Marcy Goldman edits the site www.betterbaking.com

Cookbook Giveaway

Articles on Baking
 

Pie Pastry Primer

I've seen friends produce outstanding loaves of hearth breads and churn out scads of decadent chocolate truffles only to take refuge in packaged pie mixes or frozen pie shells. Fear of making pie dough making is a common kitchen phobia, probably tying for first place with folding in beaten egg whites and working with sour dough starters. Conquering this fear is one of the final frontiers for even the most experienced, accomplished cooks.

However, the rewards of conquering the fear of pie dough making speaks for itself, for absolutely nothing tastes quite like homemade pie.

If you are reluctant to attempt a scratch pie, you might benefit from this pastry primer. Almost all pie dough recipes have an annoying habit of using the same catch phrase, such as "mix until grainy/sandy/ or resembles a mealy mixture.” This does not mean a whole lot to an unseasoned baker. When you understand exactly what you're after and why you are doing it and how to get there, these same phrases may begin to make sense.

Broken Dough
Excellent pie dough depends on several variables, both controllable and uncontrollable, mostly the former, fortunately. These include a sound recipe, a simple technique, some tools and ingredients, and a little cooperation from the weather and temperamental ovens. Success comes when these variables come together in a sort of culinary harmony. The result a three letter word meaning heaven on a fork. To get to this lofty place, you need a rudimentary understanding of how pastry works.

Recipes for pie dough, technically described as short crust pastry are based on the French formula for Pate Brisee, meaning literally "broken dough". What this is implies is that pie dough should break and flake apart easily. This flakiness is the hallmark of well-made dough and results when there is a perfect balance of flour (both the amount and type used) to fat and liquid ingredients. Salt is used for flavor (without it the pastry would taste notably bland) and sugar is added for both flavor and to assist the crust in browning. In some recipes additional ingredients such as egg yolks or whole eggs are incorporated giving the crust an added richness and an extra seal against wet fillings such as cream pies and quiche.

My advice to scratch pie makers is to find one or two "master" recipes that suit your particular taste and stay with these recipes. Do not constantly search for yet another recipe that promises perfection. Rather, strive to perfect your own technique for the pie crust pastry you prefer.

Basic Ingredients: Flour, Fat, Liquid
Think of the list of ingredients in pie dough as a culinary cast of characters. In this cast however, there are no supporting roles, each ingredient is something of a star. In order of proportion the cast includes: flour, fat, water, salt, and sugar.

FLOUR
To understand the trickiness of working with flour in pie pastry, you have to understand gluten. Bread bakers sing gluten’s praises because it is responsible for the wonderful cheesiness in bread. Pastry chefs, however, have a love-hate relationship with it. They need a little of it to give a flaky pastry dough enough body to hold itself together, but not so much that the pastry becomes tough.

Gluten lies like a dormant elf within dry flour. This elf is activated in two ways: by contact with a liquid (in this case water) and by overworking the dough. To avoid accidentally "provoking" the gluten elf while making dough, there are several methods that will reduce the problem of tough or unflaky pastry (which results when there is too much gluten development).

• Use an all-purpose flour
   
• Avoid overworking (i.e. over rolling the dough)
   
• Make sure the liquid you use is very cold (gluten is inhibited by cold temperature)
  >Chill the dough before working with it, and
   
• Use a small proportion of an acid ingredient such as vinegar or lemon juice as acid inhibits gluten development as well.
  
  
  FAT
  In pie dough, there are several options as far as the fat is concerned and pastry chefs will argue far into the night about which is best. "Fat" refers to either lard, shortening such as Crisco-type vegetable shortenings, unsalted, non-whipped margarine, and unsalted butter. I think all pastry chefs will agree that the worse thing you could do for any pie (or any baking for that matter) is to use whipped, salted margarine. Save this product for toast, never baking. "Whipped" means it has a lot of air in it. It is also usually very salty. You can expect dubious results if you choose to bake with a spreadable margarine.
  
  Unsalted margarine, sometimes hard to find, is more appropriate. Lard is the uncontested best choice as far as it results in the flakiest doughs. However, many cooks shy away from this animal fat for dietary reasons, as well as nutritional concerns. And it can leave a not-so subtle aftertaste in a delicate tart. Vegetable shortenings such as Crisco work exceedingly well in the texture department and butter results in slightly less tender dough but offers the incomparable flavor of a butter-based pastry. Even the scent of a butter-based pate brisee baking is wonderfully beguiling. My personal answer to the fat issue is to use part shortening (for texture) and part butter (for taste). You should be able to enjoy the pastry on its own and so good pastry should have a light, buttery taste. However, pie pastry is still, essentially, a backdrop to the more dominating impact of the pie filling.
  
