Pie and Pastry Bible (8 page)

STORE

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

UNDERSTANDING

Pastry flour (see page 7) offers the most tenderness while maintaining flakiness, but it is the addition of vinegar that relaxes the dough without losing flakiness, making it easier to roll, shrink less, and be even more tender. The baking powder lifts and aerates the dough slightly without weakening it, but it makes it seem more tender.

The secret to success is finely incorporating about two thirds of the butter into the flour, which keeps the flour from absorbing too much water and forming gluten, which would make the crust tough. The remaining one third of the butter is incorporated in larger pieces, which serve to separate the layers, resulting in the desired flakiness. This pie crust does not shrink or distort as much as the standard all-butter crust because there is less gluten development.

If, when adding the water, you find you need more than indicated in the recipe, chances are you haven’t moisture-proofed the flour adequately (you haven’t used the correct amount of butter or processed it fine enough), leaving the flour free to absorb more liquid. The resulting crust will be flakier but less tender.

If you find you need less water than specified in the recipe, chances are you divided the butter incorrectly and used too much of it to moisture-proof the flour, preventing it from absorbing an adequate amount of water. The resulting crust will be more tender but not very flaky.

Flattening the newly formed dough into a disc or discs before refrigerating makes it easier to roll without cracking. The dough is refrigerated to relax the gluten, making it less elastic and easier to roll. Chilling also firms the butter, preventing sticking and the need for extra flour when rolling, which would toughen it. Dough that has rested overnight before baking shrinks less.

DELUXE FLAKY PIE CRUST

T
his is the ultimate all-butter pie crust. It has all of the virtues of the Basic Flaky Pie Crust (page 22), also using all butter, but it is even more flaky because all of the butter is left in large pieces. The miracle of this crust is that despite its flakiness, it is just as tender as the Basic Flaky Pie Crust—but only if the correct flour is used. It doesn’t hold its shape as well as the Basic Flaky Pie Crust, despite the addition of vinegar, but the extraordinary flakiness makes it worth it.

PASTRY FOR A 9-INCH PIE SHELL OR A 9½- TO 10- BY 1-INCH TART SHELL	MAKES: 12.5 OUNCES/359 GRAMS
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
Whole wheat pastry flour also works well. The Wondra flour is not quite as tender as pastry flour.
†For savory recipes, use 1½ times the salt.
unsalted butter, cold	8 tablespoons	4 ounces	113 grams
pastry flour or Wondra flour	1 cups + 4 teaspoons (dip and sweep method) 1½ cups (lightly spooned)	6.5 ounces	184 grams
salt†	¼ teaspoon	•	•
optional: baking powder (if not using, double the salt)	teaspoon	•	•
ice water	4½ tablespoons	2.3 ounces	66 grams
cider vinegar	1½ teaspoons	0.25 ounce	7 grams

PASTRY FOR A 9-INCH LATTICE PIE, A 9-INCH DEEP-DISH PIE, A 10-INCH PIE SHELL, OR A 12- TO 14-INCH FREE-FORM TART	MAKES: 14.25 OUNCES/404 GRAMS
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
unsalted butter, cold	9 tablespoons	4.5 ounces	128 grams
pastry flour or Wondra flour	1½ cups + 1½ tablespoons (dip and sweep method) 1¾ cups (lightly spooned)	7.5 ounces	214 grams
salt†	¼ teaspoon	•	3.3 grams
optional: baking powder (if not using, double the salt)	teaspoon	•	•
ice water	5 tablespoons	2.6 ounces	75 grams
cider vinegar	1½ teaspoons	0.25 ounce	7 grams

PASTRY FOR A TWO-CRUST 9-INCH PIE	MAKES: 21.7 OUNCES/620 GRAMS
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
Whole wheat pastry flour also works well. The Wondra flour is not quite as tender as pastry flour.
† For savory recipes, use 1½ times the salt.
unsalted butter, cold	14 tablespoons	7 ounces	200 grams
pastry flour or Wondra flour	2¼ cups + 2 tablespoons (dip and sweep method) 2½ cups + 4 teaspoons (lightly spooned)	11.25 ounces	320 grams
salt†	¼ + teaspoon	•	5 grams
optional: baking powder (if not using, double the salt)	¼ teaspoon	•	•
ice water	7½ tablespoons	4 ounces	110 grams
cider vinegar	1 tablespoon	0.5 ounce	14 grams