No. 303 — Puff Pastry for Small Pies Served with Soup
English editorial translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 303 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, with historical measures, method and source.
To make the dough, combine ½ glass of water, described as eight silver tablespoons, with two glasses of flour. Reserve ¼ glass of the flour for dusting the work surface, and roll the dough about half a finger thick.
Wash ½ Russian pound of fresh butter in very cold water, work it with a spoon until perfectly smooth and free of lumps, then squeeze it several times in a napkin until no water remains.
Flatten the butter into a round disk half the size of the rolled-out dough. Put it in the center, fold the edges of the dough over it and seal. Roll into an elongated sheet on a separate small, clean, smooth board. Cover with a napkin and chill for fifteen minutes.
Fold the dough in three, roll out again, cover and chill for another fifteen minutes. Repeat the process six times in all, so that the author counts eighteen folds, taking approximately two hours. Keep both rolling and resting in a cold place, so that the butter neither melts nor freezes.
When the oven is ready, roll out the dough and shape the small pies. Transfer to an iron baking sheet lightly moistened with cold water, without greasing it.
Brush the tops only, not the sides, with beaten egg yolk mixed with cold water and butter. Move directly from the cold place into a hot oven, so that the surface sets before the butter has time to melt.
When browned and easy to move from the baking sheet, remove, arrange attractively on a dish covered with a neatly folded napkin and serve hot.
The author describes four forms for these small puff-pastry pies: cornucopias, little folded books, rounds and strips.