The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-09-10

] improve her pastry.
Do not attempt to make a pie in
a hot kitchen with warm ingredients
and warm hands. You will have no
end of trouble if you do. Have your
= kitchen at least comfortably cool, or
else mix and roll the dough some
place where it is COOL The short
ening should be hard when you start
; to use it, and your hands should be
cool and dry.
Handle the dough just as little as
possible. Handling tends to melt
the shortening before it reaches the
oven, and that is one thing you do
not want to happen if you hope to
have flaky crust.
Hot Oven Necessary
A hot oven is q, necessity if your
pastry is to be good. The reason
for this is that the main leavening
agent in pastry is steam. Since
there is such q small amount of
water in the pastry to produce this
steam, the pastry needs hot oven
SO the steam will form quickly be-
fore the little moisture is all dried
out.
This last is what occurs when the
oven is not hot enough and the pie
crust is dry and tough.
After the baking is well started
the heat of the oven should be re-
! duced In the case of fruit pies,
Whcih require some time to cook the
filling, the fire in the oven may be
turned quite low after the first five
minutes. You want to be very sure,
however, that your lower crust is
baking thoroughly.
In making single crust pie, Or
pie shell, roll the dough larger than
the tin and pull rather than stretch
over the outside of the tin, as the
crust tends to shrink in baking
Flatten the crust to the tin, to press
out the air If it is to be filled after
baking, prick with fork to pre-
vent blistering.
Open-Face Pies Nourishing
If you are making a single crust
pie inside the tin, build out the outer
edge to make greater depth, and
flute the edge so the heat may stiff
fen it more quickly.
One-face pies of the cream and
custard variety have the added adj
vantage of being especially high in
food value. They are really the
best kind to have in families where
the children are old enough to in
dulge in such dessert, because they
have but a small amount of pastry
to a large amount of wholesome
| filling.
These filings usually are made
from milk and eggs--tWo foods we
always want children to have.
There are other methods of max
ing pie crust which some people
find very successful These meth
DDS make a more crumbly pie crust,
which is not so haky, but they have
the advantage Of being easier to
make than the flaky crust.
Hot Water Pie Crust
cups sifted pastry -four.
| II teaspoon baking powder.
). teaspoon salt.
One-third boiling water.
Two-thirds cup shortening.
Mix and sift -four, baking powder
and salt. Rub in the shortening, and
when mixture is we'll blended, stir
in the boiling water. Mix with a
spoon at first, then with the hands.
Turn out on a Toured board and
roll to desired thickness. Bake in
hot oven.
Pie Crust with Oil
III cups -four.
Il cup oil.
l tablespoon cold water.
u teaspoon baking powder.
II teaspoon salt.
Heat oil with water. Stir into
the sifted dry ingredients, and then
proceed as with other pastry.
A beautiful brown glaze can be
created for the top of your pie by
brushing the top crust with either
milk or egg white just before Slip
ping it into the oven.
If you make too much paste for
one pie, you can mold it into ball,
wrap a clean, slightly damp cloth
around it, and place it in a covered
bowl in the refrigerator. 1t will
keep there for several days.
Or, you can bake pie shell, ready
for use a day or two later, to hold
butterscotch or other cream pie.
1t is a good plan to place pie shells
baked in advance in a hot oven a
few minutes to freshen and crisp
before pouring in the filling,
Uses for Leftovers
Other uses for small amounts of
leftover pastry are suggested here:
Tarts-Invert patty shells or muf-
fin pans, and cover with pastry.
Bake IN quick oven, and use for
individual filled pies.
Fruit Pastries-Roll out leftover
pastry to Il inch thickness. Cut
in circles. Place tablespoon Of
fruit filling or jam or preserves in
the center of one piece, moisten the
edge and cover with another circle.
Press edges firmly together with the
tines of a fork, Bake in quick
oven fifteen minutes.
Cheese Straws-Roll out pastry to
fourth Inch thick. Sprinkle
one-half surface with grated cheese.
Fold over. Press edges together and
roll out again to one-fourth inch
thick Repeat two or three times