"piecrust" news and stories

Pie doughs are usually either flaky or mealy. Mealy dough is more compact and crisper, while flaky dough is, well, flakier. Both are tender. Mealy crusts are preferred for wet fillings, especially if you're going to fill the pie without partially baking the crust beforehand (blind baking). For mealy crusts, mix the fat longer so that the mixture looks like a course cornmeal before the liquid is added.

Flaky crusts can be used for wet fillings, but should be blind baked first. If you're doing a cream pie, bake the crust first then coat it with chocolate or cocoa butter to help prevent sogginess. You get flakiness by mixing the fat for less time, leaving it in bigger chunks. This creates layers of fat when the dough is rolled out, and a flaky texture in the finished product. Just keep in mind that this type of dough needs a little more hydration.

15oz pastry (or all purpose flour)
.75 oz sugar
1.5 tsp salt
11 oz butter, cold and cut into cubes/chunks
4.5 oz cold water

Mix the flour, sugar and salt to evenly distribute everything. Cut in the cold butter with a fork, your finger, a pastry knife or the paddle attachment on a mixer. mix until you get the desired size chunks of butter. Add the cold water just until incorporated. Rest the dough in the fridge for at least four hours to allow for proper hydration of the flour. Then you can roll out as usual.

Even though it hasn't cooled off that much in my corner of the world, it is technically fall and that means it's pie season. I like to make a wide variety of pies, and that doesn't just mean the filling. There's a whole world of pie and tart crusts out there for an almost endless list of possibilities this fall. Click through to the next few pages for everything you'll need to know about pie and tart crusts for great pies this fall.

With the holiday's just around the corner, we'll soon be digging into the wonderful world of pie. Do you have a perfect pie crust recipe, but when you put the filling in, the bottom seems to get too soggy? No problem. We've got several solutions for you!

Pie crusts are a tricky thing. I admit that I don't have a whole lot of experience with them and when I have tried to wrestle a cohesive sheet of dough into a pie pan, I've often settled for something far less than perfect. I'm okay with that though, I fill it with something delicious and call it rustic. It works for me.

But having read the Oregonian's food section today, I think I may have just learned the secret to a perfect pie crust every time. Olive oil. Danielle Certoni had always admired her mother-in-law's apple pie, and when the in-laws came for Thanksgiving, she asked her to make it. When she went into see how it was going, Danielle was surprised to discover that the secret was olive oil instead of butter or shortening. Apparently, it's quite common in other food cultures and produces a light and flaky crust without needing the same delicate treatment that we've come to expect that pastry needs. I don't have any pies on my cooking schedule, but the next time I need a crust, I'm turning to this recipe. If you make it, let me know how it turns out!

The picture is of an actual Olive Oil Pie Crust. It was posted on Flickr complete with recipe and entertaining narrative of how it came to be.

While reading the New York Times magazine yesterday, I noticed a piece about pies. Rhubarb pies, to be specific. The recipe is not what caught my eye, though, but this statement: "Pies cannot be successfully mass-produced."

I disagree. And I think that a lot of other people would, too.

The Times' argument goes along the lines that there is no way that a non-handmade crust could come close to equaling a homemade crust. And the Times must know some good cooks, because I know plenty of people who couldn't make even a graham cracker crust, let alone a "real" crust. Store bought crusts may not be showstoppers, but they serve their purpose in ease and reliability. They don't taste half bad, either, especially when you buy the unbaked, frozen crusts.

And in terms of store-bought pies, which can certainly qualify as "mass produced" compared to homemade based purely on quantity, places like Bakers Square and Marie Callender's have won scores of awards from the American Pie Council on taste and appearance. And I know that I have enjoyed a slice of pie from Marie Callender's more than a few times, even though I bake my own pies, too.

Is a middle-of-the-road store pie going to rival the best homemade crust? No, but not everyone is in a position to make, buy or eat the best pie in the world and that doesn't mean that they can never have a good pie, which is what a blanket statement like "pies cannot be successfully mass-produced" seems to imply.

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