Puff Paste

Weigh half a pound and two ounces of flour and sift it through a hair-sieve into a large deep dish.

Take out about one fourth of the flour and lay it aside on one corner of the pasteboard to roll and sprinkle with.

Wash half a pound of the best fresh butter in cold water.

Squeeze the butter hard with the hands and make it up into a round lump.

Divide the butter into four equal parts and lay them on one side of the paste-board.

Have ready a glass of cold water.

Cut one of the four pieces of butter into the pan of flour as small as possible.

Wet the flour gradually with a very little water, as too much water will make it tough.

Mix it well with the point of a large case-knife, without touching it with the hands.

When the dough gets into a lump, sprinkle the middle of the board with some of the reserved flour and turn the dough out onto it with the knife.

Rub the rolling-pin with flour and sprinkle a little on the lump of paste.

Roll the paste out thin, quickly and evenly, pressing lightly on the rolling-pin.

Stick the second piece of butter in little bits at equal distances all over the sheet of paste with the point of the knife.

Sprinkle on some flour and fold up the dough.

Flour the paste-board and rolling-pin again, throw a little flour on the paste and roll it out a second time.

Stick the third piece of butter all over it in little bits.

Throw on some flour, fold up the paste, sprinkle a little more flour on the dough and the rolling-pin, and roll it out a third time, pressing lightly.

Stick the fourth and last piece of butter over it.

Throw on a little more flour, fold up the paste and roll it out in a large round sheet.

Cut off the sides to make the sheet a square form, and lay the slips of dough upon the square sheet.

Fold it up with the small pieces of trimmings on the inside.

Score or notch it a little with the knife, lay it on a plate and set it in a cool place, but not where it can freeze.

Prepare and mix the pudding or pie filling while the paste rests.

Bring out the paste, flour the board and rolling-pin, and roll it out with a short quick stroke, pressing a little harder than while putting the butter in.

Cut the sheet in half, fold up each piece and roll them out once more, separately, in round sheets the size of the plate.

Roll the sheets thinnest in the middle and thickest at the edges.

If intended for puddings, lay the sheets in buttered soup-plates and trim them evenly round the edges.

If the edges are not thick enough, cut the trimmings into slips the breadth of the rim, lay them around the edge and join them neatly.

Notch the rim handsomely with a very sharp knife.

Fill the dish with the pudding mixture and bake it in a moderate oven until the paste is a light brown colour.