I had no idea that the Pepperidge Farm Co. – the one we all associate with packaged bread, cookies, crackers and pastry – actually had a real person and story behind it. When I obtained a circa 1960s copy of The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook and read Mrs. Rudkin’s story, I couldn’t put it down.
MAIN ARTICLE:
Kitchen Gems: Vintage Cookbooks
Beginning in the 1930s, she became intensely interested in proper nutrition and began baking 100-percent whole-wheat bread, which at the time, no one thought could be made palatable. When she mentioned it to her doctor and provided a sample, he immediately ordered some for his patients, even though she wasn’t selling it. Her bread became immensely popular in her Connecticut town, and eventually throughout the country.
Try one of Margaret Rudkin’s classics with the Pie Pastry Dough Recipe below.
Pie Pastry Dough
From The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook (1963)
(for a 2-crust pie)
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces lard
6 tablespoons ice water
First sift the flour onto a piece of paper.
Then measure 2 1/2 cups sifted flour into a bowl. Add the salt to the flour and stir well.
Cut the lard into small pieces, and as you cut, let them drop into the bowl.
Mix the lard into the flour with 2 knives or a pastry mixer until evenly distributed in very small bits.
This will seem very dry, but after all the water has been stirred in, press the dough together with your hands into a ball.
Wrap in waxed paper and chill while preparing your filling.
Roll out the pastry on a sheet of waxed paper lightly dusted with flour.
There are several gadgets available to help shape the pastry. I use a round wire circle, and I place half my dough in the center of it and roll out quickly in each direction to fill out the circle.
The bottom crust should be slightly larger than the top crust and should fit in the pan loosely. Trim off the edges, leaving about 1/2 inch to come up over the edge of the top crust.
Brush the inside of the bottom crust with egg white.
Fill carefully.
Roll out the top crust and fit it over the filling.
Fold up the edge of the lower crust and seal all around by pressing with your fingers.
Prick the top crust in several places.
Brush with beaten egg yolk or milk and bake in a very hot oven (450°F) for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° to finish baking, the time depending upon the filling.
Modern Translation:
There is none!
