“Promises and pie crust are made to be broken.”
Jonathan Swift
Pastry dough can be either flaky or sweet. A pie
crust can be made from crumbs which you "pat-in-the-pan", such as a
graham cracker crust (commonly used in cream pies). A crust can also be
made from Puff pastry dough or Phyllo dough (both can be found in your
grocer’s freezer).
Basic pie dough or flaky pastry is the standard American dough for pies,
and is a fairly simple and versatile dough. It is made with flour,
butter or fat, and liquid (usually water, but the liquid can be water,
egg, or a combination of the two). Whatever fat is used, it is rubbed
or cut into the flour and then moistened with water to form the dough.
Salt is either dissolved in the water or added to the flour at the
start. The ideal crust will turn out flaky. The more finely the fat is
rubbed in, and the more the flour is worked, the less flaky and more
mealy the baked dough will be.
Sweet Pie Crust (pâte sucrée) is made in a similar way to the flaky pie
crust, with the addition of sugar and sometimes baking powder making
them more cookie-like in texture. It is often used for small tarts where
the filling is baked directly in the raw dough. Pastry recipes
containing sugar can be handled less gingerly than a traditional crust
because sugar tenderizes the dough.
Crumb Pie Crust is most commonly
made with graham crackers, but it can also be make with chocolate,
cornmeal, or any other crumb.
Cookie Crust, (pâte sable), is a delicate dough that is usually made by
beating the fat with sugar, then mixing in eggs, with the flour added at
the end. This dough is usually baked blind and then filled after it has
cooled.
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*The Fine Print