  LIQUID
  The liquid component in pie dough is usually ice water. Depending on the pie's theme or flavor, substitutions or additions of orange juice, apple cider and ginger ale are all acceptable as long as they don't exceed the original amount of liquid called for. A tablespoon or two of vinegar or lemon juice can be included to prevent gluten development as mentioned above. The colder the water used the flakier the pastry however, as it serves the dual purpose of inhibiting gluten development and preventing the fat content in the dough from becoming too warm or melting down while you are handling the pastry.

MEASURING INGREDIENTS
Understanding the principles of pate brisee is helpful before attempting pastry-making. After that, practice takes over. Making pastry once a year, like jogging once a month, will not result in any remarkable improvement and you likely will be discouraged if you can only recall one "less-than-flaky" attempt.

First things first: Unless your environment is climate controlled, try to avoid pie making on a hot, humid day. If you work on such a day, then plan to refrigerate your dough at various intervals to retard the development of gluten. All ingredients should be as cold as possible. If you can remember ahead of time, refrigerate both the flour and measured water a few hours. Next, and most crucial, properly measure ingredients. This in itself is a debatable point. Ideally, ingredients should be weighed, as they are in a professional kitchen, because only weighing can account for accurate ingredient proportions. However, since most home cooks do not own a scale or have access to a reliable one, the best rule of thumb is to mix the flour with a fork or whisk slightly before using it. This is not the same as sifting (which would greatly alter the way flour is scooped and measured into a cup) but aerates the flour somewhat. Sifted flour will measures under (there is too little); flour that is scooped from the bag may measure over (there being too much).

Pastry is somewhat forgiving of measurement error, so if you see a mixture requires more or less ice water called for, you can adjust. And no one turns away the offer of homemade pie. But it will certainly help your search for the perfect crust if you start by measuring precisely. If you do become enamored with more advanced pastry making or intend to prepare large batches of dough, then I would suggest the purchase of a reliable scale. If you do switch to weighing instead of measuring remember that 4 1/2 ounces of flour is measured as "1 cup".

"COLD HANDS, WARM HEART : BEST PASTRY" MIXING THE DOUGH

If you are making pie pastry by hand, start with chilled hands, then "cut" or "rub" the cold fat into the flour. What this odd and ubiquitous phrase means is to simply break up the fat into small pieces and toss them with flour. Use your fingertips to do this (your palms are too warm). What you want to have is a mixture composed of small bits or floured-coated "butter or fat crumbs". Don't worry about achieving that mythical state that cookbooks refer to as an "even, grainy mixture resembling cornmeal".

Evenly dispersed fat and flour results in a short crust that is somewhat cookie-like in texture. Uneven mixtures of fat and flour (some smaller pieces, some larger pieces), result in a long flaky dough (sort of like the flakes in puff dough used for milles feuilles and Napoleons). This latter type of dough looks slightly marbleized when you roll it out. This is fine. It is far better to err on the side of under-blending or cutting in the fat than overworking it. Above all, do not squeeze the flour-fat pieces together. Keep your touch gentle, almost reluctant, and the mixture dry.

This whole operation can be done in a food processor as well, but is somewhat harder to control. Also, inevitably, because the processor is so quick and capable, you do tend to wind up with a shorter (finer crumbs of fat) pie dough. It is only by working with your hands, especially as you are learning about pie making, that you can get a feel of the dough. However, if you are making lots and lots of pastry, there is really nothing wrong with resorting to your processor. If you happen to have a larger capacity processor, that’s even better.

When properly made pie dough hits a hot oven, the moisture inherent in these butter or shortening crumbs explodes and turns to steam, causing the dough to be lifted into stratas of tender flakes. For this mini explosion to occur, the oven must be quite hot and the dough well-chilled.

Next, dissolve the sugar and salt into the ice water, then make a well in the center of the work bowl and stir in liquid. Unlike other methods that mix the sugar and salt with the flour, this method allows the grainy salt and sugar to be first dissolved with the liquid. Revolve the bowl as you work, combing through the dough with lightly spread fingers, bringing the mixture into the center to blend. When the dough congregates in the center and is a rough mass, turn it out onto a lightly floured pastry board.

