Cookery for every household

Suitable for covering pies and tarts, tartlets, sausage rolls, and various fancy dishes. Probable cost, 9d. 1447. Puff Pastry (Feuilletage) £ lb. flour. | lb. butter (fresh). A pinch of salt. A squeeze of lemon juice. Cold water. Weigh the butter, and let it lie in a basin of cold water for some timo before using it. Sieve the flour and salt into a clean dry basin, and add the lemon juice to them. Lift the butter out of the cold water and dry it lightly in a floured cloth. Take a quarter of the butter, and rub it into the flour with the tips of the fingers and thumbs until there are no lumps left. Then mix with cold water into a stiffish dough. Turn this on to a floured board and work it well with the hands until it will no longer stick to the fingers, and forms a perfectly smooth dough. Then roll it rather thinly into a square or round shape. The butter to be used should be as nearly as possible of the same consis tency as the paste. Form it into a neat flat cake, and place it in the centre of the paste (see above). Fold it up rather loosely, and flatten the folds with a rolling-pin. Then roll out the pastry into a long narrow strip, being careful that the butter does not break through. Fold it exactly in three, press down the folds, and lay the pastry aside in a cool place for a quarter of an hour at least. This is called giving the pastry one “turn,” and seven of these is the number usually required for puff pastry. The next time the pastry is rolled, place it with the joins at your right-hand side, and the open ends towards you. Give it two “ turns ” this time, and again set it aside in a cool place for at least 15 minutes. Repeat this until the pastry has had seven rolls in all, one roll or turn the first time, and after that, two each time with an interval between. The object of this cooling between the rolls is to keep the butter and flour in distinct and separate layers, in which it is the function of the rotling-pin and folding to arrange them, and on which the lightness of the pastry depends. When rolling, keep the pressure of the two hands as equal as possible. If the pastry becomes rounded, it shows that there is more pressure being borne on the rounded side than the other. After it has received its last roll, it is better to be laid aside for some time before using it, then roll to the thickness required. This pastry will keep for several days in cold weather, if wrapped in a piece of well-greased paper. Note. — If salt butter has to be used, wash it first by kneading it in very cold water. Suitable for vol-au-vent, patties, mince pies, and various fancy dishes. Probable cost, 10d. 1448. Potato Pastry \ lb. of cooked potatoes. £ lb. flour. 2 or 3 oz. butter or dripping. Salt. A little milk.