Looking for a good pie dough recipe...

[BrianMorin]

I'm looking for a good pie dough recipe. Maybe a few. I just got off the CCC (Choclate Chip Cookie) thread, so that made me reflect; there must be dough recipes that will give you crisp thin, puffy, etc?

Take care

 

[Alix]

Brian mine is as follows.

Makes enough for top and bottom of one pie.

2/3 cup lard
2 cups flour
4-5 tbsp cold water

Place lard and flour in bowl, cut the lard until it resembles coarse crumbs and then add the water. Use only enough to stick the dough together. Roll out half and place in pie tin.

 

[BrianMorin]

Brian mine is as follows.

Makes enough for top and bottom of one pie.

2/3 lard
2 cups flour
4-5 tbsp cold water

Place lard and flour in bowl, cut the lard until it resembles coarse crumbs and then add the water. Use only enough to stick the dough together. Roll out half and place in pie tin.

Hi Alix;

Ignorance is the tool of creativity so please bare.

1. What is meant by 2/3? does it mean 2/3rds of a pound?
2. Is lard the best fat for pie crusts? There are many health issues surounding lard, but if I understand correctly, if you want a nice crust... You use the lard... Correct?

You may or may not feel comfortable answering the second question. If that's the case please scip it.

I've taken note of you recipe.
Thanks a ton!

 

[Michelemarie]

This is my grandma's recipe. I always get compliments on it.

Grandma's Pie Crust

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold milk
1-1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients into pie plate.
Combine oil and milk in a cup, whip with fork and pour over flour mix.
Mix with fork until moustened.
Press into pie plate and bake for 10 minutes.

 

[Yakuta]

Here is one I have used with success and no one knows what's in it. It turns out flaky and delicious.

1 pack of cream cheese (8 oz)
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups of flour

Put this all in a bowl and mix it all together (you can use your Kitchenaid as well). It should all come together without any water but if you need some add a tsp at a time until it comes together.

Wrap in Plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight.

Roll and use accordingly. It makes enough for a 9 inch pie crust with some leftovers to do some lattice or other decorations on the top,

 

[BrianMorin]

Thanks Michelemarie, I'm not that familiar with backed good, as I am a boulanger articanal, but I think that is a pie shell, am I correct?

Thanks for the recipe. Thanks Grandma!

 

[BrianMorin]

This one looks very nice too. If I double this I can make my tortiers (French Canadian meat pie - usually made during the winter holidays) with this...

Merci...

 

[Alix]

Brian...sorry! 2/3 CUP lard. And yes, lard IS the best for pie crusts. IMO I would prefer to use the most natural ingredients I can get. I know lard isn't the best in terms of health. BUT...I think stuff like Crisco is worse.

 

[BrianMorin]

Brian...sorry! 2/3 CUP lard. And yes, lard IS the best for pie crusts. IMO I would prefer to use the most natural ingredients I can get. I know lard isn't the best in terms of health. BUT...I think stuff like Crisco is worse.

I don't understand why I can't see this post on the thread, but I did recieve it in the message sent to me by the system.

Anyway, I agree with you on the Crisco and I suppose that we have to just do a bit of a balancing act if we want to eat well and have our desert, so to speak.

 

[mudbug]

Bri, here is an old thread about tourtiere. would be interested in how your recipe is the same or differs.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f21/tourtiere-canadian-french-meat-pie-1735.html?highlight=tourtiere

 

[BrianMorin]

Bri, here is an old thread about tourtiere. would be interested in how your recipe is the same or differs.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f21/tourtiere-canadian-french-meat-pie-1735.html?highlight=tourtiere

Well "mudbug", my recipe is cook as you go. However, the ingredients that I use do have some particularities.

The quantities look pretty good, however I would replace the pork with homemade or store bought Tempeh and the beef I would replace with homemade only seitan. I wouldn’t use celery salt, but I might use freshly ground celery seed, maybe some fresh ground cumin (spicing really depends on my mood and how much I want to go for the traditional or swerve off toward fusion ~ or whatever you’d like to call it.) sage sounds good. Salt, fresh ground pepper, freshly grated nutmeg – maybe.

The potatoes would be chopped up in 1.5 cm (½ inch) cubes and boiled till slightly cooked, still a bit hard to the fork, and left whole.

