Puff Paste

Ingredients

• one quart of sifted flour
• two cupfuls of butter
• one tablespoonful of sugar
• one level tablespoonful of salt
• about a cupful and a quarter of ice-water

Method

1. 1

   Work the butter in cold water until light and waxy, then pat it to remove water.

2. 2

   Divide into four cakes and chill.

3. 3

   Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl.

4. 4

   Rub one cake of butter into the flour, add ice water gradually, and form a smooth ball.

5. 5

   Roll out to half an inch thick, spread with butter, fold, and roll again.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Miss Parloa's kitchen companion (1887) by Maria Parloa, page 305. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Puff Paste. NEARLY all cooks and housekeepers lind it a difficult thing to learn to make putt' paste. Not that the work is complicated, but because there must be great delicacy and rapidity of touch. In the hundreds of rules given in the cook-books of all countries, the principles are the same, — a pound of butter to a pound of flour, with varia- tions in the way of lemon juice, sugar, or egg given in one, and omitted in another. In making puff paste the object is to get as many dis- tinct layers as possible. Each layer should be as thin as a sheet of note-paper. To insure this result, all the materials and utensils used must be very cold, and the work should be done in a cool room. The butter should be of good quality, and the flour, when possible, be made by the old process, or what is called "half-high mill- ing." This flour is used a good deal at the West and Southwest. Flour made by the new, or high-milling, process is too granular to make perfect puff paste. Many cooks, however, say that they can make puff paste quite as good with the new as with the old-process flour. The writer's experience leads her strongly to recommend using only the pastry flour or the "half-high milling." In making puff paste the flour, water, and salt may be mixed to a dough, and then the butter be rolled with it. Made in this way the flakes are larger and more distinct; but the pastry is not quite so tender as it would be if a small part of the butter were mixed with the salt and flour before the water was added. PIES. 586 If the paste cart be chilled three times while it is being made, it will be lighter, and the flakes will be larger. The colder and smoother the board on which the paste is made, the better the paste will be. A smooth wooden board answers all purposes, but, if convenient, a marble or a slate slab is preferable because colder. Marble is expensive and heavy, but a slate slab is light and inex- pensive ; one measuring 18 x 20 inches, costing about $1.50, may be used. In summer there must be ice and a refrigerator; in winter snow may be substituted for the ice, and the chilling may be done in a cold room or out of doors. Here is a method of making puff paste which is slow, but the beginner may be almost sure of success ; and when one has become expert in handling the paste, there need be no intervals between the several times of rolling it. For a large vol-au-vent, or twelve small patties, or four medium-sized pies, use one quart of sifted flour, two cupfuls of butter, packed solid, one table-spoonfui of sugar, one level table-spoonful of salt, and about a cupful and a quarter of ice-water

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