re frisage?

[marmalady]

For you pro chefs out there, question - I just recently learned about 'frisage' for pastry crusts, where you use the heel of your hand to blend the finished crust dough; tried it with a standard pate brisee crust, and it worked great, one of the best pie crusts I've ever done!

My question is, pie crust recipes tell you to handle the dough as little as possible after mixing all the ingredients, to avoid the 'tough crust' syndrome, but frisage really gets in there and beats up the dough - am I being dense and completely missing something here?

[thebighat]

Were you making pie dough, or tart dough? Because there is a difference in how they are handled. In a flaky pie dough you want big chunks of fat because when you roll it out, that will sheet between the flour enclosing it and make the dough flaky. When you incorporate the flour and butter intimately using the frisage technique, you wind up with a "short" dough, which is crisp and crumbly.

[Eeyore]

Here is a good rule of thumb (And it is admittedly an oversimplification):

The more you mix fat with flour the more tender the final product will be.

The more you mix water with flour the tougher the final product will be.

[mudbug]

marmalady,

It really depends on what kind of dough you are making and what the ingredients are. (what's your recipe?)

Usually when they say to handle your dough as little as possible, this refers to things like pie crusts (which people prefer to be flaky) and certain breads.

There is a lot involved in baking and different types of crusts.

[marmalady]

Thanks for the clarification, guys - Was using Nick Malgieri's 'flaky pie crust' recipe; I had used the max amount of water he called for in the recipe, and the dough wasn't coming together at all, so I just decided to try the frisage - the crust did come out a lot 'shorter' than a regular pie crust, but it was still good! And cooked all the way through on the bottom! Pastry crusts are the Achilles heel of my baking experiences!

[mudbug]

marmalady,

Is this the one?

Homemade pie crust isn't as hard as you might think. If you have a food processor or a mixer with a pastry paddle, it's a breeze. The key to flaky crust is cold--cold butter and ice water, which keeps the butter separate from the flour. When the crust bakes, the butter melts and the steam released causes air pockets, which gives the crust its flaky texture.

This recipe comes from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Pastry, and it uses butter instead of the typical shortening.

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cake flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1 stick of cold butter, cut up into 8 pieces
3 - 4 tbsp. ice water.

Stir/pulse together dry ingredients. Pulse (food processor), paddle (mixer), or cut (by hand) in butter pieces until the mixture has a sandy appearance, but there are still small chunks of butter throughout. If you're mixing by hand, work fast, because the mixture needs to stay cold--if the butter starts to melt, refrigerate it for a half an hour to re-chill butter.

Sprinkle 3 tbsp. ice water over dough and combine well with a fork. Dough is ready when it holds together when you squeeze it. If it crumbles, sprinkle in a bit more water until it holds.

If the dough's still cold, you can roll it right away. Otherwise, roll it into a ball and chill it for a few hours first.

To form crust, pat ball into a patty, then roll out on a clean, floured dishcloth. Sprinkle flour on the rolling pin and the dough if the pin sticks. Switch rolling directions to keep a uniform circle. Drape into pie dish and crimp edges. Fill and bake according to pie recipe.

From: Out of the Frying Pan



Follow these tips for fantastic pie crust:

Flour
To promote tenderness in your pie crust choose a low protein flour such as cake flour, or pastry flour. All-purpose flour is readily available and also works fine for pie crusts. You can also make your own pastry flour by substituting 1 tablespoon of cornstarch for one tablespoon of flour for every cup of flour.

Fat
Flaky crusts can be made from a variety of fats. Crusts made with all butter are very flavorful though they are generally not quite as flaky as crusts made with shortening or lard. Vegetable shortening produces a flaky pie crust that is slightly easier to work with than one made with butter. Vegetable shortening, unlike butter, is low in cholesterol. Lard produces the flakiest crust.

You can also make a pie crust with vegetable oil. The results won't be as flaky but it does make a very tender crust that almost melts in your mouth. Some of the best pie crusts are made with a combination of fats, part butter for flavor and part shortening for flakiness and ease of workability.

Liquid
When adding liquid to the flour and fat mixture it must be ice cold in order not to melt any of the fat. Water tends to be the standard choice, but eggs, sour cream, cream cheese, and cream can also be used and add different flavors and textures to your pie crust. Always add liquid a little bit at a time. If you add too much liquid your crust could turn out tough.

Techniques
Technique is the most important aspect to making a good pie crust. As long as you follow a few simple tips your pie crusts should turn out perfect almost every time.

All ingredients should be ice cold before mixing. This is especially important for the fat you are using. If you are making the dough in a food processor you can even freeze the fat before using it.

* Do not overwork the dough. Mix quickly and handle the dough as little as possible. Overworking the dough will cause it to be tough.

* Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. This helps to relax the gluten and helps to prevent stickiness when rolling out the dough. Chilling the dough also keeps the fats from melting too much and thus helps to keep the finished crust flaky.

* Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, a pastry cloth, or between two sheets of waxed paper. Roll the dough from the center out using even firm rolls. Turn the dough as you work, about an eighth of turn for each roll will help to keep it round. It is again important to work as quickly as possible and not to overhandle the dough.

* Once the dough has been rolled out and transferred to the pie pan let it chill in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes before filling or baking.

* When pre baking a pie crust line it with foil or parchment paper and fill it with pie weights, dried beans or rice. Bake until the rim just begins to color. Remove the weights and with a fork carefully prick the bottom and sides. Return it to the oven and continue baking until golden brown.

* Before baking a filled pie and before pouring the filling into the unbaked pie crust, brush the bottom and sides of the unbaked pie crust with lightly beaten egg white or melted jelly. This will help to keep the crust crisp. To ensure that the crust stays even crisper, partially bake the pie crust before adding the filling to be baked.

* To keep the pie edges from over browning while baking cover them with strips of foil.

* Use a pie pan that absorbs heat. The best ones being glass, dull aluminum, or dark finished metal. These pans will help to ensure that your pie crusts bake to a nice golden brown color.

* When baking a double crust pie be sure that the top crust has holes cut or poked in it so that steam can escape while baking. It's especially nice if the holes are cut or poked in a decorative pattern.

* For a richer color to your pie crust, brush the exposed dough with milk or lightly beaten egg before baking.

From: allrecipes.com

[Isa]

Could you mean fraisage from the verb fraiser??