pastry dough for 200 mini pies

[QbanCrackr]

So I'm making about 200 3" apple pies for an event next tuesday. I've made pie dough a few times in my food processor, and never had a problem with it. But It'd take me waaaay too long to make enough dough for these pies (i'm using 3" shells, they look like brioche a tete molds).

I've never done dough in a kitchenaid, but i've heard that it won't come out as flaky as it would if it were done by hand or in the food processor. Unfortunately, I don't think I've got that luxury for this event =/

Would i still be able to use my same pastry dough recipe in my 12quart? Or does someone have a recipe that'd benefit from being made in that stand mixer?

If i remember correctly this is the one i used

350g AP Flour

30g gran sugar

225g butter, chilled & cubed

60-120ml ice water

Would this still come out ok in the stand mixer? Anything specific i should look for when making the dough, or anything specific to take care in doing?

Thanks in advance

DD

[RWood]

You can make pie dough in a stand mixer. My suggestion would be to work the fats into the flour to whatever point you normally do, then dump it out into a bowl and mix the water in by hand. I do this when I make it in a food processor so it doesn't get overworked.

One method that can help with flakiness is to dump the dough out onto a worktable before it is totally mixed. Pat the mixture out with your hands to form a rectangle, then fold the dough onto itself like croissant dough. Use a bench scraper to help with any dry bits. Press it together and chill. It can be a done a couple more times. The flour will continue to absorb moisture if it looks too dry when you first do this.

Pies are probably my least favorite pastry to make, but this method has helped when I've had to make them.

[xxchef]

I think I would consider using a short dough crust/ pate brisee. They work fine in a mixer or food processor (use a very light touch, just to hold ingredients together) and can be easily individually scaled and pressed into the shells with no rolling/cutting/scrap to deal with.

Good luck.

[lebowits]

I think I would consider using a short dough crust/ pate brisee. They work fine in a mixer or food processor (use a very light touch, just to hold ingredients together) and can be easily individually scaled and pressed into the shells with no rolling/cutting/scrap to deal with.

Good luck.

What xxchef said. I believe there is a variation of pate brisee which incorporates sugar to sweeten the dough. It could be that your formula would work if you use the brisee technique. Chill all the ingredients, even the flour.

[QbanCrackr]

I cant remember if ive even made a brisee, anyone a tested recipe that works for them in a stand mixer?

Im going to rummage through my cookbooks in the meantime

Wish me luck! =p

[stuartlikesstrudel]

http://www.foodbeam.com/2007/09/19/reussir-la-pate-sucree-pas-a-pas-mastering-pate-sucree-step-by-step/

This is Pate Sucree which I *think* is like brisee but with sugar.

I've made this one a few times in the stand mixer and it works well. You'd still need to do a number of batches, of course.

[QbanCrackr]

i think pate brisee hates me.....

seriously... lol

i've followed the recipes to a t and they just dont come out right...made 2 batches this morning and when i tried rolling them out they were super crumbly (i let them warm up a couple of minutes and another couple of recipes i tried came out too sticky when i rolled them

i reeeeeally dont want to go the premade route and just unroll the rounds and cut my circles out of it but monday is looming near and i fear i might not get this whole pie dough thing in time

one of them even said to just run it in the stand mixer on stir until it broke up the butter into small enough pieces....eh...that didn't work so well

maybe i'm just not cut out for pie making?

for the crumbly doughs i'm guessing not enough liquid? and the sticky doughs, too much liquid?

*sigh*

krusteaz pie mix? i hope it wont have to come to that haha

[IndyRob]

How long can one keep a pastry dough in the refrigerator? It seems to me that having a dough in the fridge a day or two before - dough you know is good - would be a real stress reliever. For each batch that you do, you could do a test bake and throw the batch out if it's sub-par. If you do more, smaller, batches you're risking much less in terms of ingredients. Plus you'll get intensive practice.

I was able to do a good pate brisee the first time I tried just by following directions religiously. But on subsequent attempts I got a cavalier attitude, like I knew what I was doing, and failed. I found that there are sometimes things such as this where I have approach it as if it was my first time, every time.

For the crumbly dough it sounds like a hydration problem. Either not enough cold water, or not letting the flour hydrate in the fridge for long enough. In my limited experience it should go into the fridge (tightly wrapped in plastic) threatening to be crumbly, and come out in an immediately useable form - not crumbly, but not too far from it. But if your fat clumps are too large, that could be an issue too.

Edited November 20, 2010 by IndyRob (log)

[runwestierun]

Have you tried the Cook's Illustrated pie crust with vodka as the liquid? It rolls out kind of like fondant, you can handle it alot, and it is always very tender and flaky. You can handle it as much as you want (with the KA mixer or in rolling all the little crusts) because the vodka doesn't form gluten like water does.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/11/cooks-illustrated-foolproof-pie-dough-recipe.html

You could try a test with all vodka if you are going to handle the dough excessively. It rolls out well between sheets of plastic cling wrap.

[sugarseattle]

Since the original poster wants to make pie and is more familiar with making pie than tart crust, it seems more realistic that this person master making their pie with a kitchenaide rather than learn a whole new recipe AND learn a whole new method.

What I usually do is double my recipe and try it in the stand mixer. to preserve flakiness in pie dough, the best way is not to overmix your dough. I get my butter incorporated, and then pulse it until it's almost combined, then move it to the bench to form it into the dough disc. see how the dough looks, and then you can multiply your recipe by 4, and so on. You can weigh the dough to figure out when it is that you have enough to make 200 little tartlets. Remember that with large batches, you're going to want to make sure the dough is chilled when working with it, so be sure to only bring out enough dough that you can roll out while it is still chilled.

I know this is a controversial topic, but I DO re-roll my dough by adding a little old and new dough throughout my rolling process, with nice rests in the refrigerator.