A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Pies are defined by their crusts. A filled pie (also single-crust or bottom-crust), has pastry lining the baking dish, and the filling is placed on top of the pastry but left open.
The term pie is still in use commonly with the older generations. Many Americans will use pie as slang for pizza. It is almost normal to hear someone order a pie and get a pizza, especially in New York City. Many people use the word pie when referring to the whole pizza instead of only a slice.
When puff pastry is baked, the layers begin to separate and “puffâ€. The remaining tiny pieces of butter help to make a pie crust flaky when cooked, but the resulting pie crust is much thicker and sturdier than a puff pastry. Pie crusts provide a more solid bite and thus foundation to hold pie fillings.
A small pie was known as a tartlet and a tart was a large, shallow open pie (this is still the definition in England). Since pastry was a staple ingredient in medieval menus, pastry making was taken for granted by the majority of early cookbooks, and recipes are not usually included.
First of all, it's not a really a pie. It's a tart. Instead of a flakey pie dough shell, this is made with a crunchy shortbread cookie type crust.
Pecan pie is a pie of pecan nuts mixed with a filling of eggs, butter, and sugar (typically corn syrup). Variations may include white or brown sugar, cane syrup, sugar syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or honey.
Traditionally, the jam tart has been made with shortcrust pastry – "short" because it comes apart into small, "short" irregular particles.
Pie Dough is much thicker and sturdier than a puff pastry. Pie crusts provide a more solid bite and thus foundation to hold pie fillings. Pie crusts tend to be more buttery and flaky but are a more stable vessel for holding pie filling. Puff pastry is fluffier and crispier than pie dough.
Four amazing Pie Crusts – Flaky, Brisee, Sucree, Sablee.
/ (ˈʃɔËtËŒkrÊŒst) / noun. a basic type of pastry that is made with half the quantity of fat to flour, and has a crisp but crumbly textureAlso called: short pastry.
“Short,†in a baking context, means that there is a high proportion of fat to flour. This is usually just applied to non-yeast doughs, by the way; you won't see references to a “short†challah dough or brioche, for instance. Usually these short doughs are very rich, crumbly, and tender with butter.
In baking, a crust is the outer, hard skin of bread or the shell of a pie. Generally, it is made up of at least shortening or another fat, water, flour, and salt. Depending on the type of pastry, the crust can be baked before it is filled, or in baked (baked together with the filling).
Flaky Pastry: The most rustic and simple of all the pastry doughs, flaky pastry is used for sweet and savory pies, quiche, sausage roffs, and turnovers. It benefits from a hands-off attitude because the flakiest of doughs is the result of pea-sized chunks of butter and gentle hand work.
Flour: For a tender crust, choose a low-protein flour. Pastry flour, with a protein content of about 8-10%, ranks between all-purpose flour and cake flour. All-purpose flour works just fine for pie crusts, while cake flour might lack enough protein to form a workable, elastic dough.
Puff pastry can generally be described as flaky, light and buttery, good for pies and pastries, while shortcrust pastry has a more crumbly, biscuit-like texture which is good for tart or quiche cases. When making a pie, many cooks use shortcrust on the bottom and puff pastry for the lid.
The best fat for pastry-makingUnless you don't eat dairy, we recommend butter for flavour and texture. You can also try a 50/50 split between butter and lard, which works well for savoury recipes like quiches. Make sure your butter is really cold when you rub it in to the flour.
Butter is the perfect fat as it provides both shortness and flavour. Many chefs prefer unsalted butter, as it has a fresher, purer flavour, but salted butter can be used in all recipes. You will need to adjust the amount of salt added to the pastry according to the type of butter used.
The pros: Shortening has a higher melting point than lard or butter, so it's easy to incorporate into pie dough and roll out. It's also helpful when making any kind of decorative pie crust, because doughs made with shortening hold their shape the best during baking.
Pastry must always be chilled in a fridge after making. This helps it to relax which in turn will help to prevent it shrinking on baking. Additionally, instead of trimming excess pastry from a tart case before baking blind you could also leave it overhanging the tin.
My pastry is very crumblyThis can happen if you use too much fat or over mix the pastry. The pastry may be too dry and may not contain enough liquid to properly bind the fat and flour. This can also happen if self raising flour is used.
Pastry cream: Confectioner's custard. An egg- and flour-thickened custard made with sweetened milk flavored with vanilla. It is traditionally used as a filling for flans, cakes, pastries, tarts, etc. The flour prevents the egg from curdling.
