Sweet Icing for Pie Crust Top – from 1887
Posted by Warren
Pie recipe tips and help. Text version is below image.
White House Cook Book, by Fanny Lemira Gillette, 1887
The icing glaze for your pie crust will add another variation to your list of pie crust recipes.
Be imaginable, add food or natural colorings to the icing. How about raspberry, strawberry or lemon?
You know those prepackage pies, like Hostess, come glazed with icing. If you like those you will love homemade ones.
The icing also helps preserve the taste and texture on the pie crust.
Icing, a Glaze, for the top Pie Crust – from 1887
White House Cook Book, by Fanny Lemira Gillette, 1887
FOR ICING PASTRY.
To ice pastry, which is the usual method adopted for fruit tarts and sweet dishes of pastry,
Icing Ingredients
put the white of an egg on a plate, and with the blade of a knife beat it to a stiff froth.
Brush on Egg White and Dust with Sugar
When the pastry is nearly baked, brush it over with this, and sift over some pounded sugar; put it back into the oven to set the glaze, and in a few minutes it will be done.
Do Not let it Burn
Great care should be taken that the paste does not catch or burn in the oven, which it is very liable to do after the icing is laid on.
Or use a Sweet Meringue
Or make a meringue by adding a tablespoonful of white sugar to the beaten white of an egg. Spread over the top, and slightly brown in the oven.
A Cookbook with vintage pie recipes
This is one of America’s most enduring cookbooks. It was in print, under varying names and guises, for fifty some years and has been reprinted, in full or in part, throughout the 20th century. Early editions were printed on poor quality paper and so have not survived in easily usable form which makes them rare to find.
This the White House Cookbook the first edition.
It had a frontispiece photograph of the wife’s of the President of the United States. This practice continued for much of the publishing of the book.
The interesting fact is that this cookbook was and still is a very popular American cookbook and has been for more than a century.
This cookbook is quite comprehensive with many household hints and tips in addition to hundreds of recipes, some being for pies.
Pie Crust Recipe made with Lard and Butter
—Ingredients and instructions are not the actual vintage recipe but is provided for reference purposes.
Pastry dough – double crust
2 1/2 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour (Red bag)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 ice cold water (do not use all at once)
1 teaspoon cold canola oil
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) cold leaf lard
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter (any brand wrapped in foil)
Directions making the dough
1. Add all your dry ingredients to a chilled glass bowl and tossed the mixture with a fork.
2. Cube your fats into small pieces and add to the bowl.
3. Using just your finger tips rub the cold fat into the flour. Stop when the mixture resembles cracker crumbs and tiny peas.
4. Whip the ice cold water and oil until it looks cloudy and the mixture looks a little foamy. Quickly add two thirds of this to the dry ingredients and toss with a fork. If it is not coming together add the remaining liquid.
Do Not over work the dough.
It will make it tough.
5. The dough should look somewhat dry but come together when squeezed in your hands.
6. Now divide this mixture in half to make two balls by squeezing it all together. Compress and flatten the balls to form two large disks.
7. Wrap disks tightly with plastic wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes. You can freeze them for two months by adding a foil wrap to the covered disks.
8. Your dough is now ready for your favorite pie recipe.
Pie Crust Success
Icing your pie crust makes for a very sweet pie.
Its like turning a pie into candy or a glazed doughnut.
Try using coco powder with the sugar for another yummy variation.
