Pies

1. Pies Ms. Cilurzo

2. What is a convenience food? • Commercially prepared food designed for ease of consumption. • Ready-to-eat foods • Pros vs. Cons

3. Pros vs. Cons • Pros: • Faster and Easier • Saves Time • Less Preparation • Less Cooking Time • Can be stored longer than fresh food • Cons: • More Expensive • Loss of nutrients during processing • Harder to control fat, sugar, sodium levels when it’s not homemade • Usually higher levels of sodium, saturated fats, and added sugar

4. Types of Pie Fillings • 1. Fruit: sliced fruit combined with sugar and a starch thickener such as flour or corn starch. • Examples: apple pie, blueberry pie, cherry pie • 2. Cream: consists of eggs, milk, and starch thickener (corn starch), filling is like a pudding. • Examples: banana cream, chocolate cream, lemon cream, coconut cream • 3. Custard: filling is like a pudding, similar in texture to cream, made with milk and eggs • Examples: pecan pie, pumpkin pie, Bavarian cream, éclairs • 4. Savory: contains cooked meat, poultry, seafood or vegetables in a thickened sauce • Examples: shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, quiche

5. Cream Vs. Custard • Cream pies contains cooked custard poured into a pre-cooked pie crust. Both are baked and prepared separately. • Custard pies contains uncooked custard poured into a raw pie crust and are baked together.

6. Types of Pie Crusts • Crumb Crust: made of crushed cookies or crackers, melted butter and sometimes sugar • One Crust Pie: crust is on the bottom only. Either the crust and pie filling are baked together or the crust is baked empty or blind and prepared filling is added later • Two Crust Pie: crust is on the bottom and the top and the filling is in the middle

7. Pastry Dough Ingredients • Four ingredients: flour, water, fat and salt • Flour: Forms structure. All purpose flour or cake flour for added lightness and a softer dough • Water: Usually ice-cold water is used. Ice-cold water helps keep the fat from melting during mixing which is needed for a flaky texture • Fat: • Tenderizes and adds flavor • Vegetable shortening and lard make the flakiest crust because it is pure fat • Butter makes a crumbly crust because of the water content • Oil creates a dry, grainy crust and is less flaky • Salt: Adds Flavor

8. Docking • To keep a pie shell from puffing up when baking, you can: • Use a fork to poke small holes all over the dough before putting it into the oven • Line the dough with aluminum foil and fill with dried beans

9. Overmixing • If the pastry is mixed too much, the particles will break down • If handled too much, the particles melt from the heat in your hands • All of this work overdevelops the gluten, transforming the texture from light to leathery and tough.

10. If the dough becomes cracked… • Patch or reshape it by cutting of a piece the size needed from an area where you have extra dough • With cold water, slightly moisten the area to be repaired • Place the patch on the dough and press firmly

11. Blind Baking • When the pie shell is cooked by itselft without any filling

12. What are two ways to prevent dough from shrinking? • 1) let it rest (usually few hours to overnight) • 2) don’t stretch it

13. Preparing a pie crust • 1. Cut the fat into the flour and salt with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles small peas • 2. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a fork after each addition until mixture is moist. • 3. Form a ball of dough that is neither crumbly (too dry) or sticky (too wet) • 4. Cover dough with plastic wrap so it doesn’t try out • 5. Rest dough so gluten can form. • Preparing the Pastry Dough

14. Rolling the Pastry Dough • 1. Sprinkle the works surface and rolling pin with flour or place the dough between two pieces of wax paper • 2. Press the ball of the dough to flatten it slightly • 3. Gently roll the dough from the center out in all directions until its 2 inches longer than pie plate • 4. Transfer dough to pie plate by folding the dough in half or quarters and lifting it gently • 5. Push the dough gently to the bottom and sides • 6. Flute the edges with a fork • Rolling the Pastry Dough

15. Class Work • Textbook: page 648-655 • Answer on page 656 under “Check Your Knowledge” questions 1-4, 7-13, 15-23.

16. Questions • 1. What is a pie? • 2. Describe the following kinds: fruit, cream, custard and savory • 3. What are the four main ingredients in pastry dough? • 4. Why should water be ice cold when making pastry dough? • 6. Compare crusts made with these fats: vegetable shortening or lard, butter or cream cheese and oil

17. Questions • 7. How do you mix pastry dough? • 8. Why should pastry dough be handled as little as possible? • 9. How do you roll pastry dough? • 10. What are two ways to keep pastry dough from shrinking? • 11. How can you repair a crust that is missing dough? • 12. What is a fluted edge? • 13. How is the top crust for a two-crust pie made?

18. Questions • 15. What is a pie shell? • 16. What is the purpose of docking? • 17. What ingredients are commonly used in a crumb crust? • 18. What type of crust would you choose for these pies and why? A) banana cream B) cherry C) Pumpkin D) apple E) chicken pot pie • 19. What is a turnover? • 20. How do tarts differ from pies?

19. Questions • 21. What can you do if you think a pie or tart might bubble over while baking? • 22. How can you prevent a crust from becoming soggy on the bottom?