Fine Desserts
The Best Puff-Paste
To a pound of the best fresh butter allow a pound of the finest flour, sifted into a deep pan. Have on a plate some additional sifted flour for sprinkling and rolling in. Divide the pound of butter into four equal parts, and three of those parts divide again into two portions. Mix the first quarter of butter into the mass of flour, cutting it with a broad-bladed knife. If your hands are naturally warm, avoid touching the dough with them, as their heat will render it heavy. Paste, to be very good, should be made on a marble slab. All well-furnished kitchens or pastry rooms should be provided with marble-topped tables, and marble mortars. Add gradually to the lump of dough a very little cold water, barely sufficient to moisten it with the first quarter of butter, and mix it well with the aid of the broad knife; but proceed as fast as you can, and do not work with it too long. Too much water will render it tough, and too much working will make it heavy. Then sprinkle the marble slab with some of the spare flour, take the lump of paste from the pan, and roll it out into a sheet. Divide one of the portions of butter into little bits, and with the knife disperse them equally all over the sheet of paste. Then sprinkle it again with flour, fold it up so as to cover the butter, and roll it out again. Proceed in this manner till you have got in all the butter, rolling always lightly, and you will soon see the surface of the dough puffing up in little blisters, a sign that it is becoming light. Besides the first mixing in the lump, the butter will then be put in with what are called six turns. When baked, you will see that every turn makes a layer or sheet. If you choose to multiply them, you may make nine sheets. We have seen twelve. All this must be done fast and lightly. Then put away the paste to cool for ten minutes before arranging it in the dishes. This quantity will make two pies or four tarts. In baking, let the oven be hot, and keep up a steady heat, so the paste may not fall after it has first risen. When pale brown, it is done.