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Cooking Techniques - D

• Pie Dough

• Knead Dough

Making Pie Dough

It's almost as easy to make pie dough by hand than as it is with a food processor. The most important things to remember with both methods are keeping the ingredients cold, and not overworking the dough. Pie dough consists of fat, flour, water, and salt. Shortening yields the flakiest crust, but not necessarily the tastiest. Butter, which is used in most classic pastry, gives a richer flavour, but the crust is less tender. A mixture of the two will yield a good balance.

To begin making the dough, cut the cold fat into walnut-sized chunks and add them to a bowl containing the sifted the flour. Using your hands, rub the fat chunks with the flour in order to break the chunks into smaller pieces. Don't rub too hard or too long; you don't want the fat to soften. When the particles are the size of hazelnuts, add the already combined salt and cold water to the bowl and mix until the liquid is just incorporated. For the food processor, place the flour in the workbowl fitted with the steel blade. Pulse flour to sift then place pieces of cold fat on top. Pulse just to cut fat into flour, so the pieces are reduced to the size of large peas. With the machine on, pour water through feeder tube and allow dough to form into a ball. Wrap the dough and refrigerate until firm. Pies with liquid fillings often have soggy crust if flaky dough is used. Working the fat and flour until it is the size of coarse cornmeal will yield a mealy dough more resistant to liquid. Remember, the secret to good pie dough is right in your hands (or your wrist as the case may be).

Knead Dough

Kneading dough can be done in a mixer, with a dough hook, or by hand. After you have mixed wet and dry ingredients together, you will have a shaggy mass. Transfer this dough to a lightly floured surface. Now, push down and forward on the dough with the palms and heels of your hands. Fold the dough over onto itself and push down and forward again. Lift the dough, give it a quarter turn. Continue kneading and turning. If the dough sticks, just scrape it up, dust the counter with flour, and continue. A well-kneaded dough should be smooth and elastic. To test a dough made from mostly white bread flour, pick up the dough and stretch it back. Look at the surface. It should be smooth and even, not webby. There also should be some resistance from the gluten when you pull on the dough. The same test applies for wholegrain flours. They don't contain as much gluten, however, so they'll feel slightly less springy.

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