Pastry
It has been said that the greatest discovery of the modern kitchen is pastry, and it would be difficult to name any other article of food which is better entitled to this praise. The discovery of America added much to the resources of the table; and we have an immense advantage over the ancients in tea, coffee and chocolate. We owe Pastry these good things, however, to navigation; whereas pastry we owe to the kitchen. It was quite within reach of the ancients to invent the modern pie, and they failed to hit upon it.
The following are the pastes most frequently in use :- 1. Hot-water paste for raised pies-that is, pies baked without dishes or pattypans. Melt four ounces of butter in half a pint of hot water and work it with half an ounce of salt into a pound of flour. This is chiefly used in England. The French prefer the following because of the eggs. 2. Cold-water paste for raised pies. Use the same quantities as for No. 1, but substitute three yolks of eggs for an equal displacement of water. This also makes a good short paste for ordinary pies. 3. Puff paste for a Vol-au-vent, the lightest and leafiest, called by the French Feuilletage. This deserves to be mentioned before the more common kinds because, although it is the most difficult of all the pastes, it best illustrates the principle of the puff pastes, and once mastered ensures a mastery of all the rest.
Put a pound of flour on the pastry slab with about half an ounce of salt. Make a well in it for cold water, of which close on half a pint will be needed, and mix it into a smooth paste. Dry it with flour until the slab is quite cleared, but work it as little as possible, and leave it alone for a minute or two to get cool from the heat of the hands before the next process begins, which has to do with the butter. Take a pound of butter, very cold, and with every drop of milk or water squeezed out of it, and press it out flat so as to form a square of something between nine and ten inches. It is not essential in practice to be too particular about these numbers, which are given chiefly to make the principle clear. Roll out the paste to something between thirteen and fourteen inches square, that is, such a size that when the butter square is put upon it diagonally, the four corners of the paste square folded over and meet- Pastry ing in the centre will completely envelope the butter. We have here a simple sandwich of paste and butter, and this is called the first turn, after it has been rolled out in one direction to the extent of, say thirty inches. Give it now a second turn-that is, fold it over in three, so as to renew the square of ten vinches, and roll it out again to thirty inches, but this time in a cross direction. We have now a triple sandwich in which there are four thin sheets of paste alternated with three of butter. Give it three turns more, -in all five turns-each time rolling it crosswise. At the end of the fifth turn we have a sandwich which, if the rolling were delicate and even, and if the paste and the butter were in perfect condition, ought, in theory at least, to consist of eighty-four thin films of paste alternated with eighty-three of butter. In practice this is not to be hoped for. One's touch is not always light and even; the paste is apt to be sticky and the butter to melt; and many of the films under pressure will smudge into one another. We must be content if we can make sure of a goodly number of films remaining perfect. And to make sure of this, there is a step in the process which has not yet been mentioned. This is to cool the paste between the turns. How often and how much it should be cooled will depend on the time of year. In warm weather, when the butter is apt to flow and the paste to stick, it should certainly be cooled, if not between every turn, at least twice. This is done by transferring the paste to a floured baking-sheet, and placing it either on ice or in a draught of air. Say that it is left to cool for half an hour between the second and third turns and for a quarter of an hour between the fourth and fifth.
A piece of paste a quarter of an inch thick prepared thus carefully will puff up to five, six, and even eight times its original height. Dexterity is required, but the great thing is to understand the meaning of the process. In short paste the butter is kneaded with the flour, and Pastry becomes part of the paste. In puff paste the butter and the paste are separate and there is no mixing or kneading -only what may be called fine sandwiching. The flour is made into a paste by itself, which by successive rollings is divided into thinner and thinner layers separated one from another by layers of butter, which by the same rollings are made thinner and thinner. The process of baking separates the films and puffs them up one above another; and the great art of the pastrycook is by delicacy and rapidity of touch, also by guarding carefully the coldness of the butter and its freedom from moisture, together with the freedom of the paste from stickiness, to make sure that as far as possible the thin flakes of butter and paste shall not interpenetrate. 4. Puff paste for pies. When once the principle of the puff paste is understood the cook can take liberties with it. The loregoing receipt will produce the lightest puff paste, rising several inches and fit for a Vol-au-vent; but for ordinary pies less care is necessary and less butter-say ten or twelve ounces of butter to the pound of flour. Also, though it is always best to use butter, and it is imperative to do so if there is any chance of the pie being eaten cold, -for a hot pie there is no objection to beef-fat pounded with milk or sweet oil in a mortar to the consistency of butter. Lastly, as one does not expect the crust upon a pigeon-pie or an apple-pie to rise very much, one need not be too anxious to multiply the films, and one can spare a turn or two. 5. Puff paste for cheesecakes and tarts. Add about three ounces of sifted sugar to the pound of flour. Sometimes two yolks are added, but with doubtful benefit. 6. Short paste. It has been already explained that for short crust the intermixture of the butter with the flour is by kneading, not rolling. For the best short crust take equal quantities of butter and flour. But even half of butter will make a fair crust. For meat pies the lesser Paysanne quantity is desirable, with a pinch of salt. (See also No. 2.) Feather it with white of egg before putting it in the oven. 7. Short paste for tarts and fruit-pies. As much butter as can be allowed, no salt, and three ounces of sifted sugar. 8. Paste for dumplings and puddings. No. 4 is best, but the following is commendable: a pound of flour, six ounces of butter, two well-beaten eggs, a little water, and a pinch of salt, kneaded together. 9. Brioche paste. Take a pound of sifted flour, and with a fourth of it make a soft leaven by mixing it with a wineglassful of German yeast. Cover this up and set it for twenty minutes in a warm place to rise. It ought to rise to twice what it was. Take the remainder of the flour and in the usual way knead it into a paste with ten ounces of butter, six or seven eggs, and a wineglassful of water in which a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar have been melted. Mix the leaven with it lightly. Put it aside for some hours, and then knead it, roll it, fold it, break it, toss it about, blend it thoroughly together. Roll it up in a loose cloth dusted with flour, put it into some covered vessel, and keep it in a fair temperature-till next day, if possible, when it will be fit to use and can be moulded into any shape-Brioche cakes, or Bath buns. Colour the paste with saffron diluted in two glasses of rum, and it makes a Baba.