1. Pies and Pastry Dough

2. Objective:
Identify and prepare pastries

3. Three Styles of Pie Crusts
Pie shell
baked separately and filled later
pricked crust
Filled with creams/pudding
Single crust pie
bottom crust and filling baked together
Ex: pecan and pumpkin
Double crust pie
bottom crust, filling, and top crust baked together
Ex: fruit pies

4. Ingredients and Functions
FLOUR
STRUCTURE
FAT
TENDERNESS, FLAKYNESS
SALT
FLAVOR
WATER
TEXTURE, BINDER =

5. Making Dough
When cutting fat into flour, it is important to mix it thoroughly together like coarse corn meal so that your crust is tender and flaky
Water must be icy cold to prevent the fat from melting
Use a fork to mix the water into the dough
Handling the dough too much toughens the pastry dough

6. Rolling Dough
Always begin rolling from the center to the outer edge, lifting it up at the edge
Poking holes in the dough with a fork or pricking it, will prevent the dough from puffing during baking

7. Double Crust Pie Sealing
Cut excess edge of dough off bottom crust
Fill pie dish
Lay top dough over ingredients then cut excess edge of dough off the top crust
Rub water on the bottom crust before adding top crust
Crimp them together using various fluting techniques

8. Pastry Dough Ingredients
Differences in fats:
Taste and flavor
Lard or Shortening = more tender
Oil = harder to handle i.e. crumbly
Differences in flours:
All-purpose – harder wheat, more gluten
Cake flour – softer wheat, less gluten

9. Understanding Pie Dough
Pie dough should be mixed with the hands
A pie crust recipe should always list a specific amount of water
Too much flour, water, or fat will make the pie crust tough
Dough that is stretched to fit the pie pan will shrink from the sides while baking

10. Understanding Pie Dough
Fat makes pie tough because it causes gluten development in flour
Fat adds flakiness because it separates the layers of gluten
Water provides moisture to help gluten form and produces steam for flakiness
Salt adds much more to pie crust than other flavorings

11. Secrets to Successful Pastries
If your pastry is crumbly and hard to roll:
Add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time
Toss the flour mixture and water together a little more or just till evenly moistened
If your pastry is tough:
Use a pastry blender to cut in the shortening or lard till well mixed and all of the mixture resembles small peas.
Use less water to moisten the flour mixture.
Toss the flour mixture and water together only till all of the flour mixture is moistened.
Use less flour when rolling out the pastry.

12. Storage of pies Cream or custard pies Savory pies
Refrigerator
Savory pies
Fruit Pies Counter Top