Pie & Pastry Culinary Arts II

Pie – any dish consisting of a crust with a filling Fruit Pies Cream Pies Similar to a pudding Custard Pies Uncooked custard is baked with the crust Savory Pies Cooked meat or vegetables in a thickened sauce

Pastry Dough Ingredients Flour, water, fat and salt Flour and water form the structure Fat provides tenderizing qualities Vegetable shortening and lard are pure fats, they make the flakiest crust The water present in butter, margarine and cream cheese create a more crumbly texture

Preparing the Pastry Dough Similar to preparing biscuits Cut the fat into the flour with a pastry blender Add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly Dough should be mixed and handled as little as possible Once the dough is rested to relax the gluten, this minimizes shrinkage during baking

Rolling the Pastry Dough Sprinkle the work surface and rolling pin with flour Flatten the dough slightly and roll from the center out About 1/8 inch thick and 2 inches larger than the pie pan A pie crust should have a fluted edge, which creates an attractive edge or finish Lattice crust makes an eye-catching woven top on a two- crust pie

One Crust Pie A bottom crust is baked before the filling is added Pie shell Docking – poking small holes in the dough before it is baked A Crumb Crust is made of crushed crackers or cookies and is a simpler alternative to pastry dough

Pie Crust Why does too much water make pie pastry tough? Flour contains two insoluble proteins called gliadin and glutenin. When water is added to flour, the water binds to the proteins, which begin to chemically react with each other to form a new protein called gluten—a very elastic and strong protein, sort of like a rubber balloon. But too much water forms an excess of gluten, producing a tough, rubbery pie pastry. The problem is that dry pie dough is impossible to roll out. We needed a soft, pliable dough for rolling—that is, one with plenty of liquid—but a dry dough when it came to baking. The solution turned out to be, surprisingly, vodka. By using a quarter cup of ice water mixed with the same amount of chilled vodka, we could add a high amount of liquid and create a dough that was moist enough to roll out easily, but still tender after baking. While gluten forms readily in water, it doesn't form in alcohol, and vodka is 40 percent alcohol. The alcohol vaporizes in the oven, so that no trace of vodka is detectable in the finished crust. A final secret to ensure a tender crust (and less shrinking during baking): Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least a few hours before rolling it out to allow the strands of gluten to relax.