When baking a crust for a tart to be filled after crust has been baked, always prick the crust with a fork before putting in oven to bake.  This prevents the crust forming little blisters.

Aunt Sarah always used for her pies four even cups of flour, 1/4 teaspoonful baking powder and one even cup of sweet, rich, home-made lard, a pinch of salt with just enough cold water to form a dough, and said her pies were rich enough for any one.  They certainly were rich and flaky, without being greasy, and she said, less shortening was necessary when baking powder was used.  To cause her pies to have a golden brown color she brushed tops of pies with a mixture of egg and milk or milk and placed immediately in a hot oven.

Mary noticed her Aunt frequently put small dabs of lard or butter on the dough used for top crust of pies before rolling crust the desired size when she wished them particularly rich.

Aunt Sarah always used pastry flour for cake and pie.  A smooth flour which showed the impression of the fingers when held tightly in the hand (the more expensive “bread flour”) feels like fine sand or granulated sugar, and is a stronger flour and considered better for bread or raised cakes in which yeast is used, better results being obtained by its use alone or combined with a cheaper flour when baking bread.

AUNT SARAH’S LEMON PIE

This is a good, old-fashioned recipe for lemon pie, baked with two crusts, and not expensive.  Grate the yellow outside rind from one lemon, use juice and pulp, but not the white part of rind; mix with 2 small cups of sugar, then add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of milk, and 1 large tablespoonful of corn starch, moistened with a little of the one cup of water.  The yolks of 2 eggs were added.  Mix all ingredients and add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs.  This quantity will fill three small pastry crusts.  The mixture will measure nearly one quart.  Pour into the three crusts, moisten edges of pies, place top crusts on each pie.  Pinch edges of crust together and bake in hot oven.

THE PROFESSOR’S WIFE’S SUPERIOR PASTRY

For superior pastry use 1-1/2 cups flour, 1 cup lard, 1/2 teaspoonful salt and about 1/4 cup of cold water, or three scant tablespoonfuls.  Put 1 cup of flour on the bake board, sprinkle salt over, chop 1/4 cup of sweet lard through the flour with a knife, until the pieces are about the size of a cherry.  Moisten with about 1/4 cup of ice cold water.  Cut through the flour and lard with a knife, moistening a little of the mixture at a time, until you have a soft dough, easily handled.  Roll out lightly the size of a tea plate.  Take 1/3 of the lard remaining, put small dabs at different places on the dough (do not spread the lard over), then sprinkle over 1/3 of the remaining half cup of flour and roll the dough into a long, narrow roll, folding the opposite ends