Pie and Pastry Bible (15 page)

Holding both ends of the bag opening with your fingers, knead the mixture by alternately pressing it, from the outside of the bag, with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.

Wrap the dough with plastic wrap, flatten it into a disc, and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight.

STORE

Refrigerated, up to 2 days; frozen, up to 3 months.

POINTERS FOR SUCCESS

When rolling the dough, sprinkle both sides well with flour as needed to keep it from sticking.

UNDERSTANDING

This crust is very similar to the basic flaky butter crust. The only significant difference is that half the butter is replaced with an equal weight of goose fat, which contains no water and is liquid at room temperature. This makes the crust more tender.

FLAKY PASTRY SCRAPS

N
ever discard leftover pie crust scraps. They are great to have in the freezer for Windfall Fruit Pielets (page 78) and, when sweetened and flavored, they make delicious, crisp cookies.

OVEN TEMPERATURE: 425°F. BAKING TIME: 12 TO 15 MINUTES MAKES: ABOUT 20 COOKIES
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
pastry scraps	8 ounces	226 grams
sugar, preferably superfine	2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon	1 ounce	29 grams
ground cinnamon	teaspoon	•	•
optional: amber crystal (coarse granulated) sugar (see page 645) or granulated sugar

EQUIPMENT

Cookie sheet(s)

Cut the scraps of dough into similar lengths and lay them on a piece of plastic wrap, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour and cover with a second piece of plastic wrap. Roll lightly to make the dough pieces adhere to one another. Then lift away the plastic wrap and use the bottom piece to help fold the dough in thirds, like a business letter. Wrap the dough well and refrigerate it while preparing the sugar mixture.

In a small bowl, stir together the superfine sugar and cinnamon until evenly mixed.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap into a rectangle Vs inch thick. Discard the top piece of plastic wrap and sprinkle the dough evenly with the sugar mixture. Use the bottom piece of plastic wrap to start rolling the pastry, and continue to roll it into a cylinder. Wrap it with the plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. at least 20 minutes before baking. Set an oven rack at the middle level before preheating.

Remove and discard the plastic wrap. With a sharp knife, cut the cylinder into rounds, ¼ to
inch thick. For extra crunch, dip each side in amber sugar crystals or granulated sugar. Place them at least ½ inch apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes or until browned. Turn each cookie and continue baking for 2 to 5 minutes or until the other side browns. Remove the cookies to racks to cool.

STORE

Airtight, room temperature, up to 3 weeks; frozen, up to 6 months.

UNDERSTANDING

Refrigerating the dough before cutting it makes it firm enough to cut evenly. It also causes the sugar to dissolve slightly, helping the layers of dough to adhere to each other.

SWEET COOKIE TART CRUST

I
f you love cookies, you will love this crust in all its many permutations, from plain, nut, ginger, coconut, and chocolate to peanut butter—and it’s a snap to prepare! (Actually, the recipe for a sugar cookie is exactly the same.) Its French name,
pâte sucrée,
means sugar dough. The dough produces a crust that is both firmer and more tender than a flaky pie crust. The proportions of flour, butter, and liquid in the sweet cookie tart crust are almost identical to those of the flaky pie crust. The difference is in the type of liquid used. Instead of water or another liquid with a high water content, egg yolk and cream, both of which are high in fat and low in water, are added to the sweet cookie tart dough. With less water, less gluten forms, and the crust is therefore more tender. In the variations of this crust, the chocolate and peanut butter, for example, that contain more fat, I use a whole egg, as the egg white helps to bind and strengthen the dough.

The dough for a sweet cookie crust contains about ½ to 1¾ ounces sugar for a standard 9½-inch tart crust. Sugar draws liquid away from the flour, thus keeping it from developing gluten, so the more sugar, the more tender the crust.

The sweet cookie doughs in this book are formulated to be just strong enough to roll out without falling apart. Even though all of these doughs can be easily pressed into a pan with your fingers, and the scraps reused without any loss of quality, I urge you to give rolling out a try. The process takes less time and, best of all, guarantees a crust with an even thickness.

