Rolling pastry dough

[David Ross]

Since we are in the midst of the end-of-Summer fruit season--and looking to the Fall crop of pears, peaches and pumpkins, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the best techniques for rolling pastry dough into the perfect pie crust.

While I vary the fillings for my pies, I always use exactly the same recipe and technique for my pastry dough--including the method I use for rolling out the dough.

I use a heavy, marble rolling pin. Somewhere over the years the handles and the middle "axle" in the rolling pin broke and fell by the wayside. Not to worry, the marble rolling pin soldiers on.

I cover the rolling pin with a cotton cloth cover that was my Mother's and is probably over 50 years old. Yes, through the years of being dusted with flour and the occasional turn in the washing machine, the cloth cover endures. If I use a rolling pin "bare" the dough seems to stick. With the cover, dusted in flour, sticking is never a problem.

I roll my pastry dough on a pine board that I cut and placed on top of one of my kitchen counters. It's not the most pretty of countertops, but it's sort of "rustic" looking. With a dusting of flour, pastry dough never sticks to my trusted pine board.

I suppose my techniques are a bit unconventional--but they work. I get incredibly soft pastry dough that is very easy to move over from the rolling pin/board to the pie dish.

What techniques do you use for rolling pastry dough into pie crust?

[tmriga]

For pie crusts I use my very large, wooden rolling pin, lightly dusted with pastry flour, on a pastry board. I keep the dough as cold as possible, and rarely have a sticking problem.

Theresa

[David Ross]

That's a very good point-keeping the dough cold. I make a dough with a mix of both butter and Crisco so given that high content, it tends to naturally roll out very well and might roll out well immediately after mixing. I haven't taken the chance and so I chill the dough after mixing so the butter can cool down.

I chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour before rolling. Then I'll take it out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter about 15 minutes to soften before I roll it out. It's still cool, just not bone chilling cold. I try to limit the amount of flour I use to dust the pastry dough while rolling it out because I don't want too much extra flour making my pie crust too gluey or dry.

[tmriga]

That's why I like rolling the dough on the small board. If I get distracted, I can pop it in the fridge or freezer for a few, and it's as good as new.

I roll it out from the center, with about 8 turns, and then smoothing to an even thickness. Pastry dough, like biscuit dough, is best when worked as little as possible.

Theresa

[Aloha Steve]

While I vary the fillings for my pies, I always use exactly the same recipe and technique for my pastry dough--including the method I use for rolling out the dough.

I'm looking for THE recipe for pastry dough for pies. Unfortunately, there are no family recipes for me to use so am searching.

Would you mind sharing yours ?

Edited September 8, 2009 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Lisa2k]

I always keep a slab of marble in the fridge, and usually roll my doughs, from puff to pie, on it. I love it, as the marble retains the chill for quite a while. I also have a small oak board and a large Boos chopping block, floured, when in a pinch aka marble slab being washed.. I use a french rolling pin, and roll from the middle outward, but never over the sides. You don't want to lose or melt any of that buttter/lard etc.

[David Ross]

I'm looking for THE recipe for pastry dough for pies. Unfortunately, there are no family recipes for me to use so am searching.

Would you mind sharing yours ?

It's very easy:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 stick salted butter, chilled

1/2 cup Crisco

1/3 cup ice water

Blend the dry ingredients together and then add the chilled butter and Crisco. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour using a pastry cutter until the butter and shortening are the size of small peas. Add the ice water, stirring into the dough with a fork, until the dough starts to come together and you can easily form it into a ball. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour before rolling out.

NOTE: Sometimes I'll add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. It gives the finished crust flavor and it helps make the crust flaky.

When I start the process of rolling, I shape the chilled dough ball into a small circle/slab with my hands. I then place it on the floured pine board work surface and I start rolling from the center outward. I turn the dough a quarter turn, dust with flour a bit and keep rolling/turning until I get a basic circle large enough for my pie pan. I like my pastry crust fairly thick, so I'll roll the dough out to just under 1/4" thick.

[tmriga]

Thanks for sharing your recipe with us, David. I can see how the cake flour would lighten the texture of your crust.

