The girl's own cookery book

When a girl has once learnt to make puff pastry well she may vary her method a little, without doing much harm ; that is to say, she may use rather less butter, or rather more flour, or in cold weather she may shorten the time allowed for cooling ; her experience wdl enable her to decide how far she may depart from the regulated routine. It will be obvious that the method I have described is rather a troublesome one. It need not be so, however, if other cooking is being done at the time, for nothing can be easier than to put the pastry away, proceed with other work, then at the right time fetch it out, give it a roll, put it away again, and repeat until it is finished. I have known cooks make very good flaky pastry without putting it to cool at all. They simply made the paste, rolled it out, divided the butter into equal portions, spread one portion upon the paste as they would spread butter upon bread, floured it well, folded it over, and rolled it ; then buttered, floured, and rolled it again until the requisite quantity of butter had been used. If there were time to let it lie they would seize the opportunity of doing so, but otherwise they would leave it. It will be understood that puff paste is used for superior pastry of all kinds, meat pies, tarts, patties, and vol-auvents. There is, however, an easier way of making superior S)iort Paste. pastry which answers excellently for pies and tarts. The following is the method adopted in making it. Take half a pound of flour, six ounces of butter, a pinch of salt, six drops of lemon-juice, and the yolk of an egg. Prepare the ingredients as for true puff paste ; that is, squeeze the butter to free it from moisture, and be sure that the flour is dry and sifted. Chop the butter in the flour with a knife ; then pile the flour on the board ; make a well in the centre, and put into it the salt, egg, yolk, and lemonjuice. Add the water gradually, and mix it in lightly with the fingers, to make a light not over stiff paste. Flour the rolling-pin and the board to prevent the pastry sticking, but do not put too much flour in, or the pastry will be spoilt. Roll it well three times, and after each roll fold it in two, and turn it with the rough edges to the front. If it makes a crackling sound as it is being rolled it is a sign that it is good. If liked, this pastry may be made with half a pound of flour, four ounces of butter, half a teaspoonful of baking-powder, and dripping may be used instead of butter. SHORT PASTE, SUET PASTE, AND RAISED PIES. Q SAID in our last lesson that the idea in puff paste is ^ to have the butter and paste separate, so that the paste shall be made up of a number of layers, divided from each other by layers of butter. In short paste, on the other hand, the idea is for the butter to be mixed with the flour by kneading, not rolling. Indeed, one great secret in making good short-crust is to roll it as little as possible. After the butter and flour have been moistened with water, the paste should be rolled once onty to make it smooth and of a good shape. Short paste is much more wholesome than puff paste. It is used chiefly for fruit pies and tartlets. It is made more easily, and is much more commonly met with than puff paste, which is usually regarded as a luxury. The GirPs Otvn Cookery Book.