Puff Paste

Ingredients

• a quarter of a pound of flour
• a small pinch of salt
• the yolk of one egg
• a quarter of a pound of butter
• six or eight drops of lemon-juice

Method

1. 1

   Mix flour and salt, make a well, add egg yolk and lemon juice.

2. 2

   Gradually add water to form a paste.

3. 3

   Knead until smooth.

4. 4

   Roll out, place butter in the center, fold over, and chill.

5. 5

   Roll and fold multiple times, chilling in between, until ready to use.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The girl's own cookery book (1882) by Phillis Browne, page 31. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

puff paste is. A very clever cook once said that puff paste to be perfect must consist of eighty-four thin films of paste, alternated with eighty-three of butter. I do not think there are many cooks who could achieve these conditions. But at any rate girls will understand that is the ideal, and the nearer they can approach to it the more successful they will be. It is for the purpose of keeping these films perfect and separate that the pastry is cooled between the “ turns.” If the paste were to be sticky and the butter hot, the films could not be kept distinct ; therefore, between the rollings or turns puff paste is put away on ice or in a cool place, that the layers may become firm and not mi.x together in a mass. In winter time ice may be dispensed with, and the pastry can be put in a cool larder for half an hour. But in summer time it is very desirable that ice should be at hand. Now as to the method to be adopted. Supposing we wished to make a quantity of puff paste sufficient for a small pie, we should take a quarter of a pound of flour which has been sifted and is thoroughly dry, a small pinch of salt, the yolk of one egg, a quarter of a pound of butter which has been squeezed in a cloth to free it from mois- ture, and six or eight drops of lemon-juice

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