PIE

Pies can be filled with a wide array of ingredients such as fruit, chocolate, cream, mousse, ice cream and anything else you can imagine. To make a great pie, you must start with a great crust. Sure, store-bought frozen pie shells are quick and easy, but will never achieve the delicious buttery, flaky pastry that can be made in your own kitchen. Making pie dough is not as difficult as many people think, the more you do it, the better you will become. As your “feel” for the dough becomes more developed, you will have more confidence to turn out the perfect pie crust.

There are 4 basic ingredients that must work together to form pastry dough. There are others that can be added for flavor and binding, but flour, fat, water and a pinch of salt are the mandatory four. The salt will not make the pie salty, but bring all of the flavors together.

About Making Crust:
When making crust there are a few tips you need to know to help you make a better pie. These will come in handy for the beginner and even the more seasoned cook. The order that ingredients need to be add are as follows; sift all dry ingredients together, add butter, and finish with liquid. Never use a lot of liquid, just enough to bring the dough together, a couple of tablespoons or so (egg is considered liquid). Be careful not to over mix when moistening the dough. Over mixing causes the liquid to react with the proteins and develop strong gluten. Mix the liquid into the dough using a fork or dough cutter, then gently press the dough together, keeping the gluten development to a minimum. These precautions mostly concern the flaky dough. Whether you use water, eggs or a combination, make sure that the liquid used to moisten the dough is as cold as possible. After working the butter into the dry ingredients, the slight chill of the moistening ingredient helps to keep the butter as firm as possible through the final mixing stage. If you use a warm liquid to moisten dough, even butter which was incorporated successfully will melt and ruin the texture of the dough. Use butter that is slightly softened by pounding it with a rolling pin so it is malleable and plastic but still cool. It mixes more readily into the dough. Do not soften the butter to room temperature. Lard and shortening produce the tenderest crusts. You may use half lard or shortening and half butter if you want the buttery flavor. The food processor method for making pie crusts is the easiest. It is faster than mixing by hand, and because the dough is handled less, it keeps the ingredients more chilled. If doing this, place the blade and bowl in the freezer prior to mixing for added security. After mixing the dough, wrap and chill it. This accomplishes two things: It allows the butter to harden so that the dough is firm when rolled; and it allows the gluten developed during mixing to relax.

More Tips:

• refrigerate the flour before making the dough to prevent the butter from melting
• Use dark heavy metal, Pyrex, or ceramic pie plates for the crispiest crust
• Never shake the flour level, use the back of a knife to sweep the top of the measuring cup
• To prevent soggy crust, try brushing the bottom of the crust with egg white before adding fruit
• For flakier upper crust, brush lightly with cold water before popping in the oven
• To avoid burnt edges, take a foil pie plate and cut out the center.  Place the rim over the pie and bake.
• Cut slits in the top of the crust to allow steam to escape during cooking
• If “baking blind,” (cooking an empty crust before adding filling) prick the bottom of the crust with a fork to allow for even baking so it doesn’t bubble up. Put an empty pie pan or parchment paper filled with dried beans to weight it down so it doesn’t puff up.
• When rolling out pie dough, always work from the center out to the sides, this will give you a more uniform crust.

Types of Crust and Their Uses:

Flaky pastry dough is probably the tastiest and most common crust people make. Flaky dough requires the most practice to perfect. In fact most of the tips in the About Making Crust section refer to flaky pastry. Flaky pastry should be firm and crisp, yet flaky, tender, and light and shatter in your mouth. These usually are filled with fruits. To make flaky dough, cut very cold butter into flour leaving different size particles. This will block the penetration of water, which will form gluten and make the crust tough and chewy, add liquid to the flour mixture to just bring it together, (see About Making Pie Crust) and worked until just combined. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until very cold.

Shortbread crust is rich and sweet and resembles a shortbread cookie. These crusts are used for pies that have a creamy custard like fillings Shortbread crust is made by kneading the dough with the heel of the hands on the work surface to disperse the butter into tiny particles throughout the dough. The butter separates the flour particles so they can not form a continuous tough mass. Shortbread crust should come apart in small irregular particles.

Crumb Crust is easily made by combining any type of crumbs or ground nuts with melted butter and pressed against the sides and bottom of a pie dish or spring form pan. This type of crust is usually used for cheesecakes and must be baked for about 5 or 10 minutes before filling is added. Crumb crust can be made from graham crackers, cookies, wafers, or any ingredient that can be finely ground.

About Fillings:
When making fruit pies, fresh or canned filling can be used. Canned fruits are more convenient and require less prep time, however, they require less cooking time, so adjust your recipe accordingly. When using fresh fruits, use firm and ripe fruit. Apples that are good for baking are tart apples such as Granny Smith, Rome, McIntosh and Jonathan to name a few. Pears that are good for cooking include the Anjou, Bartlett, and the Bosc. When making a berry pie filling, berries should be young and firm. Fresh fruits should be tossed with a little cornstarch to thicken the liquid that is extruded, in turn making syrup and not a watery mess. These should be baked in flaky pastry dough for the best result.

Ice cream pies can be made quickly and require no baking. Jut load a precooked pie shell with the ice cream of your choice, top as you desire and freeze.

Chocolate pies should be made with mousses to give a light fluffy texture, adding straight chocolate will be hard and heavy.

Cream pies should contain a stiff yet soft filling, and be baked in a shortbread crust.

We hope this information has been helpful and your next pie turns out as tasty as your grandmother’s did. Click here to see some of our delicious pie recipes.