7 Guidelines for Making Good Pie Dough, In accordance with a Pastry Chef

My technique for pie dough is as naked bones as they arrive. Made with equal weights of butter and flour, the recipe all comes all the way down to approach. In a system that easy, each element issues. For some, that may make the recipe look like a fussy, high-pressure affair. However to me, it supplies a comforting framework for fulfillment—nothing is random, and every part is inside my management.

So whether or not it is a approach you are still working to grasp or one you are about to attempt for the primary time, it helps to grasp the bottom guidelines moving into.

1. Low-Protein Flour and American Butter Are Key

My old school flaky pie dough works finest with all-purpose flours with a protein content material round 10% (manufacturers like Gold Medal, Pillsbury, and Immaculate) and no-frills, American-style butter. That is true for all of my recipes, however they make a selected distinction with regards to pie dough.

So what is the deal?

Pantry staples like refined white sugar, pure salt, and baking soda have chemical definitions (C12H22O11, NaCl, and NaHCO3, respectively), so one model is nearly as good as one other. Beneath the spiffy packaging, they’re all the identical (properly, in some instances completely different manufacturers can have completely different densities, however this is not a difficulty should you weigh your elements as an alternative of measuring them by quantity).

None of that is the case with butter and flour, whose composition can differ drastically from model to model. Such variations can common out in additional complicated recipes, the place these elements might solely play a supporting function, however in a pie crust the traits of butter and flour will probably be on full show.

Some manufacturers of all-purpose flour, like White Lily, use 100% tender white wheat, for a starchy, low-protein profile much like that of cake flour, making it excellent for high-rising biscuits and cake, however too low in gluten-forming proteins for a well-structured pie dough.

Different manufacturers, like King Arthur, use 100% exhausting crimson wheat, for a comparatively low-starch, high-protein product much like that of bread flour, making it excellent for chewy sandwich loaves and crunchy crackers, however too excessive in gluten-forming proteins for a young crust.

My favourite model of flour, Gold Medal’s Blue Label, falls between these two extremes with a mix of white and crimson wheat, so it has the fitting steadiness of starch and protein for a variety of baking tasks—together with pie crust.

With this fashion of all-purpose flour, the dough will not crumble when transferred from the counter to the pan (a symptom of low gluten growth), nor will it bake up greasy and difficult (an indication of low starch and extra gluten growth). It has simply the fitting steadiness of protein and starch to make a dough that is sturdy and straightforward to deal with, however bakes up flaky, tender, and light-weight.

The same stage of variation performs out in butter, with American kinds clocking in at about 80% milk fats and European kinds coming in a tad greater at 82%. Apart from a richer composition, the longer churning technique offers European kinds a barely softer consistency. The softer construction and better fats content material are perfect for laminated doughs like croissants, however can wreak havoc on recipes developed with American butter in thoughts (i.e., actually all of my recipes; I am an American pastry chef writing about American recipes on an American web site).

With additional fats and a creamier consistency, European-style butters could make my old school pie dough a tender and squishy mess to roll, one which incorporates extra fats than the flour can deal with, leading to a dough that bakes right into a greasy puddle—an issue that may solely be magnified when paired with a high-protein, low-starch flour.

2. Preserve the Dough Cool, Not Chilly

Making a pie crust by hand is like constructing a home out of butter: a brick might be rock exhausting when ice chilly or absolutely melted when heat. As a result of butter constitutes practically 50% of the dough’s mass, the dough will share these traits as properly. It is going to be exhausting and crumby when chilly, and hopelessly tender when heat.

That vary of consistency at completely different temperatures could make the dough appear too dry or too moist, main bakers to mistakenly consider the issue has to do with dry or humid air, leading to makes an attempt to “repair” the difficulty by including extra water or flour. Sadly, these changes solely create new issues (extra gluten growth, shrinking, toughness) as a result of they’re addressing the signs moderately than the underlying challenge: butter temperature.

Luckily, temperature-related issues are straightforward to regulate—and I am not speaking about cranking up the furnace or operating the AC. When it is hotter within the kitchen, the reply is so simple as popping that bowl of flour within the fridge for a couple of minutes earlier than making the dough. In winter months, it is as straightforward as utilizing barely hotter faucet water to counteract the chilling impact of chilly flour from the bag. I have already got a full information to conquering pie dough in a sizzling kitchen in addition to a tutorial on overcoming the issues of a cold kitchen.

Finally, the concept is to maintain the pie dough someplace between 68° and 72°F, so it stays pliable, cool, and straightforward to deal with. Under that vary (particularly in a chilly kitchen), the dough will probably be crumbly and susceptible to cracking when rolled. Above that vary (notably in a heat kitchen), the dough will probably be sticky and wanting to tear.

