Paste For Pies

Put three pounds of well-sifted flour on a board or table, work in one pound of butter, make a hollow in the center, and work in the yolks of four eggs, one ounce of salt, and a breakfast cupful of cold water. Should the paste while being used be too hard and crack, it may be rolled out again and slightly dampened with water before being worked up. If preferred, the butter may be mixed in with the liquids, before being introduced into the flour, which must be well worked in, adding it gradually. It is far easier to make this paste in winter than in summer.

Paste For Meat And Game Pies

Use eight ounces of butter to one pound of flour; chop one-half the butter into the flour, and add one teaspoonful of salt and enough cold water, to mix it to a smooth paste just soft enough to roll out. If ice-water is used, the paste is mixed with a knife instead of the hand, as it can be kept cooler, and will be lighter and more delicate. In making, touch the paste as little and as lightly as possible with the hands, because heating and pressing heavily upon it makes it dense and tough. After the paste is mixed and rolled about one-half inch thick, dredge it with flour, cut half the remaining butter into slices, and lay them on the paste, leaving a space of about one inch all around the edges, dredge the butter with flour, turn the edges in all round to enclose the outside layers of butter, and then double the paste, and roll it out about one-half inch thick, put the rest of the butter on it in slices, dredge again with flour, fold in the edges, double it, and roll out as already directed. If any paste is left after the pie is made, wrap it in a floured cloth and keep in a cool dry place; it will be good for several days, and only requires to be rolled out two or three times before using to make it quite light.

Paste For Savory Pies

Boil about three ounces of lard, and two ounces of dripping with one teacupful of water. While this is hot, mix with it smooth sufficient flour to make a stiff paste. Knead it well and beat it with the rolling-pin till quite smooth. Knead it into a lump, and turn a pan over it until it is almost cold. Then roll it to a proper thickness on a floured board with a floured rolling-pin. Cut out a piece for the bottom of the pie, a piece for the top, and a long narrow piece to form the sides. Fasten the bottom to the sides by brushing egg over the edges and then pressing them well together, joining up the side edges in the same way. Fill the pie, then put on the cover, brushing the edges over with beaten egg, and pinching them together. If the pie is made in a tin mould, all the edges must be fastened together in just the same way. The tin must be well buttered before putting the paste in, and when the pie is baked it should be slipped out of the tin and put back into the oven to brown the sides, first brushing beaten egg all over.

Geneva Paste

Rub one pound of fresh butter into one pound of finely-sifted dried flour until the butter is entirely absorbed, then work in one pound of sugar and four ounces of blanched and pounded almonds, adding three bitter almonds to the quantity and a little salt. Mix with sufficient beaten egg to make a stiff paste. This is useful in making Genevese and other fancy pastry.

Lard Paste

Cut some lard into thin slices and roll these in a little flour; continue thus until all the lard and flour are used, then mix in enough cold water to make a soft paste. Lay the paste on a floured cloth and keep it in a cold place for half an hour. After that put it on a floured paste-board and roll it out with a floured rolling-pin to the thickness of one inch. Place the paste again in a floured cloth in a cold place and leave it half an hour longer. Roll the paste out very thin, doubling it over six times. The paste should be touched as little as possible with the hands.

Paste Made With Cream

Mix one-half teaspoonful each of salt and bicarbonate of soda with one breakfast cupful of cream; stir in gradually enough flour to make a stiff paste. Sprinkle a little flour on the table, and roll the paste out on it to about one-half inch thick. Cut about two ounces of butter in small pieces and. put these on the paste; sift over a little flour, double the paste and roll it out thin. It is then ready to be used.