One of the charms of the sweet cookie crust is its ability to keep its crispness and tenderness even after prolonged refrigeration or freezing, unlike a flaky pie crust. This makes it the ideal container for tarts that are filled with creams that must be refrigerated as well as for ice cream pies, which must be frozen.

ROLLING AND SHAPING SWEET COOKIE TART CRUST

This dough is usually used for tarts but can also be used to line a pie pan, as for the Coconut Ice Cream Pie (page 226). It tends to absorb moisture less readily than flaky pie crust. It will hold a decorative edge, though not as well as a flaky crust, and it will droop if made too large or extended past the edge of the pan. For a large fluted tart pan, however, you need enough dough to extend a little past the top edge to allow for shrinkage during blind baking. I prefer a plain edge for tarts made with this dough.

MEASURING THE PAN

Measure the inside of the tart or pie pan with a flexible tape measure by starting at one inside edge, going down the side, across the bottom, and up the other side. Write down these numbers for future reference. When cutting the circle of dough to line the pan, increase the measure accordingly:

For a fluted tart pan,
cut the dough circle the same size.

For a single-crust pie,
cut the dough circle 1½ inches larger.

SIZES OF DOUGH CIRCLES TO CUT FOR STANDARD PANS

The amounts/weights are indicated to help approximate how much dough will be needed for a specific number of tarts. They are based on rolling the dough
inch thick for tarts and 1/16 inch thick for tartlets. One tablespoon of sweet cookie dough weighs 0.6 ounces/18.5 grams. One cup of sweet cookie dough weighs about 9.75 ounce/281 grams.

For a 9½- by 1-inch tart pan,
cut an 11-inch dough circle (1 cup/about 10 ounces/288 grams). Trim it or push it up to
-inch above the sides of the pan. From a 14-ounce/405-gram recipe, you will have about 4 ounces/117 grams of scraps.

For a 9-inch pie pan or 10- by 1- or 2-inch tart pan,
cut an 11½-inch dough circle (1 cup plus 1½ teaspoons/10¾ ounces/307 grams). From a 14-ounce/405-gram recipe, you will have about 3¼ ounces/92 grams of scraps.

For a 3-inch tartlet pan,
cut a 3½-inch dough circle (1 slightly rounded tablespoon/0.5 to 0.75 ounce/15 to 20 grams). For a 3¼-inch flan ring, cut a 4½dough circle (4 teaspoons/scant 1 ounce/25 grams).

For a 3½-inch tartlet pan,
cut a 4-inch dough circle (about 2 tablespoons/ 1¼ ounces/36 grams).

For a 4-inch flan ring,
cut a 5½-inch dough circle (about 2 tablespoons/1.3 ounces/38 grams).

For a 4-inch tartlet pan,
cut a 5½-inch dough circle (about 2 tablespoons/1.3 ounce/40 grams).

For a 4- by 1¼-inch-deep or 4¾-inch standard tartlet pan,
cut a 5¾-inch dough circle (3 tablespoons/about 2 ounces/55 grams).

PREPARING THE PAN

For Tender Nut Cookie Tart Crust, Sweet Peanut Butter Cookie Tart Crust, the Sweet Cookie Tart Crust coconut variation, and the Bittersweet Chocolate Cookie Tart Crust, the pan does not need greasing or flouring unless it is being used for the first time. For all other crusts, Baker’s Joy is easier to apply than grease and flour because tart pans with removable bottoms can’t be turned upside down to knock out excess flour. Small flan rings do not require greasing or flouring no matter what the dough.

THE ROLLING SURFACE

A cool surface, such as marble, is preferable to keep the dough from softening too quickly. A piece of marble 16 inches by 20 inches by ¾ inch (see page 669; available in gourmet stores or from a marble supply store) is a good size that is small enough to slip into your refrigerator to chill on hot summer days. (A bag of ice applied to a marble counter or a large piece also works to chill it.)

The dough should be floured on both sides and rolled between sheets of plastic wrap, overlapped if not large enough.