Plain Paste

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup lard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cold water

Method

1. 1

   Chop in lard, add water to make a paste that rolls easily.

2. 2

   Toss on a floured board, pat, and shape.

Nutrition per serving

Estimated from matched ingredients across 8 servings.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Scientific cooking with scientific methods (1911) by Sarah E. Woodworth Craig, page 96. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

plain paste. The making of puff paste is looked upon aa a great task, and is rarely attempted by the amateur, but when made at home of the best creamery butter there is no doubt about the quality and digestibility of the paste, and as soon as one gets the method in hand she no longer looks upon it as such a great task. To be successful, one has to be a rapid worker with a light touch. It must be made in a cold room. For making pastry, one wants pastry tiour and well-chilled shortening. If butter is used, it wants to be the best; if lard, only the leaf, kettle-rendered will give good results. The lightness depends upon the amount of cold air folded in as you roll and fold. This air coming in contact with the hot air of the oven expands and lightens the paste. While the flaki- ness depends upon the kind and amount of shortening you use, butter gives the best flavor, but the lard makes the tenderest crust, at much less expense. For puff' paste we only use butter, and wash it to free it of salt and buttermilk. Butter, when properly pre- pared, is of a waxy consistency, and rolls easily into layers after it is folded into the dough. 210 SCIENTIFIC COOKING. Puff Paste. 1 pound flour. 1 pound butter. Pinch of salt. Ice-water. Wash butter and work it under the water in a soft linen napkin, changing the water once. Lift it out and pat until all the water has gone. Reserve two tablespoons and shape the other into an oblong piece and place on the block of ice. Chop the two table- spoons into the flour or rub in with the tips of fingers. Moisten to a dough soft enough to roll easily. Knead a few moments to make it elastic so it rolls and holds the butter in its fold. A good pastry-maker will not see the butter after she encloses it in the dough. Pat and roll the dough on the board to one-fourth of an inch in thickness; keep it a little wider than long, and the corners square. Place butter in center of square of dough, fold the sides each to center, and press them well together. Fold one end over and one end under the enclosed butter. Press edges firmly together to enclose as much air as possible. Turn half-way round cover, and let it stand for five minutes. Pat and roll again to one-fourth inch in thickness, keeping it longer than wide, and lifting often to be sure it is not sticking, each time dredging the board with flour. Fold from open end toward the center, making three layers. Rest again for five minutes. Continue this rolling and folding for four times, then fold from each end to center, making four folds. Press edges well together, and chill on tin placed between pans of crushed ice. "When thoroughly chilled it is ready to be shaped into patty shell. Yol-au-vents or fancy shape to garnish with. It should be kept wrapped in paraffin paper and put in tin pail. Cover closely and PASTRY. 211 place in ice-box, using care not to spoil the layers you have rolled in, by doubling them. Mrs. Ewing is the best puff-paste maker ever on the American stage. To Bake Puff Paste. Puff' paste requires great care in the baking. The oven must be hot, and the paste placed on a tin sheet covered with brown paper, and put in oven where it will get the most heat on the bottom to make it rise. When it has risen to its full height, add more fire and brown on top, being careful not to burn the bottom. It must have a hot oven if you want it to puff. In a hot oven it puff's and is flaky; in too cold an oven it spreads and is greasy. The temperature for baking patty shell wants to be about same as for baking- powder biscuits. Yol-au-vents require hot oven at first, then reduce to keep top from burning. The gas stove is the thing for this kind of cooking, for the reason that we can control the heat perfectly. Patty Shells. Roll paste to one-fourth inch thick, and shape with patty cutter, first dipping it in flour. Then with a small cutter remove a round from center of one-half the round. Brush the whole round with ice-water round the edges, and press the piece with the center removed on top. Press lightly. Place on a towel and chill between pans of crushed ice, until paste is very cold and stiff. Cover tin or iron sheet with brown paper, and place the patty shell on and bake in hot oven for twentj^-five minutes. They should rise to their full height and begin to brown in fifteen minutes. The small rounds cut from centers of the ring can be baked 212 SCIENTIFIC COOKING. and vised for patty cover. Should there be any soft dough in center of shells, lift it out carefully with pointed knife. Vol-au-vents. Roll puff paste to one-third of an inch thick, Mark an oval on the paste with cutter or mould for the pur- pose. Cut out with a sharp knife first dipped in flour. Brush near the edge with cold water, and put on a rim three-fourths of an inch wide. Press lightly, chill and bake in hot oven. The piece cut from center of the top should be rolled to one-fourth inch, shaped, baked and used for cover for vol-au-vent. To bake, place on sheet with paper beneath, and bake for three- quarters of an hour. The cover will be done first, and must be removed as soon as it is a good brown. Flaky Paste. 2 cups flour. 14 cup each lard and 1^ teaspoon salt. butter. Ice-water. Wash butter in napkin. Pat all water and butter- milk out by patting between the hands. Add salt to flour, and chop in lard with knife or one-bladed hash chopper. "When it is chopped enough it will look like coarse cornmeal, then add water little at a time so as not to get it too soft. Toss on floured board, pat and roll to oblong shape, and fold in butter same as for puff paste. Fold to make the three layers turn half round, pat and roll, repeat for three or four times, and it is ready for use. Plain Paste. 2 cups flour. 74 cup lard. 1/. teaspoon salt

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.