Low-gluten flour is always used in making delicate crispy tempura, along with baking powder and sparkling water. I’ve never seen actual cake flour (in the US, Swan’s Down brand) in Europe. The starch idea is also used in some Scottish shortbread recipes, which use corn flour.
My husband does both on a regular basis.
His fish and chips are incredible and very much like the British batter. I’ll ask him how he makes the batter.
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Tempura would never be used to make battered cod, that just wouldn’t be right at all.
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I didn’t mean to suggest that…just discussing how to lighten up the rather dense German 405 flour. I survived an entire summer in England on fish & chips in the 60s…happy days.
I wait.
me too, @Slammer 
Well it doesn’t look like much, but in these nights of minus 15, comfort is needed. Cut a large fennel bulb in thick slices and poach in milk to crisp-tender. Sauté a couple of crumbled salsiccia. Make a bechamel of butter, flour, and milk seasoned with Maldon salt, nutmeg, and freshly ground pepper. Add a handful of parmesan finely grated. Put the fennel into a baking dish, sprinkle with salsiccia, pour over the bechamel. Top with slices of fresh mozzarella di buffala, and blitz in a 200C oven for 20 minutes until golden. Wow. And yes, I’m still washing the dishes in the cold cellar. Ugh.
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I kove this kind of stuff, real cold weather food.
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For a lighter version (and more energy-efficient cleaning), I cut the fennels in thick slices, mark them on the pan with some olive oil, and put them on top of a hand-made mutter-teig pizza dough, with the customary cover of tomato paste, with olives, cappers…and cheese. Add some thyme and you can feel the Provence…
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Take two red bell peppers (capsicum) and blister them under the broiler, then skin. Sauté a large minced shallot in oil with a teaspoon of smoked pimentón, then add the chopped peppers, salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup of vegetable broth, and simmer until the peppers are soft. Blitz. Stir in a tablespoon of butter and a splash of Jerez vinegar. Wonderful pooled under a veggie flan, such as fennel, mushroom, or butternut.
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