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Tarts, Paste For
Take a pound and a half of flour, a pound and a quarter of fresh butter, a large pinch of salt, four yolks of eggs, and half a glassful of water. Mix this paste as lightly as possible without handling it too much; spread it over the board with a rolling-pin, and then fold it in three, as you do puff-paste; roll it out, and fold it up again. Do this four times running: this is what is called four-turned. Use this paste either for tourte of entrees, for pies of meat or fruit, or when it may be wanted. (See also PUFF-PASTE.)
A rough puff or demi-feuilletée: an enormous proportion of butter to flour, brought together quickly and given four folds rather than the six of full puff paste. Everything depends on keeping it cold.
- The hinge: temperatureWith 1¼ lb butter to 1½ lb flour the paste is barely more than butter held together by dough. Work cold, on a cold surface, and chill 20-30 minutes between each of the four turns; if the butter softens and merges into the flour, the layers are gone and it bakes short rather than flaky.
- Quantities in metric1½ lb flour is about 680 g, 1¼ lb butter about 565 g. This is a large batch — roughly enough for three or four 9-inch tarts. Halve or quarter it freely; the proportions hold.
- "Half a glassful of water"Genuinely ambiguous — Victorian drinking glasses ranged widely. Start with about 100 ml of ice water for the full quantity and add only enough more to bring the mass together, since the four yolks contribute liquid as well.
- Fresh butterMeans unsalted, as distinct from the salted butter kept for the table and for keeping. Use unsalted and keep the pinch of salt.
- "Fold it in three"A letter fold: roll to a long rectangle, fold one third over the middle, then the far third over that. Four of these, turning the block 90 degrees each time, is what the recipe calls "four-turned".
- Handling"Without handling it too much" is the whole instruction. Bring the dough together with a knife or scraper until it just coheres, streaks of butter still visible, then rest it before the first roll.
- BakingNo oven is given because the filling dictates it. Laminated paste wants a hot start — 425-450F for the first 15 minutes to throw the steam — then down to 350-375F to cook the interior through. Bake on a heated tray so the base sets before the butter runs.
- KeepingThe block freezes well, wrapped, for three months, and improves for a night's rest in the refrigerator before use. Roll it from cold but not rock-hard.
Cassell's is translating French practice for English kitchens here, and the vocabulary shows it: tourte is the French covered pie, and a paste given fewer folds than a full puff paste is sometimes associated with what the French call demi-feuilletage, though that term more often denotes pastry made from re-rolled puff trimmings — in any case cheaper in labour and sturdier under a wet filling. The cross-reference to PUFF-PASTE is the point of the entry: it places this paste within a family of related methods, distinguished chiefly by how many turns the cook was willing to give it and how much butter the household could spare. That a pound and a quarter of butter to a pound and a half of flour reads as unremarkable says something about the audience for this book.