Can You Blind Bake a Double Crust Pie

Pies are hands-down my favorite dessert, but I would be difficult-pressed to tell yous which part of the pie I like best, the fruit filling or the chaff. For some people, the pick is obvious, demonstrated by their plates scraped clean except for the neatly manicured crust edges pushed to the side. Or, as with my young daughter, by the sneak attacks she mounts on any stray chunks of crust sitting unprotected on our plates. When you become a pie right, all the same, you go a perfect remainder of juicy, not-also-sweet fruit and buttery, flaky crust—making both parts of the pie irresistible.

While making a proficient fruit filling does accept a little attention (and the right thickener), making the crust seems to be the part of the pie that inspires discomfort in many people. A double-chaff pie needs a crust that'south easy to work with and that bakes into a very flaky, American-style crust, as opposed to a crumbly short crust that'due south suitable for tarts. I'd similar to help you feel comfortable making, shaping, baking—and eventually perfecting—this kind of crust.

Butter's better, as long as it'due south cold

One of the big debates concerning pie chaff is what kind of fat to use. Shortening produces a tender and very flaky crust, but it lacks flavor. Some bakers say that a butter crust isn't every bit flaky as a shortening crust, but I disagree—with the right methods, you can get neat flakiness with butter. Besides, flake isn't the only measure of a succulent crust. I always end any debate by request, "Would you spread shortening on your toast? And then why utilise it to wrap around your pie?"

Since butter is key to this crust, choose a high-quality butter, one with a low water content. This generally means choosing a brand-name butter rather than a supermarket brand. The size of the butter chunk is critical. I like to accept quite a few chunks in the dough that are at least pea-size. Big bits of butter interpret into big flakes, equally the moisture in the butter turns to steam and puffs upwards that section of pastry. If the butter pieces are too small, you may get a tender pastry, simply one more crumbly than flaky. The temperature of the butter is really of import, as well. Brand sure you utilise it correct from the refrigerator (or pop it in the freezer for a few minutes if you're working in a hot kitchen). Cold butter keeps the dough cool, which helps forbid the development of too much gluten in the flour. Just equally important, cold butter stays solid longer in the heat of the oven. If the butter starts off too warm, information technology will immediately melt in the heat of the oven before it has a chance to practise its flaky matter.

For peachy pie dough, beginning cold and continue moving

Cut your butter into the flour until it looks similar this. The larger pieces are about one/4 inch (pea-size) and the smaller pieces form a mealy texture with the flour.

Squeeze the butter to see if it's cold enough. Compression off some of the flour and butter and mold it into a square. Bank check your fingers—if they're greasy, the butter's too warm and your mixture needs xv-minutes' chilling. If your fingers are dry, go alee and add together the water.

Add the h2o, and finish mixing while the texture is still shaggy. Don't try to get the dough smooth at this stage, or you'll develop too much tough gluten.

Information technology may feel strange non to, but don't arctic the dough yet. Shape it into two disks and outset rolling; you can chill the dough once the pie is assembled. This method is unconventional, but author Carolyn Weil says that ultimately you lot go the most tender result because you don't have to struggle with a disk of chilled, hard dough.

Feel free to flour the surface, and slide that dough around. Having your dough stick is worse than using too much flour, most of which can be brushed off after rolling anyway. Later on every few strokes of the rolling pin, gratis the dough from the surface by sliding and turning it.

A stand mixer gives more control

I'm a little different from some bakers in that I prefer to use my stand mixer rather than a food processor to make pie dough. I find that the mixer allows me to complete the dough quickly with a minimum of mixing but withal retain control of the dough's consistency. I remember the food processor tends to overwork the dough when mixing in the water, so if yous desire to requite the processor a attempt, use it to cutting in the butter, just and so dump the flour into a bowl and mix in the h2o by hand.

Whichever method you use to make the dough, it's important to check your butter and flour mixture to make certain it'due south nevertheless very common cold and malleable earlier yous add the h2o to the dough. Here's a good way to test. When the butter and flour mixture is composite to the desired "pea size," rapidly pull out a pocket-sized amount and play with it. Is it business firm? Can you mold it into a pocket-sized cube without your fingers getting greasy? If so, your butter is still cold enough and y'all can proceed with calculation the h2o. If the butter feels soft and your fingers wait greasy, put the mixture—bowl and all—in the refrigerator for fifteen to twenty minutes until the butter and flour pieces are business firm over again. This is a slap-up tip to remember when you're baking on hot summertime days.

Rolling the dough right away means no struggle and a tender texture

The next pace in my process may seem like heresy to some experienced pie-makers, but trust me, it works beautifully. One time you've added the water to your dough, most recipes take you shape the dough into a disk and and so refrigerate information technology for a period, in order for the butter to get business firm over again and the gluten in the dough relax. This is all well and proficient, except than at present you're left with a disk of very hard, chilled dough that will have so much muscle to become malleable enough to gyre (we've all seen bakers banging their disks with a rolling pin) that the dough gets overworked and tends to crack. I find that rolling out the dough, shaping the pie, and chilling the assembled pie for fifteen to xx minutes earlier baking produces the perfect texture. Merely if the dough rounds seems to exist getting limp or greasy as you're working, y'all can merely pop them into the refrigerator (on a piece of parchment or a blistering sheet) until they're cool enough to piece of work with once more.

Seven habits of highly successful fruit pies

Here are seven pointers that all add upwards to perfect pie. I also advise making a double batch of the dough and stashing ii disks in the freezer so you tin hands put together a pie.

1. Use a metal pie pan. The heat penetrates faster and therefore the bottom chaff has a improve hazard of browning. But be aware that the bottom crust of a double-crust pie will never be crisp—how could it be, sitting under six cups of-juicy fruit?

ii. Use a template to cut nicely circular dough circles. Carolyn uses cardboard block circles, but a pot lid works well, too.

three. Always add a pinch of salt to your fruit fillings. It makes the fruit fruitier and the sweetness sweeter.

4. Don't overfill the pie. It'southward tempting to pile on the berries, but more fruit releases more juices, and if the level of fruit and juices is higher than the rim of the pan, the juices will leak and spill over.

v. Chill the filled pie for 20 minutes before baking. This lets the butter in the dough prepare and the starch in the thickeners start to absorb liquid and swell, so they'll perform better in the oven.

vi. Picket the bubbles to see when the pie'south done. Juices will probably chimera out of the slits during the latter part of baking. At commencement the bubbles will be fast, indicating thin juices, but later they'll go lazy and deadening, significant the juices have thickened and the pie is done.

7. Cool the pie completely before slicing. Information technology's tempting to dig right in, but a hot pie will exist liquid inside. You need to allow the pie come to room temperature and so that the juices tin set up and cloak the berries properly. The ideal serving method is to cool the pie and then gently oestrus a slice in the oven to go the butter in the crust warm and toasty.

Thickening the juices means more than flavor in every bite

Every bit fresh fruit cooks in a pie, it releases lots of juices—succulent but thin juices that, if non thickened somehow, will make the chaff soggy and puddle up on the plate.

Some cooks use flour to bind and thicken the juices, only I discover that the texture can be a bit gritty and that the flour turns the juices slightly cloudy. I prefer to utilise a mix of cornstarch and quick-cooking tapioca, which both set clear when fully cooked and cooled. Using all cornstarch would brand the filling pasty, and all tapioca would get in seem dry out, but the two remainder each other. The cornstarch thickens the juices, while the tapioca adds texture without making the filling too gummy. If the texture of the tapioca is also pronounced, side by side fourth dimension try grinding it to a pulverization in the food processor first.