Foods and home making

To make pie crust light, all materials should be cold. Use ice water. Pie dough is often placed in a refrigerator to chill before rolling it out. When the cold pie crust is put in a hot oven, the cold materials expand and the crust is thus made light. A little baking powder added to the flour also helps to make pastry light. A recipe for pastry is : PLAIN PASTRY 1| cups soft wheat or pastry flour £ to \ cup solid fat 1 teaspoon baking powder 4 or 6 tablespoons ice water ) teaspoon salt Sift some flour ; then measure it. Pour the flour into a sifter. Add the baking powder and salt. Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. The greater quantity of fat will produce a more tender crust than the smaller amount. However, some persons who have become very skillful in making pastry can make a desirable crust with the smaller quantity of fat. Add the fat to the dry ingredients. With two knives, cut the fat into Luncheon or Supper Desserts 323 the dry ingredients. But do not cut it in thoroughly. Leave the fat in bits about •§■ inch in diameter. One of the most important parts of making pastry is mixing the water with the other ingredients. Add only part of the water at one time. Try to moisten as much flour as possible with each spoonful of water. Mix the water with the other ingredients by means of a knife. It is well not to touch the dough with the hands any more than is necessary. When all the flour is moistened, the pastry may be rolled out or it may be placed in the refrigerator or other cold place to chill. Roll out only enough dough for one crust at a time. Place the dough on a slightly floured board and roll with a rolling pin. Lift the rolling pin at the end of each stroke. Roll the dough in such direction as to make it of proper shape to fit the pan. How is pastry for one-crust pie placed in the pan? Some pies have only one crust. The one crust is usually the under crust. If a one-crust pie has a cooked filling such as a lemon custard, the pie crust should be baked before the filling is added. There are two ways of doing this : (1) the pan may be placed right side up and the rolled-out pie dough placed inside the pan; a second pan may be laid on top of the crust to keep it even during baking ; (2) the pan may be inverted and the rolled-out pie dough placed on the outside of the pan. After the pastry is baked, it is taken from the pan, the pan turned right side up, and the baked pastry placed inside the pan. It is believed there is an advantage in baking pie crust on the outside of a pan. During baking, pie crust shrinks. Placing the crust on the outside of the pan makes the crust larger than when placed on the inside of the pan. The disadvantage of baking pie crust on the outside of a pan is that very tender crust may break when it is transferred from the outside to the inside of the pan. If a filling is not cooked before it is added to the crust, the filling and pie crust are baked together. When this is the case, the pie crust must be placed inside the pan. Whether the crust is placed on the outside or inside of a pan, it should be 32 4 Luncheon or Supper pricked with a fork before baking or before adding the filling. If this is not done, blisters may form in the crust. After placing the crust on the pan, trim the edges. Flute the edges if you like.