Sunday, June 5, 2011

Sweet pie crust

I've published my savory pie dough on this blog, so here's the sweet version. This is such an easy and absolutely delightful dessert pie crust. To enjoy the flavour of the butter and avoid the excess fat, just chant over and over "No Calories Here" while you're making it, to cast a protective spell.

1 cup flour
1⁄4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) butter, cut into pieces 
1⁄2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsps + cold water

NOTE: The pastry needs time to cool in the refrigerator not once, but twice, for about 15 minutes each time, and then another 15 minutes to pre-bake in the oven, a total of about 45 minutes.
  1. Put the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter pieces and pinch with your fingers to create a crumb texture (it's like playing in sand).
  2. Make a well in the middle, and pour in the vanilla and water. Quickly work in the flour to create dough. Do not over-mix. The bits of butter are what help the crust become crisp and flaky.
  3. Pat into a thick disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 15 minutes.
  4. Roll out the dough to about 2⁄3 of the usual size, fold in, reform into a ball and roll out again. You can do this one more time if you want before rolling it out completely to line the tart shell. Chill another 15 minutes. These two chilling times are important, because it hardens the little bits of butter in the dough so that it creates minuscule pocket in crust for that flaking effect.
  5. To pre-bake, heat the oven to 400°F. I use weights to blind-bake the shell, this prevents it from puffing up. Line the frozen pie shell with parchment paper, pour in weights (I use beans), just enough to cover the bottom and up the sides. Bake the shell for about 10 minutes like this, then remove the weights and the paper, put the partially-baked shell back in the oven and bake another 5 minutes or until the crust is ever-so-lightly browned.
  6. Allow it to cool completely before using to allow the crust to set.

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