[Sca-cooks] Questions....

[Elaine Koogler]

Hey folks...
I have a couple of questions that I suspect you guys may be able to answer:

In one recipe, I encountered a reference to "leavening"....from de Nola:

Oranges from Xativa Which Are Crullers
       
Take fresh cheese and curds, and mash them in a mortar together with 
eggs.  Then take dough and knead the cheeses with the curds, together 
with the dough, and when they are all kneaded and incorporated take a 
very clean casserole, and add to it a good quantity of sweet pork fat or 
sweet oil which should be fine, and when the pork lard or oil boils, 
make some round masses from the aforementioned dough, like balls or 
round oranges, and put them in the pot in such a way that the ball goes 
swimming through the casserole, and you can make small rissoles from the 
dough, or whatever forms and remarkable things you wish, and when they 
take on the color of gold, remove them, and add a few more, and when 
they are all fried, put them on plates, and pour honey over them, and 
scatter ground sugar and cinnamon over them.  But note one thing:  that 
you should add a little leavening to the cheeses and the eggs, and add 
flour to the other, and when you make the balls grease your hands with a 
little oil which should be fine and then take them to the casserole, and 
once they are in if the dough crackles it is a sign that it is very 
soft; and you need to add more flour until it is harder, and once the 
dough is prepared and fired add the honey and sugar and cinnamon as is 
described above.

What kind of leavening are they referring to?  Could I get away with 
using yeast?

Secondly, I also have a recipe, from Cuoco Napoletano, for a Cherry 
Torte that calls for rose petals.  Now I know I won't be able to get 
these locally as I doubt we'll have roses in early May.  And I know I 
can't go to a florist for them because those have been treated with 
insecticides, etc.  Any suggestions as to where I could get these...or 
could I simply omit them.  The recipe calls for sprinkling rosewater 
over the torte after it has baked, so it will get some of that flavor.  
I don't know that I want to add rosewater to the ingredients for the 
torte because it would be too watery.

Thanks in advance for your help/advice.

Kiri
-- 

Learning is a lifetime journey...growing older merely adds experience to knowledge 
and wisdom to curiosity.
					-- C.E. Lawrence