sils used for pastry
making should be clean and kept exclusively for that purpose.
Prepare the crust as quickly as possible and do not touch it with
your hands any more than necessary. When the crust is ready take a
pie plate (agate pie plates are the best) and dust it with flour; do
not grease it with butter or lard. Cut off a portion of the crust,
roll it out thin, lay it over the plate, press it down lightly with
the hand, set the plate in front of you, press with the palms of
both hands against the edge of plate and cut the paste which hangs
over the edge off with your fingers. The plate is then ready to
receive the ingredients of which the pie is to be made. If pumpkin,
cocoanut or custard pie is to be made, brush the surface of crust
over with beaten egg and sprinkle over 2 tablespoonfuls finely
sifted bread or cracker crumbs; then fill in the mixture. This keeps
the crust dry and prevents it from being heavy. Pies that are made
of stewed or preserved fruit should also be treated the same way.
For fine meringue pies the crust should be baked before the mixture
is put in. This is done in the following manner:--Line the pie plate
with crust and brush the edge over with beaten egg; then roll some
pie crust very thin, cut it into strips 1 inch wide and cut one side
of the strips into scallops with a knife; wet the edge of crust on
the pie plate with beaten egg or water; then lay the strip around
the edge of plate so the scallops stand a little above the edge;
next lay some thin, buttered brown paper into the plate all over the
crust, fill the plate with dry peas and bake it in a medium hot oven
till crust is done; then take it from the oven, remove paper and
peas, fill in the mixture and bake again till pie is done; draw the
pie to front of oven, spread over the meringue and let it remain in
oven for a few minutes; then transfer it to a cool place and serve
cold. 1 or 2 quarts of dry peas should be kept for this purpose
only. They may be put away in a box or glass jar and can then be
used several times. If the peas should at any time become rancid
from the butter or lard of which the pie crust is made, pour boiling
water over them and drain and rub thoroughly with a dry towel; then
spread them apart on shallow tins and when dry put away until wanted
again. Instead of peas the pie plate may be filled with pieces of
stale bread, which can then be used for bread crumbs; but peas are
best for this purpose.

659. +Pie Cr