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Old
Fashioned Puff Paste
Ingredients:
1/2
pound of butter
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 pound of flour
1/4 to 1/2 cup of ice-water
Preparation:
- Cut off one-third of the
butter and put the remaining two-thirds in a bowl of
ice-water. Divide this into four equal parts; pat each into a thin sheet and
set them away on ice.
- Mix and sift flour
and salt. Rub the reserved butter into it and make as stiff as possible
with ice-water. Dust the slab with flour; turn the paste upon it; knead
for one minute, then stand it on ice for five minutes.
- Roll the cold paste
into a square sheet about one-third of an inch thick; place the cold
batter in the centre and fold the paste over it, first from the sides
and then the ends, keeping the shape square and folding so that the
butter is completely covered and cannot escape through any cracks as it
is rolled.
- Roll out to 1/4-inch
thickness, keeping the square shape and folding as before, but without
butter. Continue rolling and folding, enclosing a sheet of butter at
every alternate folding until all four sheets are used.
- Then turn the folded side down and roll in
one direction into a long narrow strip, keeping the edges as straight
as possible.
- Fold the paste over, making three even
layers. Then roll again
and fold as
before. Repeat the process until the dough has had six turns. Cut into the desired shapes and
refrigerate for at least thirty
minutes or longer before putting in the oven.
- If during the making the paste sticks to
the board or pin, remove it
immediately and
stand it on the ice until thoroughly chilled.
- Scrape the board clean; rub with a dry cloth and
dust with fresh flour before
trying again. Use as little flour as possible in rolling, but use enough to keep the paste dry.
- Roll with a light,
even, long stroke in every
direction, but never work the rolling-pin back and forth as that movement toughens the paste and breaks
the bubbles of air.
TIP:
To make good puff paste you must have all the ingredients cold. Puff
paste should be made in a cool place as it is necessary to keep the
paste cold during the whole time of preparation. Avoid making the paste
on a warm, damp day.
This recipe makes two pies or four crusts.
NOTE:
The baking of puff paste is almost as
important as the rolling.The oven
must be very hot, with the greatest
heat at the bottom, so that the
paste will rise before it browns. If the paste should begin to scorch, lover the
temperature.
TIP: If you
need quick cooling; place a pan of cold water in the oven.
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Did You Know?
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| To be most palatable,
pies
and pastry should be served as soon as possible after they are baked.
When
pies are allowed to stand for any length of time, the lower crust
becomes
soaked with moisture from the filling used, and in this state the pie
is
not only unpalatable, but to a certain extent indigestible.
Consequently,
whenever it is possible, only enough for one meal should be baked at a
time. |
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| After a pie is taken
from
the oven, it should not be removed from the pan in which it is baked
until
it is served. In fact, pie with a tender crust cannot be handled easily
and so should be cut while it is still in the pan. |
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Often it is best to serve
a pie warm. When this is to be done, it can be served immediately upon
being taken from the oven, or if it has been baked for some time and is
cold, it may be set in the oven and reheated before serving. Such
treatment
will freshen any pie that has become more or less stale. In case pies
must
be kept before being served, they should be covered and stored in a
place
that is both cold and dry.
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Where any recipe calls for
baking powder, and you do not have it, you can use cream of tartar and
soda, in the proportion of one level teaspoonful of soda to two of
cream
of tartar.
When a cake is thoroughly baked
it shrinks from the sides of the pan. A light touch with the finger
which
leaves no mark is another indication that the cake is baked.
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