Pastry fat does it reduce in cooking?

[ggeoff]

Hi

I am a new member. When making pastry, why should one, when it invoves using a packet and a half of fat (butter and lard) to make a 9 inch pie? does this fat burn off in cooking?

geoff

 

[sparrowgrass]

Nope, it only burns off when you do your laps around the track.

 

[DaveSoMD]

No, it is actully integrated into the dough. The rolling / folding / rolling creates minute layers of butter in the dough that melt and create the tender and flakey texture.

 

[ggeoff]

Thanks for the replies folks. @davesoMD yes, I thought as much. After all when I make a 9 inch pie I use 250 grams of butter and 125 grams of lard that amounts to 3500 calories!

My favourite pie is what I call a cornish pasty pie. It has the same ingredients as a Cornish pasty but is made as a pie. I eat a quarter of the pie along with some green vegetables for one meal. So ignoring the calorific value of the filling in my meal, it amounts to nearly 900 calories! Almost half my daily requirements. However, if most of the fat content disappears during cooking I won't have to run a marathon to burn it off.

 

[Andy M.]

You are using 3/4 pound of fat for one 9" pie crust! That's a lot. I'd bet you could make a successful crust with a lot less fat. Recipes abound.

 

[ggeoff]

The pies a double crust, and unless I made a mistake I am usually using half fat to one unit of flour. I used three cups of flour, so although I didn't weigh it I think the proportion of fat is right. I just thought on reflection that it is a lot of fat and does it burn off during cooking!

 

[DaveSoMD]

Well that works out to 3/4 of a cup or 3 sticks. My recipe uses 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled and 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened. Not too much more than mine.

 

[philso]

well, the very traditional recipe for pie crust is 3-2-1; 3 parts flour, 2 parts shortening, 1 part water, which is pretty much what i use, although i eyeball the water.

as andy says, there are a lot of recipes, and many use a much lower ratio of fat. since you've brought the subject up, i'd guess you've reached the point where you need to strike a balance between taste & health. good luck!

personally, i don't use much fat these days except olive oil and non-cholesterol margarine for toast. and virtually no cholesterol fats. but i draw the line at pie crust, mincemeat, and christmas pudding. so there's about a 4 - 6 week period at the end of the year where i wouldn't want to go get a blood check.

 

[Alix]

Mine is 2/3 cup lard (or whatever) and 2 cups of flour. Makes a perfect flaky crust nearly everytime.

 

[ggeoff]

Thanks! I think I'll do some experimenting, cutting the amount of fat down. I have never tried using oil but perhaps some of the fat can be oil. I bought enough christmas puddings to enable me to eat one a month till next christmas. Perhaps I'll try making my own.

 

[Alix]

ggeoff, oil does not work for making pastry. The idea with pastry is to have chunks of the fat "lifting" the layers of the cooked stuff. I'm expressing it badly, but when you make pastry you want to have your fat a little bit chilled to help the chunks you cut stay as chunks and not get smooshed into oblivion. For a flaky pastry when you blend stuff you try to keep everything cool/cold until its rolled out and in the oven basically.

Bah. Sorry to describe this so poorly. I know what I mean but I don't believe I'm conveying it well at all. The short answer is "oil doesn't work in pastry"

 

[ggeoff]

Thanks Alix that makes sense