1 pound of cold flour.

15 ounces of cold butter.

1 cupful of ice water.

Get quite ready to make the paste before you begin, that it may be done quickly. It will not, perhaps, belightand good if allowed to stand long in a warm room. Leave out a handful of flour to dust with. Make a hollow in the middle of the rest in a pan, pour in the ice-water and mix up gradually with the fingers. Turn the paste on the table double and press a little to make it, smooth. Roll it out to half an inch thickness, pound the butter with a potato masher to make it pliable, drop half of it in lumps all over the sheet of paste, sift a very little flour over, press down the lumps of butter, fold over in three and turn the broad side toward you. Roll out again, drop the rest of the butter as before, fold in three and count that one. Roll out evenly with plenty of flour to prevent sticking, fold over in three and count that two. Do the same four times more, making six folds (beside the first one not counted) and it is ready for use, but should be allowed to stand a while in the refrigerator to lose the tendency it has when first made to draw up out of shape.

If you have a good refrigerator at hand the puff paste will be the better for being set in it after the third folding and allowed to remain 1/2 hour and then taken out and finished rolling, but, it not, the only way to have the paste good is to start with cold material and make it and bake it so quickly that it has not time to warm and melt in the meantime.

Cost of material - butter 23, flour 3; 26 cents for 21/2 pounds. Makes 5 pies with single bottom crusts, or 3 covered - depending upon the size or 20 turnovers or 20 to 25 tarts in patty pans, or 10 to 16 tartlets like the following.

Note - Lard of a solid, firm sort will make puff paste that is quite as good as that made with butter, and that rises nearly as high in the baking; and the cost is reduced according to the difference in price per pound. But soft lard cannot be used for this purpose. The best common flaky paste is made with half lard and half butter, with salt sprinkled over the lard, the butter put into the dough first, and the whole of the ingredients kept as cold as possible.