Series: Pie Rules based on a November 14, 1928 New York Amsterdam News article.
Cold Logic
Who gets to say what makes a proper pie? In November 1928, Lillian Sharpe Hunter, editor of the New York Amsterdam News “Housewives Exchange,” found her mail full of pie questions from young housewives. She refused to treat pastry as a family secret: a reliable recipe and good ingredients put a perfect crust within anyone’s reach. She spoke frankly about cost. Butter tasted best, but lard, shortening, or oil worked fine. Some readers insisted only cold water makes good pastry. Hunter baked both ways and shared that in her experience cold water produced a flaky, light crust.
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Readers claimed hot water ruins a crust; Hunter tested it. Her fingertip warning matters because warm hands melt the fat.
Cold Water Pastry Recipe
Ingredients
1½ cups sifted pastry flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup fat
About 4 tablespoons cold water
Directions
Sift the flour together with the salt and baking powder. Work the fat into the flour, using two knives in a cutting motion, until the particles of fat are the size of small peas and the whole resembles a coarse meal. Since the pastry must stay as cold as possible, never use the fingertips to work in the shortening. Add cold water very gradually, working it in with a knife, until you have a stiff dough. If there is time, chill the pastry for one hour or longer. Turn it onto a slightly floured molding surface, flour the rolling pin, and pat the pastry out.
Lillian Sharpe Hunter, “Housewives Exchange: Holiday Plea,” New York Amsterdam News, November 14, 1928, 5.
Which family kitchen rules rest on evidence, and which on habit? Hunter’s test had a second half.