[wyandotte]

Hi. I am on the hunt for improved pie crusts (i.e., nothing can possibly go wrong). I found something interesting in my voluminous box of recipes which mentions to "rub the pie crust with egg white [before prebaking for a pumpkin pie]".

What would be the purpose of this? We are to prebake the crust at 450 degrees for 5 minutes, then put the custard mixture in and bake the whole thing.

Thanks for your help!

 

[wyandotte]

Holy cow! Lots of information! I need it, too - I am still learning to make that perfect crust! I've never made a really good pie; there's always something going at least a bit wrong!

Thank you for answering my question. Since you are "obsessed" with pie, maybe you could give me your opinion on a pie crust recipe that I have not yet tried, as follows:

EASY PIE CRUST

- 2 TB powdered sugar

- 2 TB milk

- 1/2 cup of oil

- 1-1/2 cups of flour

- 1/2 tsp of salt

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients together and press into a pie plate with your fingers. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown. This is the easiest pie crust to make and it turns out perfectly every time.

Norcalbaker - I am scared to try this pie crust recipe. It goes against everything I know about pie crusts. I mean - oil? Any opinions?

 

[wyandotte]

Thanks for all your advice and the links, Brian. I went to Joy of Baking and homed in right way to Pumpkin Tarts and Pumpkin pie, faves of mine. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif I have to do something with the winter squashes from the garden.

The pastry recipes are both the same, but one (for the Pie) is called Pate Brisee (short crust pastry). Also, they require a food processor, which I don't have. My mother and relatives made pretty good pie crusts without machinery.

Have you ever made a good pie crust by hand, from scratch? Jes' askin'.

Thanks.

 

[wyandotte]

@norcalbaker. Geeze, where did you learn all this stuff, I mean the chemistry behind baking & cooking? I think I once heard about a book that explains all this stuff in a way that nonprofessionals (nonchemists) can understand. Are you familiar with it? Wish I could recall the title of that book.

@Brian. I am relieved to hear that a chef chooses to do a crust by hand!

Many thanks to the both of you for your input. I will make a perfect pie yet. I've not had a raisin pie since childhood, that's 40 yr. ago, so I hope to take a crack at that next.

 

[wyandotte]

Raisin pie. Yum.

LOL! I know. Once you've had a slice, you can't forget. We had it regularly as kids especially at church dinners. I see different kinds of recipes on the ww web, so now I wonder which is better for the thickening - cornstarch or flour...

Here we go.

 

[wyandotte]

My favorite piecrust recipe is one that I have used for over 40 years. I've modified it some, but it's my perfect pie crust every time. Like the others who have posted, I prefer to work the pastry dough by hand.

6 cups flour (I like to use cake and pastry flour)

Pielady, do you mean a mixture of cake & pastry flour or what. My understanding is that they are not quite the same thing. To get your perfect crust, do you use a specific ratio of cake to pastry flour?

Also, I see that yours is a large recipe and that it requires an egg for 6 cups of flour. Me, I would liquefy (with an old fashioned eggbeater, which I love) the egg and measure out one-half of it so that I could make less pie dough. Does this sound crazy to you? I hope not.

By "vegetable" shortening, I guess you mean Crisco? Or margarine?

PS. While I'm here, I have a recipe from an old church ladies' cookbook which recommends using 1 Cup of lard and 1/4 Cup of butter (per 3 cups of flour) just to complicate things! I don't wish to use lard but I know that the use of lard is an old tradition and that from what I hear it is truly the best kind of saturated fat for baking and cooking.

Hoo boy...the plot thickens.

 

[wyandotte]

Gma Van always added some but that was back in the day when AP flour was all that was available to the home cook.

ABout 28 yr. ago an oldish woman (maybe 70+) game me her "perfect" pie crust recipe which, yes, did include vinegar!

Today we have a zillion flours with different protein % at our fingertips and anyone can produce an awesome pie.

No kidding. When I go to the bulk food joint I am so bewildered in the flour section. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif

 

[wyandotte]

After reading and reading all these comments, I decided to make some raisin tarts. For the pastry, I used 3/4 pastry flour + 1/4 allpurpose (my idea). These flours were from a bulk store and I don't know who the mfr is.

I've never used pastry flour before, since most recipes tell you to use A.P., plus telling you that pastry flour is more difficult and you have to be more experienced at pastry making etc.

This dough was the nicest I've ever made and the tarts were perfect.

@Norcalbaker59 That is a most beautiful pie!

 

[wyandotte]

Hi, kids! Thanks for all the nice words and advice.

@Brian & Kokopuffs & Norcal. I used butter. I'm interested in knowing why weighing is better than measuring. We would have to be using a recipe that gives the weights instead of volume?

I think maybe my pastry came out so nice because I used really cold butter - straight from the refrig. I cut it into small cubes first.

Then combined these little cubes with the flour using a - wait for it - potato masher, the metal kind with holes, not wires. This was the first time I tried this as I have always had some trouble getting the pieces of butter the right size. The dough looked just right to me even though I was just guessing.

Also allowed the dough to chill and rest as has been advised here.

In the past, I think I was careless about some aspects, but reading here, I see the importance of proper procedure. That is probably more important than using pastry flour but I will never go back to 100% AP flour.

Many thanks to all for your advice and interest. Those tarts were so good. So, next question:

Why can't we make a raisin pie using tart ingredients? Does the larger volume have something to do with this?

 

[wyandotte]

@BrianShaw. If you said you used a wire one I wouldn't be scratching my head so much. But a flat one with holes... how innovative, experimental, and avant guarde. Good for you!

Grazie! Mille grazie!

@Norcal. That is surely the most scientific approach to ingredients I've ever read. I imagine there's even more to know, though, if you take a course in professional pastry making. I do sometimes weigh things because I do have a few old recipes on hand that were given to me. I should weigh all the ingredients, I guess. Except for ordinary cooking.