Pies and Tarts

1
Pies and Tarts

• Session four

2
Pies / Pastry Dough

• Pies
• composed of a sweet or savory filling in a
  baked crust. It can be made with or without a top
  crust and is usually made in a sloped side pan
  and cut into wedges for service
• Pies are a British tradition- pies of monumental
  size were made for public celebrations.
• In the U.S. pioneer women made pies 7 days/week.
• Tarts
• Similar to a pie, but made in a shallow
  straight sided pan in various shapes. Usually
  open-faced and decorated.

3
Pie Dough/Pastry Crust

• A paste of fat and flour- used to bake a filling
  in.
• Consists of
• -Flour (or crumbs) Moderate gluten content is
  best.
• -Fat shortening or lard- butter is best
  reserved for pastry as it is expensive and
  difficult to handle
• -Liquid usually water(cold)- occasionally egg
  yolk or vinegar.
• -Salt For gluten development but mostly for
  taste.
• -sometimes sugar for tenderness

4
Type of Fat in Doughs

• Affects flavor and flakiness
• Butter gives delicious flavor
• Crisco- flaky but no flavor contribution
• Lard flakiest of doughs. Often used for savory
  due to taste
• Oil not appropriate for pie doughs

5
Crusts

• Pie Crusts can be made from flaky, mealy or
  crumbs.
• Tart Crusts usually made from sweet dough
• Both types of crust can be baked before filling
  or baked with the filling.
• Pate Brisee Flaky dough which is best for top
  crusts, lattice crusts, and pre-baked shells.
• Mealy Doughs Best to use when soggy crusts could
  be a problem.

6
Sweet Tart Dough

• Pate Sucree
• Rich, non-flaky dough which is sturdier than
  flaky or mealy dough. More cookie-like, has a
  rich flavor butter). Can be refrigerated for 2
  weeks or frozen for up to 3 months.
• Procedure
• 1- Cream softened butter. Add sugar and beat
  until smooth.
• 2- Slowly add eggs, blend well.
• 3- Slowly add flour. Do not overmix.
• 4- Cover with plastic wrap, chill thoroughly.
• 5- Scraps can be re-rolled. But dont overdevelop
  gluten.

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Procedure Flaky / Mealy Doughs

• Each roll creates gluten development/toughness
  and reduces quality.
• 1- Sift flour, salt together in bowl.
• 2- Cut fat into flour.
• Flaky size of peas or peanuts
• Mealy cut in until cornmeal size
• 3- Gradually add cold liquid, mix gently until a
  dough forms. Do not overmix.
• 4- Cover with plastic and chill.
• 5- Roll and cut into desired shapes.

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Flaky-Mealy Doughs

• Quick, easy and versatile
• Used when a soggy crust could be a problem.
  Sturdier and resists sogginess.
• Cold fat is cut into flour
• Flaky dough, cut fat in pea size
• Mealy dough coarse cornmeal

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Pastry Techniques

• Hand mix less than 10 pounds
• Cut in fat to desired stage and mix in liquid
  gently- youll have much better control.
• Rest and/ or chill dough
• to relax gluten, even out moisture, firm fat.
• Blind bake baking a crust before it is filled
  ex. Cream pies In addition, these pies should be
  docked to allow steam to escape during baking and
  reduce shrinkage.

10
Techniques

• Pan properly- place point at center and unfold
  gently- shape to pan w/o stretching dough.
• Flute and trim.
• Rest or chill shell. Dock if appropriate.
• Start baking at 450 degrees and reduce
  temperature after 10 min. Until golden brown,
  cracker-like pattern.

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Techniques (cont.)

• Roll properly.
• 1. Flour board well, clean rolling pin, dough
  knife.
• 2. Form portion into round shape.
• 3. Roll from center outward at 90 degree
  intervals.
• 4. Turn over while still thick, flour board.
• 5. Roll from the center out, like the spokes of
  wheel
• to 1/8-3/16 inch thickness with a
  diameter of 2
• greater than the baking pan.
• 6. Fold in half, then in quarter, using a dough
  knife,
• bench scraper, or rolling pin to support
  it.

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Pie Fillings

• Fruits Fresh, frozen, canned or dried
• Milk/Cream with flavor additions- choc,
  coco-nut, butterscotch
• Eggs for structure and flavor
• Thickeners
• Flour- opaque quality, unstable
• Cornstarch- clearer, unstable
• Waxy maize and instants- very clear, brilliant,
• stable.
• Tapioca- very clear, stable, attractive to some

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Thickening

• Power- Rule of thumb 2x flour for
• cornstarch
• Factors temperature (185 )
• time
• sugar and acid
• add after thickening to
• avoid reducing power
• Avoiding lumps
• Mix dry starches with sugar to dispense them.

14
On Egg Cookery

• Eggs add richness, structure and nutrients
• Avoiding curdling- temper and do not boil
• Avoiding discoloration use stainless steel
  cookware and not aluminum
• Making meringue pies successfully
• 2 major pitfalls 1- dissolving sugar
• 2- overbeating the egg whites
• HINT use whites that are at Room Temp and
• warm sugar.

15
Meringues

• For cooked meringues (not Italian)
• Heat whites with granulated sugar (over hot
• water) until the sugar dissolves. Then whip
• until stiff.
• Ratio of sugar to egg 11 light
• 1.52 best for pies
• 71 Royal icing
• Simple meringues Add 1 Tbsp. of sugar at a time
  to promote dissolving. Start adding sugar at the
  soft peak stage, not before!

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Meringues (cont.)

• Successful meringue pies
• Ratio of sugar to egg white
• Still warm filling- not hot but otherwise,
  slows browning
• Hot oven- 400 degrees- for a short time.
• They have a short shelf life because sugar is
  hygroscopic- weeping and watering are inevitable.