I said in yesterdays blog post that I would post how I make my all butter pastry dough pie crust.
Here in the United States when I was taking home economics in school, I was taught to measure by measuring cups and spoons. This is how I learned, but as I have gotten older and many years of baking, sometimes it would turn out just right and sometimes not. I have learned that by purchasing a small scale and measuring by weight I could make the same recipe over and over with it being most always the same. Sometimes the weather is a factor but by measuring by weight like people do in much of the world, this is how you get more accurate results.
The recipe
This is the recipe for the all butter pastry dough that I make. You start with cold butter.
225 grams All Purpose or pastry flour ( 1 & 3/4 cup of flour)
130 grams unsalted butter (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon)
45 ML water (three tablespoons)
Just under 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Add salt to flour and toss around the flour and salt. Grate or cut the cold butter into the flour. Rub together until crumbly. Add ice cold water and toss around into the flour. Turn onto pastry cloth or floured surface and pull together with your hands and press into a form of a dough. Use light handling and gently knead the dough, just enough to get the dough to form. Cut in half and then place in a covered dish and set in the fridge for 20 minutes. During this time you can get your pie mixture ready.
I do not add sugar in my pastry dough. In the past, and like most people, I used more sugar than I do today. Charles and I do not need extra calories so I try to bake the same things healthier. Also several in our family have food allergies and so I like to keep the ingredients to the minimum. This pie dough can be made with gluten free flour mix for those that are sensitive to gluten.
I use a pastry cloth now, there is cherry juice stain from the pie before this apple pie. When I washed the cloth this morning that stain came out, I will tell you more about the pastry cloth at the bottom of this post.
As you see in the ingredients there are few ingredients to making a pastry dough, and only simple tools as well.
I grate the butter into the flour so I use a grater. You can use a pastry cutter, a fork, a knife, however you choose to do this.
I flour the butter and slide it over the grate, I keep tossing it down into the flour as I go, this does not take long to do.
Then rub the butter and flour together until it is crumbly. I could not show this with two hands and take a picture. When working with a pastry dough you want to work lightly and quickly. I do a special technique where I slide the crumble through my hands so the butter bits over lap.
Add the cold water..... toss the mixture until the water is incorporated.
Turn out onto the floured pastry cloth or floured surface. Using a pastry cloth is very helpful in making a pie dough because little flour is needed to be added.
Now gently knead the pastry and then fold it twice then form a dough ball and press. This will help it to be flaky.
Divide the dough. I cut one side slightly smaller and use the larger one first for the bottom crust. This way any side pieces can be added to the second piece.
Place in covered dish and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
To prep a pastry cloth you just rub flour into the cloth. I add just a bit to the top of the dough and rub some on the rolling pin. Using a pastry cloth saves on flour because there is no need to add much extra flour. The pastry cloth can handle sticky doughs as well.
Use your pie bowl to judge the size of your pie circle you are rolling. This is a 9 inch regular old fashioned pie pan, not a deep dish.
No need to trim...
Place pastry in the pie pan.
Add your ingredients.
This is an apple pie with raisins, shredded butter over the top before putting the top crust over the filling.
This pie is simple and I try to not add a lot of sugar or extra ingredients in my pies. I am posting this to show how to make the pastry dough but the pie filling is so simple I will write how I make this.
I simply cut up three apples that I needed to use up, I put half of the apples on top of the unbaked crust, I added a half a cup (75 grams) raisins on top of that, then sprinkled 3 tablespoons of sugar over that, then added the remaining apples sprinkle just about a teaspoon more of sugar over the apples and grate or chip up butter over the top of the apples.
Roll out the second pastry for the top.
To help ease it over the top of the pie, use your rolling pin to roll the dough over and then ease it on top of the pie.
What I do next is I will pull the bottom edge up to match the top to form a edge so that the contents of the pie does not spill out.
Lift the bottom pastry up and shape the top pastry down and then up the side to match the bottom pastry. So when you are rolling out the top pastry you need to roll it large enough to make this fold.
You can see this more clearly in the next photo below.
I use my fingers to squeeze it together and then I go back over with water on my fingers to seal the edges. This helps to make a tall bowl shape to keep the contents inside. I use a bread dough cutter to cut my slits on the top of the pastry. You can also use a sharp knife or razor blade.
This is not a yummy gooey pie filling pie, this is a simple sliced apples with raisins, a bit of sugar and butter. The apples are baking along with the crust. We enjoyed this pie over the week and as many desserts, each day it got better. This pie was baked at 400 degrees for 45 minutes but keep a check on it after 30 minutes. Mine needed the full 45 minutes.
I did not use baking apples because I had regular eating apples that I needed to use, but baking apples are good for apple pie.
Sometimes we need to pre-bake a pie shell and sometimes we do not. It all depends on the filling and how long the pie cooks. An apple pie like this needs more time to bake to get the apples tender so the pie crust does not need to be pre-baked. If this were an egg custard pie I would prick and pre-bake the crust because it does not take long to bake an egg custard pie and so the pie crust would not have enough time to bake and then the bottom would possibly be soggy.
This was a flaky and tasty pie crust.
Lard is usually the best to use to make a pie, however where we live finding real lard is very difficult and I have to order it online and that is expensive. I have stopped ordering lard and have gone back to this butter pastry dough pie crust since we are on a more limited budget.
I had forgotten all about pastry cloths. I did not have one when I married and I had to manage without one so I made them using wax paper on my counter. I was so excited when I saw one last year and memories came flowing in of my family now gone. I ordered one right away and have been using it ever since. I teared up when I started rolling out my dough as it was one of the most sensible things ever forgotten.
I washed my pastry cloth after I made the apple pie because it had cherry juice still on the cloth from the other pie. You do not have to wash this cloth each time that it is used, as long as you fold it and put it in the freezer after using. When it gets stained or greasy from something spilled then I wash the cloth and hang to dry.
You can find pastry cloth on Amazon or you can order one from Oklahoma Pastry Cloth like this one. These are more expensive but they sell the premade in different sizes or you can have one custom made as I did. I wanted one to fit over my pastry board. I am short and so I pull out a kitchen drawer and lay the pastry board over the drawer and the cloth over that. This helps me to have it lowered when I am rolling or kneading dough.
These pastry cloths from Oklahoma Pastry Cloth are well made, sturdy but still soft. They will last a lifetime and could be handed down generation to generation I do believe. I am not affiliated with this company just sharing what I know about their pastry cloths and the company is so friendly.
I will say again, never let a pastry dough intimidate you, we learn best by doing.
Grandma Donna
