great mistake to imagine lard is better adapted for pastry than butter or clarified fat; it may make the paste lighter, but neither the color nor the flavor will be nearly so good, and the saving is extremely trifling.
To ensure lightness, paste should be set in the oven directly it is made.
Puff paste requires a brisk oven.
Butter should be added to the paste in small pieces.
The more times the paste is folded and rolled, if done with a light hand and the butter added with skill, the richer and lighter it will prove. It is no longer customary to line the dish for pies and fruit tarts.
PLAIN PUFF PASTE.
Mix a pound of flour into a stiff paste with a little water, first having rubbed into it about two ounces of butter, then roll it out; add by degrees the remainder of the butter (there should be altogether half a pound of butter), fold the paste and roll about two or three times.
