Questions about pie crust

[wryter2000]

1. I thought I had pie crust mastered, but a couple of times, what looks like great crust as I roll it out falls apart when I pick it up. I always let the crust sit in the fridge for a day before rolling it out, so it's good and cold.

My guess is I haven't developed enough gluten because I use chilled ingredients and I'm very gentle gathering it up into a disc. I have either wax paper of plastic wrap between the crust and my hands. Should I be a bit rougher with the crust or maybe use more water? This doesn't happen every time.

2. Weird question. Can you use bacon fat in pie crust for savory pies, like quiche? I've been cooking a lot of bacon lately and saving the fat. I need some use for it.

Thanks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I learned from my mother to use cold milk instead of water.

I don't know if it helps glue the crust together, but we never had problems with it falling apart.

[wryter2000]

3. Interesting

I've never heard that before. Maybe I'll give it a try.

[samnsara]

2. i use bacon fat in any recipe that calls for a fat.. I have made some great brownies with bacon fat!

[wryter2000]

4. No kidding

I'm definitely going to use it in more things, then.

[soothsayer]

6. Schmaltz, too!

Chicken fat

[wryter2000]

13. Yes!

Whenever I cut up a chicken, I render the fat out of the skin and save it. So delicious to fry potatoes in.

[dem in texas]

5. Ina Garten's Easy Pie Crust Recipe

This recipe has never let me down .....but. I have gotten lazy and buying the refrigerated, ready-to-use piecrust. Not as good, but saves time. In fact I plan on making an apple-cranberry pie tomorrow, have all the works on hand including a bag of Granny Smith's and a bag of fresh cranberries.

[dem in texas]

25. Pie Crust Recipe Never let me Down

Sometimes, I don't want to mess with getting out the food processor and just use pastry cutter to work in the fats.

Ina Garten's Perfect Pie Crust.
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

[Mr.Bill]

7. From my wife, who makes great pies:

Make sure any water or milk you add is ice cold.

And yes, bacon fat is good, also lard works. Not only for savory pies, but any pies. Use it instead of butter.

[wryter2000]

14. I always use ice water

And a combination of butter and lard. I love lard. It's also great for refrying beans, if you don't have bacon grease.

[Mr.Bill]

20. I had a boss at my job years ago who made great pies.

He used to bring them into work. Best crust ever. He said the secret was bear lard. He used to get it from some hunter friends of his.

[wryter2000]

22. Wow

I don't think I'll be able to find that.

[Mr.Bill]

23. I know, right?

[Wawannabe]

8. You probably need more moisture when this happens to you

Spritz it if it’s already been refrigerated

Using ice in the water promotes a flakier crust only.

I’ve never used milk but skim milk would be like using water and good for ya too

[chia]

9. Pie dough isn't bread dough, with pie dough, handle it as little as possible.

You really don't need to let it sit in the fridge for a day, either, use ice water and then either roll it out right away or put it in the fridge for a half hour or so if you'd like but it's not necessary. Sounds to me like you need just a little more water than you're using.

[wryter2000]

16. More water seems to be the consensus

Will go with that.

[58Sunliner]

10. Sounds like a lack of water and/or more fat is needed.

I use a food processor, after years of hand cutting, and I find the best way to do it with a processor is to use a third of your flour and pulse with all of your fat. After it is homogeneous, you can add another third, pulse once or twice, and then add the rest. Pulse again then add your water. Just be careful not to add too much water and pulse as little as possible. Take a spoon and move ingredients from top to bottom in the processor as the wet tends to stay at the bottom. I have to say my flakier crusts were hand cut, but I use all butter. But they were also harder to roll consistently and not fall apart. Julia Child said to let your dough chill a good hour. All day is not needed.

[wryter2000]

18. I let it sit in the fridge for a day so I can split up the job

Crust one day, make the quiche the next. It's just easier for me.

[SWBTATTReg]

11. Hints for using bacon grease...I have a couple of tips that you probably already know...

(1) I use as flavoring for crock pot soups, etc., I don't use meat that much, so the bacon grease adds a little of that craving back into the soup (instead of using those little seasoning cubes (I forget right now what they are called, beef or chicken flavored cubes, etc.);
(2) you can heat up/zap in the Microwave, use over a tossed salad or tossed greens salad;
(3) I use a lot of the grease to make some treats for my dogs, I bake up some rolls or something w/ bread dough, add a dollop of bacon flavoring into them (in the middle before I fold over the raw dough, place in the oven (of course you let cool off before giving it to the doggies);

Good luck! I look forward to checking back in and seeing what other treats others in DU land have come up with!

