Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume IV Part 38

2 c. flour 1 c. b.u.t.ter Cold water

Put the flour into a mixing bowl and chop a tablespoonful of the b.u.t.ter into it. Add cold water until a ma.s.s that may be removed to a baking board is formed. Then proceed in the manner explained for the making of puff paste.

76. USES OF PUFF PASTE.--Puff paste is seldom used in the making of single- or double-crust pies; instead, it is usually employed for daintier desserts commonly known as _French pastry_. However, there are really innumerable uses to which it may be put in addition to those for which ordinary pastry can be used. In fact, after the art of making this kind of pastry is mastered, it will prove to be invaluable for serving on special occasions.

77. With puff paste may be made tarts of any kind or shape. Particularly attractive tarts can be made by covering small tins in the manner shown in Fig. 12 and then, after the shapes have been baked, filling each one with half of a peach or half of an apricot and juice that has boiled thick and piling sweetened whipped cream over it.

Puff paste made into the same shapes as those just mentioned for tarts may have placed in it a layer of cake, on top of which may be spread a layer of jam; and, to add a dainty touch, either whipped cream or chopped nuts may be put over the jam. The cake used for such a dessert should preferably be simple b.u.t.ter cake or sponge cake, such as might be baked in a loaf.

Puff paste in the form of tubes and sh.e.l.ls may be used for serving foods daintily. Thus, a hollow tube may be made by rolling the paste very thin, cutting it into rectangular pieces, placing each piece over a round stick about 1-1/2 inches in diameter, and then baking. After the baked tube is slipped off the stick, it may be filled with sweetened and flavored whipped cream, to which may be added chopped nuts, chopped fruit, or jam. Small baked sh.e.l.ls of puff paste answer very well as timbale cases, which may be filled with creamed mushrooms, creamed sweetbreads, or other delicate creamed food. If sh.e.l.ls are not desired, small triangular or round pieces may be cut and baked and creamed food served over them as it would be served over toast.

An attractive dessert may be prepared by baking several rectangular pieces of puff paste in the oven and then arranging them in two or three layers with custard between. Simple sugar icings into which some b.u.t.ter is beaten may also be utilized to advantage in making French pastry of this kind.

Puff paste may also be used as the covering for small individual pies.

SERVING PASTRY

78. To be most palatable, pastry should be served as soon as possible after it is baked. When it is allowed to stand for any length of time, the lower crust becomes soaked with moisture from the filling used, and in this state the pie is not only unpalatable, but to a certain extent indigestible. Consequently, whenever it is possible, only enough for one meal should be baked at a time.

After a pie is taken from the oven, it should not be removed from the pan in which it is baked until it is served. In fact, pie with a tender crust cannot be handled easily and so should be cut while it is still in the pan. Often it is best to serve a pie warm. When this is to be done, it can be served immediately upon being taken from the oven, or if it has been baked for some time and is cold, it may be set in the oven and reheated before serving. Such treatment will freshen any pie that has become more or less stale and, as is well known, pie is much more palatable when it is warm and fresh than when it is cold or stale. In case pies must be kept before being served, they should be stored in a place that is both cold and dry. A refrigerator is too damp and for this reason should not be used; but any other cool place that is sufficiently dry will be satisfactory.

79. Several ways of serving pie are in practice. This dessert may be baked in attractive dishes especially designed for this purpose and then served from them at the table, or it may be baked in an ordinary pie pan and then placed on a plate larger than the pan for serving. Pie of the usual size is generally divided into five or six pieces, a sharp knife being used to cut it. If possible, a pie knife, which is narrow at the end of the blade and gradually grows broader until the handle is reached, where it is very broad, should be provided for the serving of this dessert, for it helps very much in handling the triangular pieces that are cut from a large pie. The plates on which pie is served should be at least as large as salad plates. Very often, instead of serving it from the pan at the table, it is put on plates in the kitchen and pa.s.sed at the table. Pie is always eaten with a fork, one that is smaller than a dinner fork being used.

80. With most pies containing fruit filling, a small piece of cheese, preferably highly flavored cheese, may be served. This makes a very good accompaniment so far as flavor is concerned, but is omitted in some meals because it may supply too much food value or too much protein.

However, if the fact that a high-protein food is to be served at the end of the meal is taken into account when the remainder of the meal is planned, there need be no hesitancy in serving cheese with pie. Of course, when cheese is to be included in the meal in this way, the portions of the protein foods served with the main course should be smaller.

81. A very attractive as well as appetizing way in which to serve pie is known as _pie a la mode_. This method of serving, which is often resorted to when something extra is desired, consists in placing a spoonful or two of ice cream of any flavor on each serving of apple or other fruit pie. Pie served in this way is high in food value and is a general favorite with persons who are fond of both ice cream and pie.

PASTRIES AND PIES

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

(1) (_a_) What is pastry? (_b_) What is the princ.i.p.al use of pastry?

(2) How should the use of pastry with meals be governed?

(3) What may be said of the flour used for pastry?

(4) Discuss the shortenings that may be used for pastry.

(5) Give the proportions of fat and flour that may be used for pastry.

(6) What may be said of the handling of pastry in its preparation for baking?

(7) Describe a method of mixing fat and flour for pastry.

(8) How is the liquid added to the fat and flour for pastry?

(9) Describe the rolling of pie crust.

(10) How is a pan covered with paste for pies?

(11) How may a single crust that is to be baked before it is filled be kept from blistering?

(12) Describe the making of a top crust and the covering of a pie with it.

(13) What oven temperature is best for baking pastry? Tell why.

(14) On what does the length of time for baking pastry depend?

(15) Describe briefly the making of puff paste.

(16) What may be done with bits of paste not utilized in making pies?

(17) If more than sufficient paste for use at one time is mixed, what may be done with that which remains?

(18) How should pastry be cared for after baking?

(19) Describe the serving of pastry.

(20) Why should starchy material used for thickening not be cooked with acid fruit juice for any length of time if this can be avoided?