Then cut the sheet in half, fold up each piece and roll them out
once more, separately, in round sheets the size of your plate.
Press on rather harder, but not too hard. Roll the sheets thinnest
in the middle and thickest at the edges. If intended for puddings,
lay them in buttered soup-plates, and trim them evenly round the
edges. If the edges do not appear thick enough, you may take the
trimmings, put them all together, roll them out, and having cut
them in slips the breadth of the rim of the plate, lay them all
round to make the paste thicker at the edges, joining them nicely
and evenly, as every patch or crack will appear distinctly when
baked. Notch the rim handsomely with a very sharp knife. Fill the
dish with the mixture of the pudding, and bake it in a moderate
oven. The paste should be of a light brown colour. If the oven is
too slow, it will be soft and clammy; if too quick, it will not
have time to rise as high as it ought to do.

In making the best puff-paste, try to avoid using more flour to
sprinkle and roll with, than the small portion which you have laid
aside for that purpose at the beginning. If you make the dough too
soft at first, by using too much water, it will be sticky, and
require more flour, and will eventually be tough when baked. Do
not put your hands to it, as their warmth will injure it. Use the
knife instead. Always roll from you rather than to you, and press
lightly on the rolling-pin, except at the last.

It is difficult to make puff-paste in the summer, unless in a
cellar, or very cool room, and on a marble table. The butter
should, if possible, be washed the night before, and kept covered
with ice till you use it next day. The water should have ice in