The New All Foods Natural

Prepare the pastry

1. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl.
2. Work in the butter with two knives until it becomes small pieces covered in flour.
3. Rub flour and butter by hand until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs or small peas.
4. Sprinkle 2 tsp water over the dry ingredients and stir with a metal knife or a fork. Repeat this procedure –adding only 2 tsp at a time- until the dough can be formed into a ball.
5. Wrap the dough in cling film or waxed paper and chill for 30 minutes.

Blind bake

Sometimes it is required to bake the pie shell with no filling. There are to ways to achieve this feat.

First, roll out pastry to 1/8 inch thick. Fit it into a 8-inch or 9-inch pie dish, preferably with a removable bottom.

• Prick the pastry several times with a fork. Bake at 450ºF for 15 minutes for part baking or 20 minutes for a fully cooked pie shell.
• Fit another metal pie dish or cover with aluminum foil and weigh it down with dried beans. Bake at 450ºF for 10 minutes the remove top and bake for 3-5 minutes more for part baking or 5-10 minutes for a fully cooked shell.

A part baked shell needs to be done, not bowned.

Variations

Strict vegetarian dough – Substitute butter with ½ vegetable shortening or margarine.

Cheese pastry – Add ¾ to 1 cup grated cheese and work it into the flour together with the butter. Use this dough to make cheese sticks or try it for apple pie.

Cream cheese pastry – Substitute butter with 1/3 cup butter and 1/3 cup cream cheese, work them in together.

Egg pastry – Substitute 8-12 tsp ice cold water with 1 Tbs water + 1 Tbs lemon juice + 1 egg yolk, beat thoroughly before adding.

Lemon flavored pastry – Add 1 tsp grated lemon peel with the butter and sprinkle 1 tsp water + 1 tsp lemon juice each time.

Orange flavored pastry – Add 1 tsp grated orange peel and substitute water with cold orange juice.

Nut flavored pastry – Substitute ½ cup flour with ½ ground nuts of your choice.

Buttermilk pastry – Add ½ tsp soda to flour and salt and sift. Substitute buttermilk for cold water.

Hot water – Add ½ tsp baking powder to the flour and replace ice cold water with boiling water.

Rich pastry – Add ½ tsp baking powder to the flour and salt before sifting. Replace butter with ¼ cup butter + ¼ cup lard.

Savory pies – Add 1 tsp baking powder to the flour. Substitute butter with ¼ cup lard + ¼ cup beef suet.

Rolling out pastry

Ideally, work on a marble or stone surface, they keep cooler.

Sprinkle rolling pin and work surface with a little flour –the minimum, incorporating too much flour to the dough would spoil the balance.

Roll always in the same direction. This technique produces more even pastry. If you need to reach a difficult spot, turn the pastry around or move around the pastry.