As it is necessary to keep puff paste cold it should be
made in a cold room, at an open window, and after each
turn of the paste it should be laid carefully in a shallow
pan and placed on ice until chilled, but not frozen.
During the entire process of making puff paste, flour —
in addition to that allowed for making the paste — should
be sprinkled freely on the molding board and rolling pin
whenever they are used ; but each time the paste is to
Pastry and Pie, 215
be folded, all adhering flour should be carefully brushed
from the upper surface with a pastry brush, before the
rolling is begun.
To make vol-au-vents, or small patty cases, cut them,
from the rolled-out paste, in circular or diamond shapes,
with a tin cutter or a sharp knife, lift to a baking sheet
with a broad-bladed knife, cut lightly into the top of
each with a small cutter, and, when baked, remove the
cut top, pick out the unbaked paste, and replace the
little covers. Fill the cases with any mixture desired and
serve.
Flaky Pie Crust. — ^Three cups of flour, half a cup of
butter, half a cup of lard, three fourths of a cup of ice
water✪ Flaky Pie Crust.
Sift the flour into a chopping bowl, add the butter and
lard, and chop with a hash knife until no pieces of the
shortening larger than a pea can be seen. Then sprinkle
the ice water here and there through the flour, and mix
with a fork into a rather soft dough or paste. Pile upon
a well-floured kneading board, dust lightly with flour,
press down with the rolling pin, and roll gently back and
forth until the paste becomes an oblong sheet not more
than half an inch in thickness. Slip a broad-bladed
knife under each end of this sheet, and fold over toward
the center, thus forming three layers of the paste. Lift,
with the knife, from the board — which dust with fresh
flour — ^lay it at right angles with the position it occupied
v^hen lifted, dust with flour, roll out, and again fold over
as before. Repeat the operation, and the paste is ready
to lay aside for future use, or to roll into form and use at
once.
2i6 The Art of Cookery.
When the ice water is added to the flour and shorten-
ing, the shortening becomes distributed through the
flour in small balls, and if the mixing is done lightly it
remains as balls and is not packed together in a mass,
and when the dough is drawn together and lightly
pressed with the rolling pin these balls flatten into flakes,
which, by repeated foldings, are piled one upon another,
and by gentle rolling become thinner and more delicate.
Three rollings and foldings are as much as these flakes
will bear. Rolling and folding a greater number of
times causes them to become broken and packed, so that
the paste will not rise and pufl" up, as it should, in
baking.
It is well to let the paste lie on ice, or in a cold place,
for an hour before rolling it out for pies, as its quality is
improved by so doing ; and if the weather is warm it
may advantageously be placed on ice ten minutes between
each rolling out. If a teaspoonful of baking powder be
sifted with the flour, less shortening can be used, but the
pastry will not be as crisp and delicate.
Suet Pastry. — To three cups of flour add one cup of
finely shredded beef suet, three teaspoonfuls of baking
powder, and one teaspoonful of salt. Mix, with cold
water, or cold sweet milk✪ Suet Pastry, to a soft dough.
Page 98 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1899. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
As it is necessary to keep puff paste cold it should be made in a cold room, at an open window, and after each turn of the paste it should be laid carefully in a shallow pan and placed on ice until chilled, but not frozen. During the entire process of making puff paste, flour — in addition to that allowed for making the paste — should be sprinkled freely on the molding board and rolling pin whenever they are used ; but each time the paste is to
Pastry and Pie, 215
be folded, all adhering flour should be carefully brushed from the upper surface with a pastry brush, before the rolling is begun.
To make vol-au-vents, or small patty cases, cut them, from the rolled-out paste, in circular or diamond shapes, with a tin cutter or a sharp knife, lift to a baking sheet with a broad-bladed knife, cut lightly into the top of each with a small cutter, and, when baked, remove the cut top, pick out the unbaked paste, and replace the little covers. Fill the cases with any mixture desired and serve.
Flaky Pie Crust. — ^Three cups of flour, half a cup of butter, half a cup of lard, three fourths of a cup of ice water.
Sift the flour into a chopping bowl, add the butter and lard, and chop with a hash knife until no pieces of the shortening larger than a pea can be seen. Then sprinkle the ice water here and there through the flour, and mix with a fork into a rather soft dough or paste. Pile upon a well-floured kneading board, dust lightly with flour, press down with the rolling pin, and roll gently back and forth until the paste becomes an oblong sheet not more than half an inch in thickness. Slip a broad-bladed knife under each end of this sheet, and fold over toward the center, thus forming three layers of the paste. Lift, with the knife, from the board — which dust with fresh flour — ^lay it at right angles with the position it occupied when lifted, dust with flour, roll out, and again fold over as before. Repeat the operation, and the paste is ready to lay aside for future use, or to roll into form and use at once.
2i6 The Art of Cookery.
When the ice water is added to the flour and shortening, the shortening becomes distributed through the flour in small balls, and if the mixing is done lightly it remains as balls and is not packed together in a mass, and when the dough is drawn together and lightly pressed with the rolling pin these balls flatten into flakes, which, by repeated foldings, are piled one upon another, and by gentle rolling become thinner and more delicate. Three rollings and foldings are as much as these flakes will bear. Rolling and folding a greater number of times causes them to become broken and packed, so that the paste will not rise and puff up, as it should, in baking.
It is well to let the paste lie on ice, or in a cold place, for an hour before rolling it out for pies, as its quality is improved by so doing ; and if the weather is warm it may advantageously be placed on ice ten minutes between each rolling out. If a teaspoonful of baking powder be sifted with the flour, less shortening can be used, but the pastry will not be as crisp and delicate.
Suet Pastry. — To three cups of flour add one cup of finely shredded beef suet, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and one teaspoonful of salt. Mix, with cold water, or cold sweet milk, to a soft dough.
Records on this page
Flaky Pie CrustSuet Pastry