Alternately, if you want an all-butter crust, I highly recommend Martha's Pate Brisee. It is what I use, exclusively for my two-crust and most custard pies. Just remember to keep it as cold as possible before baking. Here's the link:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pate-brisee-pie-dough?autonomy_kw=pate brisee

Theresa

[sparrowgrass]

Back when I was a young'un, learning how to make pie crust from my mom, the thing that always bumfuzzled me was getting the pastry off the board and into the pie pan. When I learned to roll the pastry up on the rolling pin, I never had to patch or curse again. Probably everyone else knows this trick, but it was an epiphany for me.

[Aloha Steve]

Thanks David for the recipe with excellent instructions to boot!

When I 'attempt' making it I'll send pix for your amusement

[Aloha Steve]

And Thank You Theresa for the M.S. suggestion. I have her recipe down to try as well. I believe it is a exact duplicate of Julia Child's and M credits her

with it. I watched a video with J.S. making Tarte Tattin, I was almost was out the door to the market right then and there to get apples!

[paulraphael]

The key is cold, especially if you're using butter. And I'm of the camp that believes butter is the only option for a sweet pastry.

For savory tarts, leaf lard, goose fat, or suet are excellent options, in ratios of about 1:3 with butter. There will never be any vegetable shortening in my kitchen.

The reason butter is great, besides flavor, is that it melts a bit below body temperature, and therefore melts in your mouth. It's luscious and never greasy, but his also makes it a bit more challenging to work with. The key is to keep the butter solid, always. If it melts, you lose the structure of the pastry, and water can liberate, which will develop gluten and tougen the crust.

Lisa's tip on the chilled marble slab is traditional and works great. I don't have one, so i roll out the dough on some lightly floured plastic wrap on the counter or cutting board. At the first sign of stickiness, the whole thing slides onto a sheet pan, gets covered with another layer of plastic, and goes in the fridge. Pull it out and continue in 20 minutes or so when it hardens up. You can repeat this as many times as you need to. Obviously life is easier if it's cool in your kitchen.

There are lots of good pastry recipes ... most are functionally close to each other. Quality is determined primarily by technique, followed by the quality and quantity of fat (butter is better than alternatives; good high fat farm butter is better than generic, etc.), followed by the quantity of water or other liquid (less is generally better).

Traditional baker's percentage for Pate Brissee / Sucree are: Flour 100%, Fat 66%, Water 33%, Sugar up to 10% (optional), Salt 1%. There's a lot of room for adjustments for personal preference. Don't believe people who tell you not to improvise with pastry.

I have some recipes and a short tutorial online here. The recipe as written produces a texture somewhere between a flaky american pie crust and a crumbly french tart. There are notes on how to control the texture to get what you like. It's all about the size and shape of the butter pieces in the final dough.

[Edward J]

Actually, I use a table-top dough sheeter at work......

At home though, there are two trick I always use.

The first is, when making the dough, divide it into pieces you need, then, when still fresh and wet, shape these into discs as flat and round as possible. Refigerate.

I never bother with flour or marble or whatever, I just sandwich the discs inbetween silicone paper, and roll away. My favorite pin is the one I made on a wood lathe-- a very simple cylinder slightly tapered at either end--"French style" I believe it's called.

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Paul, as always your contributions are much appreciated. You go into the details that I always wonder about and can't seem to learn just by following a recipe. I just had a look at the file you linked to and it was great to help me understand what each thing does, and more importantly, how I can adapt it to suit my needs... great!

I suspect you approach cooking in a similar way of thinking to me, and at a much further progressed level, which is perfect for me to learn from

[Aloha Steve]

Thanks Paul.

Great thread I'm itching to make savory and sweet tarts.

In fact, just today I just received my bottom out tart pan!

I made my first tart, a sweet one using white peaches two weeks ago. Thumbs down on the dough recipe, not sweet or tasty enough and I had to use a spring form cake pan but a very good first attempt.

Edited September 9, 2009 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Aloha Steve]

Stuart do you mean wax paper or parchment paper instead of silicone paper ?