[Jirel]

12. You need a bit of water.

I rarely refrigerate crusts, but when I do, I try to add a bit more moisture. No matter how you wrap them, they’ll lose some in a fridge overnight. Similarly, if you have some melty fat when you make it, it stands in for water. Once it has been chilling for hours, there’s no longer any fat that isn’t hard, so the moisture from that also is absent.

[MagickMuffin]

15. America Test Kitchen has a recipe that calls for cold Vodka

This recipe isn't ATK as there is a paywall.

But others have also stated vodka is an essential component to flaky pie crusts. I have not made this dough.



INGREDIENTS
2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
½ cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
¼ cup vodka, cold
¼ cup cold water


PREPARATION
Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage-cheese curds, and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

[wryter2000]

17. I have done that with the vodka

I don't always have vodka in the house. My crusts with just water are pretty good, though.

I have a paid membership with ATK and can get their recipes easily.

Thanks.

[Mr.Bill]

21. That makes sense because you can get

the Vodka colder than water without it freezing.

[Retrograde]

19. My reliable method

This comes from my 1930's Fanny Farmer cookbook.

Fill a measuring cup with water and add ice cubes. Combine one part fat by volume with three parts flour and some salt: 1/3 cup fat to 1 cup flour with ~1/4 tsp (or slightly less) salt will give me more than enough crust for a 9" single-crust pie. I've used vegetable shortening, lard, bacon fat, butter - or a mixture: I've heard of using vegetable oils but haven't tried that in decades. Butter and bacon fat I find make softer doughs. Mix the salt with the flour, then incorporate the fat using a pastry cutter or your fingers (my methods: some people use two forks to cut them together, but I never got the hang of that). You want the mixture to have a pebbly texture, coarser than sand, and fairly uniform.

Now add the water (not the ice cubes!) slowly, a bit at a time, mixing it in until you form a uniform dough. I don't measure, as there are a lot of factors that affect the dough here: temperature, humidity, what kind of flour you're using (whole wheat seems to require more water than all-purpose white): with practice (or the right grandmother) you'll get to know by feel when you've added enough - the dough will come together easily into a ball. Now let it rest for a while: I wrap mine in plastic and refrigerate for an hour or so, but you can also cover it with a damp cloth or invert the mixing bowl over it. Don't skip this part: this is when the gluten in the flour develops. After it's rested a while, roll out and line your pans. Making a perfect or even nearly perfect circle, alas, is something I can't help with - but if your dough is elastic enough you can use the extra to patch before you bake.

If you have access to Netflix, check out the Great British Baking Show masterclasses with Paul Hollywood watch his segments on making short crust pastry, which is what American pie crusts are. He shows what the textures should look like. Even though people claim baking is a science rather than an art, I think there are too many variables when it comes to flours that you have to learn by doing how things feel.

[Kali]

24. I agree, a little more water

if you have a lot of bacon grease, try frying chicken in it, or use it with another fat or oil. best fried chicken! also good on canned green beans. I have never used in pie crust but I bet it would be FABULOUS! yum, might have to plan that in the future. just make sure it is refrigerated so it is good and hard.

[wryter2000]

28. I keep it in the fridge

Green beans. I don't use canned ones, but I do use frozen. Plus, I grow my own in season.

[spinbaby]

26. Yes, more water

Your dough is drying out as the flour hydrates.

Lately, my favorite recipe has been this one. It’s easy to handle and keeps its shape on baking.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
2 large eggs

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Cut the butter into 8 pieces and add it to the food processor. Pulse in 1-second bursts until the butter is finely mixed into the flour.

Add the eggs and pulse again until the dough forms a ball. I usually need to add a bit of ice water at this point.

Flour your work surface and dump the dough out. Form it into two disks. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed, up to 2 days.

[wryter2000]

27. Interesting

So many different ways to make crust. I'll be saving this.

[Retrograde]

29. Baking powder? Eggs?

Are you making a pie crust or a quick bread? Does it end up puffy?

[spinbaby]

30. Surprisingly, no

It’s almost a sugar cookie texture. I like it for decorative crusts because it keeps its shape.