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Crust, Very good Short (for Fruit Tarts)
INGREDIENTS.-To every lb. of flour allow 1/2 or 3/4 lb. of butter, 1 tablespoonful of sifted sugar, pint of water. AVERAGE COST, 8d. per lb.
Rub the butter into the flour, after having ascertained that the latter is per- CRUST, ANOTHER GOOD. fectly dry; add the sugar, and mix the whole into a stiff paste with about 1/8 pint of water. Roll it out two or three times, folding the paste over each time, and it will be ready for use.
A plain sweetened short crust in the English style, rich enough for open fruit tarts and covered pies. The whole method rests on keeping the butter cold and the flour dry.
- Proportions in modern terms1 lb flour is about 3 1/2 cups; 1/2 to 3/4 lb butter is 2 to 3 sticks. The higher figure gives a very rich, crumbly crust that is harder to handle; the lower is more forgiving.
- The water is ambiguousThe ingredient list as printed reads simply "pint of water" while the method calls for about 1/8 pint, so the intended quantity is unclear. Add ice water a little at a time until the dough just coheres.
- Rub, do not cream"Rub the butter into the flour" means working cold butter into flakes and crumbs with the fingertips or a pastry blender, not softening it. Visible pieces of butter are what make the crust short and flaky.
- Dry flourThe instruction to be certain the flour is "perfectly dry" mattered when flour was stored in sacks in damp larders. Modern bagged flour needs no drying, but it does need to be measured by weight if you want the water quantity to behave.
- The foldingRolling and folding two or three times laminates the dough, halfway toward rough puff. Chill the dough for 30 minutes between the last fold and rolling it out, or the butter will smear and the crust will toughen.
- SugarOne tablespoon per pound of flour is a light sweetening only; it helps browning more than taste. "Sifted sugar" here means fine caster or granulated sugar passed through a sieve, not icing sugar.
- OvenThe recipe itself gives no baking direction. As modern guidance for fruit tarts, bake at 400-425F until the pastry is set and coloured, then drop to 350F if the fruit needs longer. A cooler oven lets the butter run out before the flour structure sets.
- YieldA pound of flour makes roughly one 9-inch double-crust tart, or two to three single crusts. The dough keeps a few days refrigerated and freezes well.
- The cost note"8d. per lb." is the book's average-cost estimate for the paste. It is a historical detail, not an instruction.
Isabella Beeton's household books distinguish between puff paste, short crust, suet crust and dripping crust, each with its own average cost, and a Victorian cook was expected to match the richness of the pastry to the standing of the meal and the state of the housekeeping purse. A short crust with three-quarters of a pound of butter to the pound of flour was frankly expensive; the same book offers cheaper versions, including crusts bound with dripping. The rolling-and-folding step here sits between plain short crust and true puff paste, getting some flakiness without the long chilled turns that puff paste demands. Sweetened crusts of this kind were used for the open fruit tarts -- gooseberry, damson, rhubarb, apple -- that filled English dessert courses through the summer and autumn.