Knead or work it very briefly then pat it all around to smooth it somewhat, folding it over (rather than kneading it) to refine this mass into a flattened disc. Wrap it in plastic and chill the dough (at least one hour, preferably several hours) before using. Fresh dough is too elastic to work with and must have a short relaxation spell before being rolled out.


ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH
To roll out dough, first dust your board with all-purpose flour. The recipe may call for dividing the dough into two slightly unequal halves. The smaller half will be for the top of a 2-crust pie. Place dough in the center and roll it from the center of the dough outward. Turn the dough clockwise slightly and roll outward again, eventually crating a circle. Use the same pressure over the whole surface of the dough and avoid rolling back and forth. Try to use only one stroke then turn the dough again. Lift the dough if it sticks and lightly dust it underneath with additional flour if needed.

When the dough is two inches wider than the perimeter of the pie plate you are using (one inch on each side), loosely fold into fourths and place the point of this triangle onto the pie plate and unfold it into place. Do not try and pick up the whole circle of dough to transport it. This may stretch the dough (as well as may result in a rip or tear) and this will cause it to "retract" in the baking or have a tough texture.

If at any point the dough retracts as you are rolling it, the gluten content has been provoked. The dough is indeed salvageable but you should place the dough in the fridge to relax it again. If you must use dough scraps, re-roll these only once as over rolled dough is tough and dry.
 

Most homemade pies taste infinitely better than commercial pies. However, conversely, most commercial pies usually look better. The visual appeal of your pies is easy to improve with some basic pie finishing tips:

THE FINISHING TOUCHES and SOME PIE-MAKING TIPS

• Place your pie plate on a DOUGHMAKERS cookie sheet when you put it in the over. This takes care of any spillage in your oven and prevents pie bottom from burning as upper crusts finishes baking.
   
• Seal the upper crust of a pie to the bottom edge. To do this, brush the bottom edge with egg wash, milk or water and press the two crusts together.
   

Do not make the edge of the pie crust too thin as it will brown more quickly than the rest of the crust and dry out. If it does brown unduly fast, cover the pie perimeter with foil or a pie crust protector.

There are many ways to properly crimp pie edges in a decorative fashion. The simplest is to press fork tines all around or press dough into a zigzag edge by putting the thumb and forefinger of one hand behind a section of dough and pressing the index finger of the other into the space between these two fingers. You can also make a "braid" of dough (you can get creative with what your braid looks like) and using egg wash or water as "glue", coil this braid on the outside edge of the pie.

For the classic lattice work, use these steps:

• Roll out the dough for the top crust.
   
• Cut into strips a half an inch wide using either a pizza roller or serrated pastry wheel.
   
• Arrange the strips over the pie as desired.
   
• Allow an inch overhang to extend on each end of the pie
   
• Use water or egg wash to hold them in place, then trim.
   

These strips can also be interwoven on the counter top, then transferred to the pie top. Be sure to use a cutting board or other mat that you can easily lift for the transfer, rather than trying to pick up the unsupported dough.

Another finishing option is to make cut-outs of extra pastry in the shape of leaves or small apples. Pie top cutters and mini cookie cutters can be used for the shaping. Use a paring knife to trace the leaf veins onto the dough. Assemble these leaves in a decorative fashion in the center of the top crust of the pie and glaze evenly with egg wash.

Different glazes make for different looks but tops of pies should be glazed both to assist in browning and to have that finished look. You may use egg wash, a beaten egg white, or milk or cream brushed evenly over the top surface. If you like, you may sprinkle a little sugar, coarse or regular, on top of the glaze for a homey, old-fashioned look.

Once a pie is glazed, cut air vents. Insufficient air vents will force the hot filling to rise up and separate the two crusts. Use a small paring knife to cut vents or tines of a fork.

Bake a pie in a relatively hot oven. For a fruit pie, for example, start the pie at 425 F for the first 25 minutes, then reduce to 400 F (375 F if it is browning too fast) and finish the baking. Pies are done when the top is evenly golden brown and juices are bubbling through the air vents.

Pie plates come in ceramic, graniteware (an Americana classic enamel on tin plate: white speckles on dark denim blue on tin), Pyrex, aluminum, stainless steel, non-sticks, or nickel plate (usually European). I like old-fashioned graniteware pie tins or restaurant quality aluminum (although it discolors easily) or ceramic. I find pies "sweat" in Pyrex, even though they allow you to see if you bottom crust is browning, and stainless looks good but is not conductive of heat. Quiche or tart pans make a home pie seem professional and are a good choice when you want a finished crust without expertise or the pie is going to be a company dish.