Danish Pastry

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Stir until completely dissolved. Heat milk to lukewarm. Beat in sugar, egg, egg yolk, salt, cardamom, and 6tbsp of the margarine or butter. Stir in dissolved yeast. Beat in flour. Turn dough out on a floured board and knead until smooth, soft and pliable. Cover dough and allow it to rise until doubled in bulk. Punch down and roll dough into a 30cm/12in square.

Work remaining margarine or butter under iced water until soft and pliable. Knead until all the water has oozed out. Shape the butter into a square and place it on the dough. Working quickly, pat the butter with the finger tips so that the entire surface of the dough is covered with butter. Cover dough with sheet of waxed paper. With a cold rolling pin (chill in the refrigerator) roll out dough into an oblong shape. The dough should be about 1/2in thick or thinner. Remove waxed paper. Fold the sheet of dough into thirds. Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Repeat the rolling, folding, and chilling process twice more. Roll out again to a 1/2in thick oblong, but fold in half. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. (Dough should be rolled, folded, and chilled 4 times altogether.)

Line cookie sheets with foil and turn up edges, this is to prevent butter from oozing into oven during baking. Shape pastries and place at least 3in apart on foil-lined cookie sheets. Preheat oven to 200C, gas mark 6, 400F and lower temperature to 180C, gas mark 4, 350F when pastries are placed in oven.