The pie crust would be freshly ground w.w. (whole wheat)

However, mudbug, that’s me. My mother would not use Tempeh or seitan but rather stick with the pork and beef. She would have a few

​

variations but nothing much. RAYT721 recipe: appears to be traditional.

Hope I answered your question. Oh ya, I am not a vegetarian, by the way, - I could here everyone saying in unison "Oooooh, a vegitarian" - but I don't eat pork, ever, and beef very rarely and that's always at the home someone else and usually around the holidays...

In abundance of good, healthy, fun food.

 

[mudbug]

Doesn't bother me that you are "vegetarianesque". Plenty of room here for all kinds of foodies...........

Please elaborate on what tempeh and seitan are. I think I've heard of the first before, but forget what it is, and I've never heard of the latter.

 

[BrianMorin]

...Please elaborate on what tempeh and seitan are...

Glade you asked.

Seitan: I'm not completely sure of it's origins but it is made by taking bread flour and developing the gluten. After you have sufficiently developed the gluten you continue kneading, but now you need under running water to remove all the other elements in the flour (i.e. bran, endosperm, I think that’s about it). Once you have removed most of the other solids, you are left with a large mass (smaller than what you started with) you take it (the mass) and boil it in a veggie stock for about an hour or so, until it is cooked at any rate. After that, you can use it like meat. Slice it to fry, grind it like hamburger, you name it.

Tempeh: This food is more of an oriental type. It is soybeans that are boiled until soft. Once they are soft enough you, once again, knead them under running water. The idea here is to split the pea or bean and remove its skin. once the skins are removed you keep on kneading for a while longer until the beans are well broken up. Then you inoculate with Aspergillus oryzae. This is an enzyme that starts to grow on the prepared soybean. This is very much like the cheese making process. You incubate for 48 hours or so and le viola you have Tempeh. For me this is a good substitute for pork and in a pinch can bulk up some seafoods but this would depend on your tastes.

This may be enough info, but if ever you’d like to try to make this stuff, let me know and I will go into more details.

 

[Timeloyd]

I make a TNT Pie Crust that always makes my Pies come out real golden and great.. Here is how it is made ~
In a metal bowl put 3 cups of flour and a dash of salt. Stir it up but don't get angry and remove 1/3 of it or about a cup of it and put in a measuring cup.
Mix in 1/3 Cup Peanut Oil until real mixed up but don't get too confused.
Stirring clockwise to add Positive Energy to the ingredients Add the 1/3 Cup Flour/Salt mix you had put aside.
Add 1/2 Cup Water slowly stirring until everything is all mixed up ~ Your Pun here, and put it aside.
Pour Peanut oil into the cover of a container the Peanut Oil is in. About 1 teaspoon. I use oil cap for measuring it into the Pie Pan. Peanut Oil is the best oil for baking.
This is the fun part. Like you would finger paint using your fingers rub the Peanut Oil all over the bottom, sides and top edge of a Pie Pan. I like to use round cake pans I call Deep Dish Pie Pans to make my pies in as they hold more fruit..
Take a Gloop of Dough or as much as you can get on a large spoon and put it in the Pie Pan. Do this several times. Pressing with your fingers walk it up the sides and over the lip of the pie pan and press down. Walk crust down the sides of the Pie Pan with your fingers and press in the corner circle of the Pie Pan and walk the crust across bottom pressing it down with your fingers . Continue till do not need any more dough. Make sure it is not to thick. This will be done by sight. Set rest aside for top crust. When done set the Crust in Pie Pan aside.
Put a couple hands full of Flour on a clean table top or counter. Press remaining Dough into and over the Flour on the counter using a floured rolling pin or your fingers. You can fill a smooth round glass jar with Ice Cubes and use for a roling pin. Roll the Dough until it is flat and not too thick. It should be round and about an inch bigger then the Pan the Pie is in. I do this by sight.
Preheat Oven to required temperture.
Melt 1 cup Margerine or Butter in a small pan. When almost done melting shut it off so it does not burn. Leave it on the stove till needed.
Put ingredients in Pie Pan crust. Then using a long flat knife or similar cut the dough on the floured counter / table into 1 inch sections. as long as the Pie Pan section covered and put it on top of Pie ingredients like a Jig Saw puzzle covering it and the top edge of the crust completely. Press inward and down from side creatibg what top edge pattern you want. I press the outside inward and up but not into the Pie just so it runs along the top edge. Your Pun.
Put it in the Oven for the required time and temperture. Ten minutes before it is done take it out and useing a Clean Brush unused except for painting the Crust. paint the edges and the top of the Crust very liberally with the Margerine / Butter, but is it elgible to vote ?
Return to the Oven for 10 Minutes or until the Crust has a Golden glow and the top is dry.
Remove from the Oven and let cool. This makes a beautifully good crust I really like. Enjoy.