I've searched and cannot find silicone paper for baking.

Edited September 9, 2009 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Aloha Steve]

There will never be any vegetable shortening in my kitchen.

Would you please elaborate on why no vegetable shortening ?

[cmflick]

I roll out pastry dough between sheets of heavy plastic wrap, e.g., Freeze-Tite wrap. It's easy to transfer to a tart pan then because you just peel off the top sheet and flip it over with the bottom sheet still on. The bottom piece of plastic wrap then just peels off. I haven't had any problems with sticking, but it is key to start with cold dough and work fast.

[pax]

I roll out between two pieces of material, too, but I use parchment paper on a cold marble board.

Also, I use minced frozen butter.

I think there's room for all kinds of pastry, oil and butter and lard, and all of the variations. The trick is just to match the right filling to the right crust. No?

[paulraphael]

as always your contributions are much appreciated. You go into the details that I always wonder about and can't seem to learn just by following a recipe. I just had a look at the file you linked to and it was great to help me understand what each thing does, and more importantly, how I can adapt it to suit my needs...

thanks so much! just don't assume i'm right ...

Would you please elaborate on why no vegetable shortening ?

I just don't like it. I have yet to find an application for shortening where I don't feel that another kind of fat would be better. Possible exceptions are greasing baking pans and making decorative spackle for gingerbread cakes. Major exception is frosting for cakes that have to survive outside in hot weather ... but this frosting is functional, not delicious.

Two issues: shortening's melting point is higher than body temperature, so it always gives a greasy mouth feel. And it's flavorless.

The high melting point makes it easy to work with. But butter is perfectly workable if you know how. Some bakers say there are applications where you want neither the flavor of butter nor the savory flavors of leaf lard, suet, etc... I suppose there could be such cases, but i could never think of any.

Edited September 10, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[Kayakado]

I bought a cheap cutting board at the local thrift store. I covered it with an untreated white canvas duck cloth, stretched tight and stapled on. Finally, I worked flour into it really well. I store it in one of those x-large zip lock bags. I throw a little extra flour onto it each time I use it. It works great and rarely does something stick to it.

I do have a marble slab, but my frig is too small and too overloaded to accomodate it. I do keep a couple of ice bags in the freezer that I use to chill it when necessary.

[fooey]

I have a 4' x 6' x 1" granite island in the kitchen. When pastry is in the works, all I have to do is turn down the air conditioning. It's the perfect surface for pastry, smooth and cold.

Before I upgraded the kitchen (prepare to laugh) I bought a cheap slab of granite (2' x 4') from a company that made tombstones and just had it up on saw horses.

[tmriga]

Before I upgraded the kitchen (prepare to laugh) I bought a cheap slab of granite (2' x 4') from a company that made tombstones and just had it up on saw horses.

Believe it or not, that's what one of the chefs at school recommended we do for home use. I couldn't find anyone here who would sell me a remnant, so I called the countertop people. I found one company who is willing to sell me an 18x18", 1-1/4" thick slab for around $40. I put it on my birthday gift list.

Theresa

[JFLinLA]

In the last few years, I have come to love my silicone coated rolling pin. First it's really heavy which is helpful and of course the silicone reduces risk of sticking. I will still use my trusty old wooden french rolling pin from time to time.

And, here's another trick -- dental floss. I keep some unflavored floss in the kitchen. Once the rolled dough starts getting too large to lift, if it starts to stick anywhere I just run the floss under the dough and voila, good to go again with small dusting of flour in the offending spot.

[David Ross]

In the last few years, I have come to love my silicone coated rolling pin. First it's really heavy which is helpful and of course the silicone reduces risk of sticking. I will still use my trusty old wooden french rolling pin from time to time.

And, here's another trick -- dental floss. I keep some unflavored floss in the kitchen. Once the rolled dough starts getting too large to lift, if it starts to stick anywhere I just run the floss under the dough and voila, good to go again with small dusting of flour in the offending spot.

Wow, great tip about the dental floss. Thanks, I'll add that to my pastry rolling techniques.