Pie Crust Secrets
Almost everyone enjoys a good homemade pie. An excellent pie is an artful creation. Whether it is a fruit pie or a cream pie, one element is a must -- excellent pie crust. The best pie crust is light, flaky and delicious. Pie crusts are not hard to put together, but like all artful creations, there are secrets --tricks of the trade -- that you need to know in order to get an excellent crust. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Secret No. 1
-
Ingredients must be cold, especially the butter, shortening and the water. Warmth makes the fat (the shortening) bind with the gluten (the flour) too quickly, making the crust tough. The water should be ice cold; ideally, everything else needed -- the flour, the fork (or pastry blender), the bowl -- should be put in the freezer for 20 minutes. After you have made the crust, place the bowl in the refrigerator to let the crust rest for one hour. The fat re-solidifies, not allowing the gluten to develop much when the crust is rolled out.
Secret No. 2
-
The second secret is to add the water 1 tbsp. at a time. It is better to use the lower end of the recipe's water range rather than to use all of the water, as you want just enough to hold the crust together. For example, if the recipe calls for 6 to 8 tbsp. of water, try to use just the 6 tbsp.. You want to have enough moisture to be able to toss it and turn it with a fork. Less water is better than more because the crust can become glue-like -- indicating too much gluten -- and that means tough.
-
Secret No. 3
-
Another secret is in how to handle the dough -- not very much. Over-handling the crust makes it tough --your hands' warmth combines the fat and the gluten together. Rolling out the dough also requires minimum contact for the same reason. Brenda Hopkin, baker for Utah's famous Lion House pies, recommends no more than six strokes with the rolling pin -- one up and down roll, quarter turn, then another up and down roll, then the last two strokes in an "X" across the round crust.
A Tip and a Recipe
-
Many professional pie bakers use some lard with their choice of shortening for pie crusts. The Lion House recipe, for example, uses butter, shortening, lard and margarine. TV celebrity cook Ina Garten's recipe uses a food processor, but you can mix by hand if preferred. It makes two 10-inch pie crusts: 12 tbsp. very cold unsalted butter, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. kosher salt, 1 tbsp. sugar, 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening, and 6 to 8 tbsp. ice water. Dice the butter and return to the refrigerator while you combine the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse until the butter is pea size. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse until the dough forms a ball (over-pulsing makes the crust tough). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cut the dough in half -- roll out on a lightly floured surface. Fold in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold. Repeat with the top crust.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
