling
Freeze Deli Quark* in small slipmats. Put in after proof and Sunset Glaze*. Pipe Deli Yema* also into donut shaped slipmats.
Decoration
For round caramel decoration, mix 70 g brown sugar and 30 g Florex* (sugar mix) together. Place in small slipmats and bake at 180°C.
* Puratos product
Deli Solutions
Deli Quark
Deli Quark is is the ideal product to easily make all traditional quark recipes you are entitled to.
For more information
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