 

[Timeloyd]

This is my favorite pie crust but must be refrigerated so it takes a bit longer to prepare.
It contains an 8 ounce tub of Cinnemon flavored tub butter or Stick Butter which has to be shaved otherwise.
I use an 8 oz. Container of flavored Cream Cheese that goes with the filling. It's far out Superwowilicious, and really amazingly hoopy (really altogether complete). Share and enjoy.

SUPERWOWILICIOUS CREAM CHEESE PIE CRUST

4 CUPS FLOUR
DASH SALT
1 TSP. BAKING POWDER
12 OZ. / 340 G. CREAM CHEESE, OR 12 OZ. / 340 G. TUB WHICH COMES IN DIFFERENT FLAVORS. DECIDE ON WHICH GOES BEST WITH THE PIE FILLING.
1 ~ 4 OZ/13 G. STICK HARD COLD BUTTER / MARGARINE
OR 6 OZ. CINNEMON TUB BUTTER
2 TBS. ICE WATER (NOT FROZEN OR ICE) JUST REAL COLD.
IN BOWL but don't get bowled over.

TO 4 CUPS FLOUR WHILE STIRRING CLOCK WISE ADD 1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER for the half baked ideas like useing Cream Cheese in the crust. Well they use Cheese in Pizza Crust and I*'m feeling kinda cheesy anyway.
USING A CHEESE GRATER RUB 1 ~ 4 oz / 113 g STICK OF REAL HARD COLD BUTTER FROM THE FREEZER OVER LARGE HOLES IN IT TO SHAVE THE BUTTER. Your Pun Here.
USEING A BUTTER KNIFE FROM ICE BOX SCRAPE THE BUTTER CURLS INTO THE FLOUR IF NOT ALL READY THERE.. MIX THEM INTO THE FLOUR WITH A COLD KNIFE.
IF USING 8 oz. CINNEMON TUB BUTTER OR STRAWBERRY BUTTER
USE LIKE THE CREAM CHEESE.
CURL IT IF COLD ENOUGH OTHERWISE CUT THE CREAM CHEESE INTO REAL SMALL PIEACES MIXING IT INTO THE FLOUR / BUTTER CURL MIXTURE. YOU CAN USE WHIPPED TUB CREAM CHEESE.

CLEAN HANDS REAL GOOD WIH DISH SOAP (AntiBiotic). Now for the Fun Part. LET YOUR FINGERS WORK, PLAY AND MOVE THROUGH THE MIXTURE FEEING MXG IT UP UNTIL IT IS VERY MUCH LIKE CRUMBS IN APPEARENCE.
STIRRING CLOCKWISE TO ADD POSITIVE ENERGY ADD 2 TABLESPOONS ICE WATER FROM THE ICE BOX. I DO NOT MEAN ICE CUBES BUT REALLY COLD WATER.
MAKE THE DOUGH INTO A BALL. PUT IT ONTO A 14 X 14 INCH SHEET OF ALUMINUM FOIL ON THE TABLE. ROLL THE FOIL AROUND DOUGH BALL COVERING THE DOUGH COMPLETELY. Do not try to spend it on Earth as it is not recognized as money thogh people often call money dough.
PUT IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR TO GET COLD. LEAVE IT 1 HOUR OR MORE. I LEFT IT OVERNIGHT.
OIL A PIE PAN WITH PEANUT OIL for nuttinss and laugher. Keep Smilin ;^)
REMOVE DOUGH FROM REFRIGERATOR AND OPEN ON TABLE TIL FOIL IS FLAT. PUT HALF OF DOUGH IN PIE PAN SPREADIN IT AND WALKING IT UP THE SIDES AND ACROSS THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE PAN. PUT IT IN THE FREEZER A SPELL.
SPREAD ALUMINUM FOIL WITH DOUGH ON IT FLAT on a pizza pan. WALK DOUGH OR ROLL IT TILL IT GOES TO ~ THE EDGE OF THE FOIL. HHMMM Sounds like the name of a TV show or movie.
PUT THE PIE PAN WITH THE CRUST IN THE FREEZER TO MEDITATE ON THE MEANING OF BEING CRUSTY.
NOW MIX TOGETHER FILLING ~<-@

