This section is from the book "Dainty Dishes Receipts", by Harriett St. Clair. Also available from Amazon: Dainty Dishes.
Take rather more butter than flour - about half a pound of flour makes a good dish of pastry. Mix lightly with your hands rather less than half the butter with all the flour, then add some water and mix again, but work it as little with your hands as possible; roll it out, then put into the centre of the sheet the rest of the butter, and fold it up into six folds; then roll it out again, and refold it in the same way; repeat this three times; lastly, fold it only in three, roll it once more out, and it is ready to use, and can be cut into any form you please. For shells, tartlets, or patties, it should be about three-quarters of an inch thick; for puffs, etc., it must be rolled thinner.
Take two ounces of butter and three pounds of flour; pour on it a pint of boiling water, mix it into a very stiff paste, put it into a covered stew-pan, and set it near the fire to heat for half an hour; then knead it well, and raise it in a pie or other shape to suit; wash it well over with egg beaten up; ornament the sides in any way you choose; fill it with bran, and bake in a, moderate oven of a light brown.
One pound of flour mixed with a quarter of a pound of butter, six yolks of eggs, and a glassful of milk. Mix into a stiff paste.
To half a pound of flour well dried add half an ounce of loaf-sugar in fine powder; make it into a stiff paste with half a cupful of boiling cream and an ounce and a half of butter; work it well, and then add a yolk of an egg.
A pint of flour, a quarter of a pound of butter, and two eggs, one spoonful of pounded sugar, and a spoonful of cream; work it well and roll it thin.
Bub half a pound of butter in one pound of flour, wet it with as much water as will make a stiff paste, roll it out three times, as thin as a crown-piece. This is a good paste to cover all fruit tarts in dishes.
One pound of flour, a quarter of a pound of sugar, six yolks of eggs, one wineglassful of milk, worked together into a stiff paste. This is good for tarts baked in pans, or lining moulds. For custards line small moulds, fill them with flour, bake them hard; when done take the flour out, clean, fill with custard, and bake till set.
 
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