Recipe For Plain Pastry

1 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4-l/3 cup shortening Water

(1) Mix the flour and salt; (2) cut in the fat, and add only enough water to hold the ingredients together; (3) turn the mixture onto a slightly floured board and turn it with a spatula to cover it evenly with flour; (4) if two crusts are to be made, cut the paste in two portions and roll them separately and lightly with a rolling-pin, using motions outward from the center; (5) keep the dough as nearly the desired shape and as uniform in thickness as possible, roll it until the paste is very thin; (6) after each few rolling motions, loosen the dough from the board to prevent sticking.

One-Crust Pie

Place the crust in the pie pan, being careful that it is smooth, but not at all stretched. A perforated pan of tin or agate ware is best. The pan should never be greased. With scissors cut around the edges, leaving a margin of about 1/2 inch. Turn this slightly under, and press it into fancy edges with the fingers. Fill the crust, and bake it in a moderate oven for 40 minutes. Fillings for one-crust pies are made with milk and egg foundations, such as custard, cream, and pumpkin, or from cooked fruit, such as apple-sauce. These liquid fillings are likely to soak into the pie crust during the process of baking, making a soggy crust. This may be avoided by brushing over the crust with white of egg and placing the unfilled crust in a hot oven long enough to coagulate the egg-white, thus forming a coating to prevent the filling from soaking into the crust. Or instead of heating the crust in the oven, the filling may be heated separately to such a temperature that on adding it to the crust it will coagulate the white of egg.

Crust Baked Without Filling

The crust is sometimes baked first and then filled with a cooked filling. Many persons prefer this kind of pie since the crust is crisp and well baked. Invert a pie plate, cover the outside with pastry, fit it carefully to the plate, and press the edge well to the edge of the plate. Trim the edge if necessary, set the pie plate on a tin sheet to prevent the edge of the paste from touching the floor of the oven. Prick the crust well with a fork, and bake it from 12 to 15 minutes, or until it is thoroughly baked. Slip the crust from the outside of the pan, and put it in place as an under crust. Use any cooked filling, and place over the top strips or figures of baked pastry, or a meringue.

Two-Crust Pie

The lower crust is placed in the pie pan as for a one-crust pie, but in this case the edges should be cut close and evenly with a knife. The flavored filling is then added. The upper crust should be rolled rather thick, brushed with butter, and lightly sprinkled with flour. Slits should be cut in the crust to allow for the escape of steam. The edges of the lower crust are then moistened with water and the upper crust laid over the pie, care again being taken not to stretch the crust. The edges then are cut and pressed firmly together into a fancy shape with the fingers or a fork. Allow water to run over the top of the crust to make a flaky finish. If a shiny finish is preferred, brush over the top with a mixture of slightly beaten white of egg and water, without buttering and flouring the top. If the filling is of a juicy type, a paper tube inserted in one of the slits in the crust will allow the steam to escape readily and prevent the juice from running out. Bake the pie in a moderate oven (page 480) for 40 minutes.