ENERGY TO THE MIX.
MIX EVERYThING ALL UP ~ Let's get together Ya Ya Ya .. and
POUR IT INTO THE PIE SHELL FROM THE FREEZER. VERY CAREFULLY PUT PASTRY THAT'S ON ALUMINUM FOIL OVER THE FILLING. MAKE SURE NO OPENINGS EXIST IN THE CRUST. FLATTEN AND SCALLOP EDGES OF IT.
PUT PIE IN FREEZER KEEPING IT FLAT
FOR AN HOUR OR MORE TO COOL DOWN and to go into itself to see all the beautys of existence. Yummmmmmm ..
MEANWHILE MELT 1 CUP BUTTER / MARGARINE IN A SMALL PAN. LET IT SET WITH A CLEAN BRUSH NEAR BY. SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR ANYTHING BUT SPREADING BUTTER.
PREHEAT OVEN TO 400 DEGREES OR 200 C.
PUT TV MOVIE ON AS TIMER. WHEN MOVIE BEGINS PUT PIE FROM FREEZER STREIGHT INTO OVEN. BAKE 400 DEGREES OR 200 C FOR 3 COMMERCIALS OR 42 MINUTES. That is the answer to life, the universe and everything. Now what was the question? THE The answer to Life The Universe and Everything.
CHECK PIE AND BRUSH TOP AND EDGES VERY LIBERALLY WITH BUTTER / MARGARINE TO KEEP IT FROM BURNING AND TO MAKE THE CRUST GOLDEN.
LOWER OVEN TEMPERTURE TO 350 DEGREES / 180 C. AND BAKE PIE 5 MINUTES LONGER OR UNTIL THE CRUST IS GOLDEN.

SHARE AND ENJOY. REMEMBER WHERE YOUR TOWEL IS

 

[Constance]

Brian mine is as follows.

Makes enough for top and bottom of one pie.

2/3 cup lard
2 cups flour
4-5 tbsp cold water

Place lard and flour in bowl, cut the lard until it resembles coarse crumbs and then add the water. Use only enough to stick the dough together. Roll out half and place in pie tin.

Alix, this is the same rule that has been used by all the women in our family since before I could remember.
My grandmother, mother and I used Crisco instead of lard, but back in my younger days when I was doing all kinds of baking, I tried lard in my piecrust and bisquits, and it truly is the best lipid to use for these things.

But then I got this recipe for freezer piecrust from my ex's aunt, and it is really the berries. It's a big batch that you roll into balls and freeze. Whenever you need a crust, thaw and roll out. It may not sound that good, and it may seem a little sticky when you make the balls, but believe me, when you take them out of the freezer and roll them out, they work great.
And tender and flakey? You bet!

Aunt Dorothy's Freezer Piecrust

3 1/2 cups water
small hand of salt
1/3 cup Sugar
5 lbs flour
3 lbs butter flavored Crisco

Mix flour, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening. Mix in water. Roll in 24 balls and wrap each with seran wrap. Freeze in large ziplock bag. Thaw before using, about one hour.
******************

Something different I do with my piecrust is that I roll it out on a floured pastry cloth with a floured "mitt" (looks like the top of a cotton sock)covered rolling pin. It's something my family has always done, and it works great.
These sets can be ordered online from specialty baking sites.

 

[Alix]

HOLY COW Constance! 24 balls of dough is a LOT of pies! Is one ball top and bottom of a pie or just one half? I may give this a go, but in a smaller quantity at first to see how we like it. Do you think if I used lard it would work or is the butter flavour Crisco necessary? Thanks!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Glade you asked.

Seitan: I'm not completely sure of it's origins but it is made by taking bread flour and developing the gluten. After you have sufficiently developed the gluten you continue kneading, but now you need under running water to remove all the other elements in the flour (i.e. bran, endosperm, I think that’s about it). Once you have removed most of the other solids, you are left with a large mass (smaller than what you started with) you take it (the mass) and boil it in a veggie stock for about an hour or so, until it is cooked at any rate. After that, you can use it like meat. Slice it to fry, grind it like hamburger, you name it.

