Pie Crust and Paste.
I will say a few words about making pie crust or pie paste. To make an ordinary cheap, good crust, you must weigh your flour and lard, and dissolve the salt in the water, and be sure to know how much water it takes to mix the dough so you may pour in the full amount at once, thereby saving the over-working of the dough. Ordinary winter flour takes 1 qt. water, 4 lbs. flour, 2 lbs. lard, 1 oz. salt. Many bakers have trouble with watery custard pie. This is caused from baking too long. A custard pie is baked as soon as it is firm, no matter what color it may be, and must be taken from the oven. Often times it is the fault of the milk (fresh cow milk, I mean); therefore, I made good use of the dry milk. This dry milk helps to thicken the custard, makes the pie sweeter and firmer. If you mix 4 lbs. sugar, 1 lb. lard, or butter, in a bowl, add 2 qts. of egg yolks, then 2 lbs. spring flour, 1 lb. dry milk, you will have a regular dough. Now, gradually add 10 qts. of water, and next fill your pie bottom in the oven with a dipper; this will make a firm and sweet custard and bakes much faster than the corn starch custard. I don’t like corn-starch for pie work. My experience is that starch settles oftentimes and is too heavy. Flour dissolves in the liquid moisture. This, however, is a fancy or experiment and not a real fact in every case.
Part IV
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Miscellaneous