Paste for Raised Pies
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Put the flour and salt into a warm bowl and let it sit near the fire until dry and warm.
Make and rest the dough
Boil the lard and water for 5 minutes, then pour into the center of the flour and mix with a spoon until cool enough to knead.
Knead the mixture well, keeping it warm, and let it rest near the fire for about 1 hour.
Re-knead the paste and use it immediately.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with liquid and kneaded.
- Lard
- Adds fat that makes the dough tender and short, and keeps it from toughening.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough can be kneaded and shaped.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling lard and water into the flour. Boiling the fat and water before mixing lets the hot liquid melt and distribute the lard through the flour, which gives a tender, workable paste. Adding it cold or cooling it too early makes the dough harder to knead.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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