Machines for pastry dough

[paulraphael]

What's your prefered method for mixing dough for tart shells or pie crusts?

For crumbly pate brisée/sucrée type dough, or pies, I like the food processor. Cuts fat into the flour beautifully and works so fast that nothing has a chance to get warm.

And I know hand mixing works well if you know what you're doing.

How well does a stand mixer work for this kind of dough? It's it's a good option, are there any special techniques?

I've never tried it. Seems like a good idea if it works, since the machine is easier to clean.

[chefpeon]

I must say, that I don't really like using a stand mixer for these types of doughs, but when you have to crank out massive amounts of it, one really doesn't have a choice.

So true in my case. I have to crank out 200 hand made pies per week on average. There's no way I can make that kind of amount of pie dough by hand efficiently, and even our professional size food processor is simply too small. I have to use the 20 qt. mixer, and even then, I have to make more than one batch of dough to cover the amount for the pies I need. Even when I am ultra careful and only pulse the mixer and use ice cold everything (from flour, to butter to shortening to water), it still doesn't come out as nice as if I did it by hand or on the processor. This, however is a shortcoming I have to live with.

There are dough cutter attachments for professional mixers; they look like a paddle, except they are just a flat piece of metal in the shape of the outline of the paddle. They work pretty well, but most of the bakeries I've worked in never had that particular attachment (unfortunately!) I'd REALLY like to have one for the 20 qt I have now.

At home, I do those types of doughs by hand only. I might use my food processor, except I hate getting dishes dirty, so I don't. Besides, there's a satisfaction one gets by doing it by hand, dontcha know.

So my advice for home bakers is, either do it by hand or on the processor. The stand mixer won't get you where you want to be as far as flakiness and tenderness.....believe me, I know.

[alanamoana]

for sucree (a.k.a. short dough), using a mixer with a paddle attachment is fine. in this case, you aren't adding enough liquid to develop any gluten in the flour and all the flour should be coated in fat (butter) anyway. just don't over mix.

with flaky dough (a.k.a. pie dough), i make pretty big batches by hand, but i'm not doing this on a regular basis for production purposes. when i used to have to make larger batches in a restaurant, we'd use the mixer with the paddle. as chefpeon says, everything cold and pulse only.

[chefpeon]

for sucree (a.k.a. short dough), using a mixer with a paddle attachment is fine.

Thanks for that clarification alana. I make tons of sucree as well, and the mixer is fine for that.

[paulraphael]

for sucree (a.k.a. short dough), using a mixer with a paddle attachment is fine.

Thanks for that clarification alana. I make tons of sucree as well, and the mixer is fine for that.

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I've noticed people use pate sucrée to mean different things. Sometimes they mean a pate brisée that's sweetened (in which case Chef Peon's advice applies). Other times they mean a sugar cookie-like dough that's thoroughly mixed (which I think is what alanamoana means).

[CanadianBakin']

Food processor all the way! Washes up in the dishwasher no problem .

[alanamoana]

for sucree (a.k.a. short dough), using a mixer with a paddle attachment is fine.

Thanks for that clarification alana. I make tons of sucree as well, and the mixer is fine for that.

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I've noticed people use pate sucrée to mean different things. Sometimes they mean a pate brisée that's sweetened (in which case Chef Peon's advice applies). Other times they mean a sugar cookie-like dough that's thoroughly mixed (which I think is what alanamoana means).

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I find that there are a lot of definitions for different doughs. From what I understand, brisee is a dough that is meant to be mealy or short and is usually unsweetened. This is NOT meant to be a flaky dough.

Unfortunately, it seems that people use the terms (brisee and flaky pie dough) interchangeably. Where I find that people are confused is determining what is flaky and what is mealy/short. If you're looking to make a flaky dough, then do it by hand. If you're looking to make a mealy dough, then a mixer is fine.