PASTIE CRUST

[Semon]

Sense it is made with a pie crust I guess this goes here.
I made one the other day and the crust was so rich (I guess because of the Lard) I didn't like it very much.
I do remember when I was a kid and my mother made them the crust was better and now my wife doesn't tolerate the grease very well.
So what I am getting at is a good pastie crust that wouldn't be over the bearing with the lard and or butter.
What would be a good crust recipe for it?

 

[pictonguy]

I think it's against the law to make pie crust without lard or butter.

Anyway you can either reduce the amount of fat or substitute the fat with milk, maybe add some vinegar for example or add some nut flour like almond flour to some wheat flour but your not going to get tender but more tough and chewy, which is not that desirable in a pie crust.

If you reduce the total amount of lard or butter by half for example you will need to add more liquid (such as water or milk) to bind the dough together, which will make the crust tougher and drier.

Tender and flavorful pie crust recipes are generally going to be a certain ratio of fat to flour and you could possibly sub the lard or butter for a vegetable oil for a different mouth taste that might suit your preferences better but without the tried and true ratio's that make pie crust flaky expect tougher and chewier and there's a few pie crusts that I've had in the past that needed a knife as well as a fork to eat, not the best scenario and neither was the texture, but that's just imo.

 

[Silversage]

Pasty dough is sturdier than regular pie dough. King Arthur flour has a good recipe for pasty crust - it includes an egg and a splash of vinegar.

Regular flaky pie dough would be too tender to support the weight of the dense meat pie - thus, the egg for more structure.

Cornish Pasties

Traditional Cornish miners' food, pasties are meat and vegetable hand pies or turnovers, great for lunches.

www.kingarthurbaking.com

 

[Aunt Bea]

You could use a ball of your favorite pizza dough to make the shell of the pastie.

Sort of a Cornish calzone.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Pasty dough is sturdier than regular pie dough. King Arthur flour has a good recipe for pasty crust - it includes an egg and a splash of vinegar.

Regular flaky pie dough would be too tender to support the weight of the dense meat pie - thus, the egg for more structure.

Cornish Pasties

Traditional Cornish miners' food, pasties are meat and vegetable hand pies or turnovers, great for lunches.

www.kingarthurbaking.com

Copy Me That!!!

 

[dcSaute]

"pastry dough" can be made with a range of "fat-to-flour'
the relative quantity and melting point of the fat - butter, lard, etc. - affects the 'human touch" perception of "too much fat"

 

[Silversage]

"pastry dough" can be made with a range of "fat-to-flour'
the relative quantity and melting point of the fat - butter, lard, etc. - affects the 'human touch" perception of "too much fat"

He asked about pasty dough, not pastry dough.
A pasty (a.k.a pastie) is a meat, potato and vegetable hand pie.
Pasties are common it the northern Great Lakes States, as imported by Cornish and Finnish ancestors.
It was a common lunch box meal for copper and iron miners underground.
Because of the weight of the filling, the means of re-heating (often on a shovel), and the heavy handling and environment, it required a very sturdy crust.
The OP's problem is that s/he was focused on that fat to flour ratio, and missed the strength of the added protein provided by the egg.

 

[dcSaute]

is a pastie not a variety of "pastry?"
I guess it's a matter if semantics . . .

 

[dragnlaw]

It may very well be derived from the same word, but it certainly does no longer mean the same thing. A pasty aka pastie is only a meat and potato hand held pie.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I doubt that the local representative of The Cornish Pasty Association will ever come knocking at the door but it’s fun to understand the history and tradition.

I thought that this bit of trivia was interesting.

As early as the 13th century, the Cornish people took to mining tin. Miners' wives would prepare for them small hand pies filled with meat and vegetables, which we now know as pasties. The edges of the pasties would be crimped, forming a handle for the miners to hold to with their arsenic-covered hands (via Cornish Pasty Co). They would then discard their handles, leaving them to keep the "knockers" (ghosts of the mines) happy. It is this crimped edge that defines a Cornish pasty more than anything else.

As the Chair of the Cornish Pasty Association, Jason Jobling, explained to Metro UK, a proper Cornish pasty needs between "18 to 20" crimps. You should end up with a capital "D"or half-moon-shaped pasty.

The Cornish Pasty Association states that an accomplished pasty maker can crimp between three to four pasties every minute. There is also a delineation in name between pasties that have been crimped by left or right-handed bakers. A pasty that has been crimped by a left-hander is called a cock pasty, while a pasty crimped by a right-hander is called a hen pasty.

 

[medtran49]

Copy Me That!!!

Me too! Thanks @Silversage

 

[jennyema]

I find crusts made with lard a bit too greasy, too.

You might try shortening instead. Or a mix of shortening and butter.

 

[KatyCooks]

There was also a thing called a Bedfordshire Clanger, that had a savoury side (meat and potatoes) and then a sweet side (something like stewed apple or I suppose whatever was local and available seasonally). A sturdy sort of pastry was required for that too, to keep the fillings separate.

 

[Aunt Bea]

It sounds like ‘sturdy’ pastie crust might have been an early form of Tupperware.

 

[caseydog]

I find crusts made with lard a bit too greasy, too.

You might try shortening instead. Or a mix of shortening and butter.

Mexican baking often uses Manteca, which is the Mexican word for lard. I don't use it myself. For one thing, it is hard to get good Manteca, even here in Texas. It is usually highly processed hydrogenated fat. Bad for you, and just plain bad.

CD

 

[taxlady]

Mexican baking often uses Manteca, which is the Mexican word for lard. I don't use it myself. For one thing, it is hard to get good Manteca, even here in Texas. It is usually highly processed hydrogenated fat. Bad for you, and just plain bad.

CD

I used to use lard and liked the way it works for pie crust. But, I can't find any that isn't full of weird chemical.

 

[medtran49]

I used to use lard and liked the way it works for pie crust. But, I can't find any that isn't full of weird chemical.

Look for leaf lard, though you may have to order it. It's the highest quality so there shouldn't be chemicals or any fillers/extenders in it.

 

[GotGarlic]

Look for leaf lard, though you may have to order it. It's the highest quality so there shouldn't be chemicals or any fillers/extenders in it.

This. I get it from the whole-animal butcher near me. I like to use 2/3 lard and 1/3 butter to make pastry crust. Not pasty - I've never made that.

 

[KatyCooks]

It sounds like ‘sturdy’ pastie crust might have been an early form of Tupperware.

I think you're right Aunt Bea!

 

[taxlady]

Look for leaf lard, though you may have to order it. It's the highest quality so there shouldn't be chemicals or any fillers/extenders in it.

Tenderflake is pretty much what you get in supermarkets here. If I want something else, I will have to go to a specialty butcher. I thought leaf lard was the unrendered fat from some specific bit of fat on a pig. I have bought leaf lard in the past and rendered it myself. It was about 40 years ago.