Tempeh: This food is more of an oriental type. It is soybeans that are boiled until soft. Once they are soft enough you, once again, knead them under running water. The idea here is to split the pea or bean and remove its skin. once the skins are removed you keep on kneading for a while longer until the beans are well broken up. Then you inoculate with Aspergillus oryzae. This is an enzyme that starts to grow on the prepared soybean. This is very much like the cheese making process. You incubate for 48 hours or so and le viola you have Tempeh. For me this is a good substitute for pork and in a pinch can bulk up some seafoods but this would depend on your tastes.

This may be enough info, but if ever you’d like to try to make this stuff, let me know and I will go into more details.

You have given us wonderful explanations for Seitan and Tempeh. Seitan is coomonly refered to as Wheat Gluten. It is the protien part of the wheat and is extracted just as stated above. You don't have to use running water though. If you live on a farm, or have animals, the by-products are useful as well. I used to extract the gluten by placing the whole wheat four into a very large bowl and adding enough water so that the mixture is primarily liquid. Then, I would work the flour until the strachy endosperm and the bran were washed away from the gluten in the water. Then, pour off the starch-water and the bran through a sieve. This would capture the bran which cold then pe spread on parchement paper and dried in the oven to make bran flakes. The starch water would be fed to the chickens.

The gluten would be simmered in whatever stock flavor I was in the mood for, be it poultry, beef, or pork. As BrianMorin stated, the Seitan could then be used much like textured vegatable protien or TVP (usually made from soy). You can fry it, cumble it and use it in lasagna, pasta sauce, meat pies, tacos, buritoes, chili, etc. It doesn't taste completely like the meat it is trying to replace, but has no fat or cholesterol. And like TVP, it is agreat product for making your own sausage. It has a very similar mouth fell to cooked fat, thus allowing you to remove as much fat as possible from prok or beef before grinding. Then add 1 pat TVP or Seitan to 2 parts meat. Add seasonings and 1 egg for every pound of sausage, as a binding agent. Then season and cook. At least for breakfast sausage, you can't tell the difference in mouth feel or flavor from store-bought pork sausage (as long as you season it properly).

Tempeh is cultured tofu, if you will.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Alix, this is the same rule that has been used by all the women in our family since before I could remember.
My grandmother, mother and I used Crisco instead of lard, but back in my younger days when I was doing all kinds of baking, I tried lard in my piecrust and bisquits, and it truly is the best lipid to use for these things.

But then I got this recipe for freezer piecrust from my ex's aunt, and it is really the berries. It's a big batch that you roll into balls and freeze. Whenever you need a crust, thaw and roll out. It may not sound that good, and it may seem a little sticky when you make the balls, but believe me, when you take them out of the freezer and roll them out, they work great.
And tender and flakey? You bet!... ...Mix flour, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening. Mix in water. Roll in 24 balls and wrap each with seran wrap. Freeze in large ziplock bag. Thaw before using, about one hour.
******************

Something different I do with my piecrust is that I roll it out on a floured pastry cloth with a floured "mitt" (looks like the top of a cotton sock)covered rolling pin. It's something my family has always done, and it works great.
These sets can be ordered online from specialty baking sites.

When making meat pies, or pot pies, I often flavor the crust with soup base and omit the salt. For a chicken pot pie, I would add chicken soup base. For a meat pie that used beef, I would add beef soup base.

I found that by flavoring the crust, you can add another layer of flavor to the end dish. Garlic, rubbed sage, thyme, and onion powder are other great pie-crust flavoring agents. And for an apple pie, try adding cinnamon, nutmeg, and Splenda or sugar to the flour before making it into a pie crust.

There are so many flavorings that can be added, and nobody I know has ever tried adding them.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Constance]

HOLY COW Constance! 24 balls of dough is a LOT of pies! Is one ball top and bottom of a pie or just one half? I may give this a go, but in a smaller quantity at first to see how we like it. Do you think if I used lard it would work or is the butter flavour Crisco necessary? Thanks!

Alix, each ball is one crust. If you want a 2 crust pie, you thaw 2 balls. They thaw quickly, and if for some reason you change your mind, you can re-freeze them. And they last for a long time in the freezer...two years, at least.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't use lard instead of the Crisco, but I'd try a small batch first to be sure. I'm not sure what freezing would do to the texture of the lard.
The thing I like about the butter flavored Crisco is that not only does the crust have great flavor, but it's a beautiful golden color...very pretty.