3. Stick With Massive Flakes of Butter

It takes large chunks of butter to create large, flaky layers in a pie crust, so examine that idea of “mealy, pea-sized bits” on the dough-or. I begin with butter that is reduce into cubes no smaller than half an inch (barely bigger is ok, however take care to not go beneath). From there, every bit is smashed as soon as, like bubble wrap, to create a flaky combine. That is it!

If the butter is labored into smaller items, it’s going to undermine gluten growth and make the dough tender, moist, and unstructured—susceptible to ripping and sticking, and greasy after baking. However avoiding all these issues could not be less complicated: Lower the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and smash as soon as. How straightforward is that?

4. Use a Heavy Dusting of Flour

When rolling out the dough, use as a lot flour as wanted to forestall sticking. A cool dough will not take in the flour anyway, so there isn’t any profit to skimping. Additional flour can all the time be dusted off with a pastry brush ultimately, so do not be shy!

Use a heavy hand when dusting, each above and under, and you will by no means fear about sticking once more.

5. Keep away from Stoneware Pans

What a pie plate is constructed from (glass, ceramic, aluminum, stoneware, and so on) will immediately management the speed at which warmth is carried out to the crust. If the butter melts too slowly, it’s going to merely ooze out right into a greasy mess, with out serving to the dough to puff up and type flaky layers because it ought to. For that motive, it is essential to keep away from thick ceramic and heavy stoneware pans in any respect prices—nevertheless cute they might be, they produce crusts which can be moist, pale, and limp.

With light-weight, conductive supplies corresponding to aluminum, glass, or skinny ceramic, the butter will soften at a brisker tempo, serving to the dough to puff and brown, for a lightweight and flaky crust.

6. Totally Weight the Dough to Blind Bake

When blind-baking a pie shell, a typical step for single-crusted pies like pumpkin, candy potato, or chocolate cream pie, it is essential to completely weight the dough.

The aim of a pie weight is to offer a bodily barrier to forestall the dough from collapsing inward alongside the downward sloping sides of the pie plate. Which means the weights should be flush with the highest fringe of the dough; a mere handful of pie weights on the underside will not do a factor.

Refined white sugar is my go-to pie weight, as a result of it is low-cost and ample in most kitchens, heavier than rice or beans, and higher in a position to conform to the form of the crust when in comparison with ceramic pie weights. As a result of sugar is so heavy and efficient for weighting a pie, it additionally eliminates the necessity for docking the dough (a.okay.a, poking holes in it with a fork to eradicate air bubble).

7. Let the Dough Loosen up

After rolling and shaping the dough, whether or not for a single- or double-crusted pie, it’s going to must be refrigerated for at the very least two hours earlier than use. This provides the gluten time to unwind, and the butter time to sit back, so the dough is cool and relaxed when it hits the oven, producing a young, flaky crust.

So if you wish to make the dough prematurely, roll and form it straight away, then wrap up the absolutely shaped shell and/or sheet (for the highest crust of a fruit pie). These might be frozen for a number of months prematurely, then thawed to 40°F (4°C) within the fridge earlier than use, or refrigerated as much as a day prematurely. They’re going to technically maintain a number of days longer than that, however might start to show grey over time, and may have a higher probability of sticking to the pie plate.

If the dough is wrapped and refrigerated in blocks, it’s going to nonetheless want two hours to chill out after rolling and shaping down the highway, which cancels out a lot of the advantages related to making a dough prematurely.

After enjoyable for 2 hours, or thawing to 40°F (4°C), single-crusted pies are able to blind bake and double-crusted pies are able to assemble. As a result of double-crusted pies see somewhat extra motion and heat when the highest and backside crusts are crimped collectively, I like to recommend refrigerating the assembled pie for at the very least half-hour earlier than baking. This ensures the sides are completely cool, and higher in a position to maintain their form within the oven.

That is very true for lattice-topped pies, like my blueberry pie, which will take some additional time to assemble, permitting the highest crust to additional soften and heat.

It might look like loads to recollect, however detailing each side of a easy course of creates an phantasm of complexity—simply think about writing out the instructions for tying your shoelaces. What’s troublesome to articulate with the written phrase is much simpler in observe, and turns into simpler nonetheless with observe. So give your self room to be taught, and know that every one of those particulars will grow to be second nature in time, from stocking the fitting elements and tools, to understanding the feel of the dough, to remembering to maintain it cool and relaxed within the fridge.

November 2018