Piece of Perfection- Or- Making the Perfect Pie Part One

                                                                                Photo: Photobucket/Artodd

Although they date back to Europe, pies have been synonymous with American baking. Brought by the early settlers, sweet and savory pies were simply prepared dishes used to feed many and to extend ingredients. They were easy to cut and eat. With a high sugar content in their fillings pies kept easily. Pies quickly became one of the most popular pastries and have remained so for centuries.

With some general understanding of the common ingredients and methods for making pie you can make a pie to be proud of.

Pie Dough

Pie dough is arguably the most important element in making a good pie; its flakiness and tenderness are tantamount to the success of the pie, regardless of how well the filling is made. Simply put, bad crust equals bad pie.

Pie dough is basically composed of flour, fat, cold liquid, and salt. Sugar is sometimes used to sweeten the dough. Just as in puff pastry dough, the fat in the dough melts to create steam and, in turn, produces a flaky crust. The method used to distribute the fat in the flour determines the flakiness of the crust; fat lumps in the dough produce flakiness.

There are three types of pie dough; long flake, short flake, and mealy pie dough. Long flake pie dough is used only as a top crust pie dough. The fat is broken up into half-dollar sized pieces. Short-flake pie dough is an all-purpose dough, used as either a top crust or a bottom crust. The fat is broken up into quarter sized pieces. In a Mealy pie dough, the fat is broken into pea sized bits; it is used only for a bottom crust because it does not flake and is more water tight. The fat is complexly incorporated into the flour, leaving no lumps of far in the dough.

Flour

All purpose flour is the most commonly used flour for most home bakers and cooks, but most professional bakers will tell you that pastry flour is the best choice for pie dough. It contains a relatively low amount of gluten, but enough to hold the dough together and give it enough elasticity to be rolled out. Bread flour is too high in gluten content and would absorb most of the liquid, making the dough robbery and tough. Cake flour is too low in gluten content- there would not be enough gluten to hold the dough together for tolling out- causing the dough to crack and crumble.

Fat

All purpose shortening, butter, and lard are generally the types of fat used in a pie dough.

• Butter has an excellent flavor, but a low melting point (80F) and high water content that will cause the crust to lose its shape during baking; the baked crust will be mealy and crumbly. If butter is used, it should be used in combination with another fat that has a higher melting point, either shortening or lard. Three parts shortening or lard to one part butter will produce a flavorful, flakey crust that will not fall apart during baking.
• Lard is an excellent fat for making pie dough because of its high melting point (90F-100F). It creates a light, flaky crust. Unfortunately, lard can also impart undesirable flavor at times to the crust, largely because of the inconsistency of its quality. Lard is rendered from the hog and is therefore high in cholesterol and unacceptable for use in kosher and vegetarian diets.
• All-purpose shortening is the best fat to use for pie dough. It has a high melting point similar to that of lard, which produces and light, flaky crust. It imparts no flavor to the dough and the quality of shortening is very consistent. Unlike puff pastry, where the flavor of the butter is paramount, the flavor of pie dough is often overshadowed by the sweetness of the filling; however, many chefs still prefer to mix shortening and butter together to create optimum flakiness and flavor.

Cold Liquid

Water is most often used as the liquid in  pie dough; it provides the moisture required without adding extra components that will adversely affect the crust. Water (or milk, if used) should be ice cold when used in pie dough- this will preserve the solid state of the fat and help tetrad gluten development.

Salt

Salt is used in pie dough to bring out flavor and to aid in retarding gluten development. Too much salt can break and tear gluten strands and ruin the flavor of the dough.

Sugar

Sugar is sometimes used in pie dough to provide flavor through sweetness. Unfortunately, because of sugars hydroscopic qualities, it can also absorb moisture and create a soggy crust. Sugar is best sprinkled on top of the dough to create caramelization.

Making a Pie Dough

The biggest mistake to be made when making pie dough is over mixing. It is important to keep the fat in large lumps for flakiness and to not overwork the gluten in the flour. Although large amounts of dough can be done in the mixer unless the amount is overwhelmingly large, it is always best to mix pie dough by hand. The method for making pie dough by hand is called the rubbing, or biscuit method. In this method, the flour and salt are sifted together and placed in a bowl. The fat is cut into the flour either by hand or with a pastry cutter until it is well distributed, but still in large pieces. The cold water is sprinkled over the mixture, a little at a time, and the mixture is tossed until all the water has been completely incorporated, and a ball can be formed with the dough. A basic ratio of ingredients for pie dough is three parts flour to two parts fat to one part liquid.

Pie dough should be wrapped airtight and refrigerated; it is best to let it rest overnight before use to allow the gluten to relax. As with puff pastry dough, pie dough should not be kept longer than a week, or it will begin to oxidize and the flour and water mixture will begin to ferment, turning the dough grey.

Too much flour used on the bench for rolling out will affect the flavor and flakiness of the dough. Any excess flour should be brushed away with a brush. Never knead pie dough scraps together- layer them on top of each other to roll out a second time.

Pie dough can be successfully frozen; it should be divided into 8- to 10-ounce portions and wrapped airtight. To defrost, let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.

As with puff pastry, pie dough must be baked in a hot over, 425F to 450F, insure that the fat does not melt out of the dough before it has a chance to evaporate and create the steam needed for flakiness. Pie crust should also rest after makeup in the freezer or refrigerator for 10 to 20 minutes before baking to relax the dough and solidify the fat to reduce shrinkage.

Types of Pies

A pie is categorized according to the type of filling it has. There are five basic types of filling for pies:

• Fruit pies are made with fresh, canned, frozen, or dried fruit that is mixed with sweeteners and thickeners. Apple, peach, and cherry are good examples.
• Cream pies have smooth cream fillings that are made using a method similar to that for pastry cream. Chocolate cream, banana cream, and coconut cream are good examples.
• Custard (soft) pies are generally thickened with eggs (and sometimes starch) and sweetened with syrups; there are a wide variety of different custard-style pies. Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and chess pie are all good examples.
• Chiffon pies have fruit based fillings with a chiffon folded into them after cooking to lighten and aerate them. The term Chiffon is used when whipped egg whites (and usually sugar to prevent drying of the whites) is added to a batter or filling. These pies are usually very low in fat. Strawberry chiffon and lemon chiffon are good examples.
• Specialty pies use special crusts, such as cookie or graham cracker crusts, and are filled with ice cream or cheese type fillings.

Our next installment on Pies will be Procedures for Pie Filling. We will delve deeper into the different types of pies as well as the methods for making each of them. Coming soon!