Into one quart of sifted flour mix two teaspoonfuls of baking powder and a teaspoonful of salt; then sift again.  Measure out one teacupful of butter and one of lard, hard and cold.  Take the lard and rub into the flour until a very fine smooth paste.  Then put in just enough ice-water, say half a cupful, containing a beaten white of egg, to mix a very stiff dough.  Boll it out into a thin sheet, spread with one-fourth of the butter, sprinkle over with a little flour, then roll up closely in a long roll, like a scroll, double the ends towards the centre, flatten and re-roll, then spread again with another quarter of the butter.  Repeat this operation until the butter is used up.  Put it on an earthen dish, cover it with a cloth and set it in a cold place, in the ice box in summer; let it remain until cold; an hour or more before making out the crust.  Tarts made with this paste cannot be cut with a knife when fresh; they go into flakes at the touch.

You may roll this pastry in any direction, from you, toward you, sideways, any way, it matters not, but you must have nice flour, ice-water and very little of it, and strength to roll it, if you would succeed.

This recipe I purchased from a colored cook on one of the Lake Michigan steamers many years ago, and it is, without exception, the finest puff paste I have ever seen.

PUFF PASTE FOR PIES.

One quart of pastry flour, one pint of butter, one tablespoonful of salt, one of sugar, one and a quarter cupfuls of ice-water.  Wash the hands with soap and water and dip them first in very hot and then in cold water.  Rinse a large bowl or pan with boiling water and then with cold.  Half fill it with cold water.  Wash the butter in this, working it with the hands until it is light and waxy.  This frees it from the salt and buttermilk and lightens it, so that the pastry is more delicate.  Shape the butter into two thin cakes and put in a pan of ice-water to harden.  Mix the salt and sugar with the flour.  With the hands, rub one-third of the butter into the flour.  Add the water, stirring with a knife.  Stir quickly and vigorously until the paste is a smooth ball.  Sprinkle the board lightly with flour.  Turn the paste on this and pound quickly and lightly with the rolling-pin.  Do not break the paste.  Roll from you and to one side; or if easier to roll from you all the time, turn the paste around.  When it is about one-fourth of an inch thick, wipe the remaining butter, break it in bits and spread these on the paste.  Sprinkle lightly with flour.  Fold the paste, one-third from each side, so that the edges meet.  Now fold from the ends, but do not have these meet.  Double the paste, pound lightly and roll down to about one-third of an inch in thickness.  Fold as before and roll down again.  Repeat this three times if for pies and six times if for vol-au-vents, patties, tarts, etc.