I don’t make my own crusts, but have tried in the past to make them for Saltenas, a Bolivian staple, sort of like an empanada.
I’ve gotten 2 recipes from people who make them very well. But, I’ve never actually watched anyone do it. Both times, while I try to roll the dough out to 1/8” thick, it keeps retracting.
I went to the web and it says I’m not letting the dough sit enough forthe gluten to break down. The gluten is the issue. That’s what’s keeping it springing back.
I make flaky pie crusts, and I don’t do anything special in terms of letting it sit (or putting it in the fridge or freezer, as some do). My crust uses flour, Crisco, egg yolks, water and salt. The secret for this crust is to use two knives to blend the ingredients just enough to hold it together - it’s more marbled than mixed.
You sort of cut at the flour and shortening, like a ninja chef. Here is the description from the recipe: With 2 knives, scissor-fashion, cut shortening into flour until like cornmeal or large peas. Sprinkle egg yolks and water over different parts of mixture, blending until particles stick together when pressed gently.
I make pie crust using only flour, salt, crisco and some water. I also cut the crisco into the flour/ salt mix by scissoring the two knives back and forth. It was the most useful thing I learned in 8th grade home Ec. ( google it, there are you tube videos)
I also make sure the water I add is ice cold - literally. It is ice water.
I’m not a pastry maker- but I have a friend who is a professional chef and he took one bite of a loaf of bread I made (which I was pretty proud of– turned out fairly decent) and said “Check the gluten content on your flour”. Who knew?
I upgraded to King Arthur High Gluten and the bread texture is less cardboardy and much closer to a high end bakery fluffy with a nice chew.
Flour can make a huge difference. I got fancy “pizza” flour from King Arthur and had a lot of trouble with rolling out the dough. I switched to King Arthur AP and the results are much better.
1. the less you handle it, the better. Too much mixing and blending will make it tough. (That’s partly why the cutting method of mixing is effective. ) My mom, one of the most impatient people you could ever meet, makes the best pie crust because she just can’t be bothered to keep working at it.
A chef in Nashville recommended freezing the butter, then grating it, and using that for crust. It guarantees even distribution, and as each bit melts during cooking, it adds both taste and an air pocket of flake. (This is a twist on @abasket ‘s rec above.)
Having provided that very useful info, I confess that I often use refrigerated Pillsbury crusts!
An extensive Cook’s Illustrated project determined you need vodka. Baking does drive me to drink, BUT in this case the vodka goes in the dough. Apparently the alcohol cooking off forces the layers apart which makes for a flaky crust.
I don’t like pie. Any pie. Not a fan of crust or cooked fruit, but I do make it sometimes for family and have gotten many compliments on this drunk crust. I keep a bottle of vodka in the freezer for this. I’m not much of a drinker either and my family doesn’t know my crust secret, but my kids love telling everyone I keep a secret bottle of vodka in my freezer. They think I take a big swig from it when they are all driving me nuts. (That’s actually the Don Julio tequila in the back of the pantry but )
I did a bit more research and one woman in the internet had an article where she experimented to bake these saltenas. Her mom is Bolivian and she even made the point that there were not alot of recipes for them because people don’t make them there, it’s tradition to go out on Sunday late morning and have them at a Saltenia
The dough is not like pie dough, more sturdy, not flaky. She found that a 17% protein flour is the best, the more gluten the better. I couldn’t find one that high, I went to ChatGPT. One of them that was on that list was the King Arthur. It’s was 13.7%. Not as high as 17, but higher than the all purpose flour I use for baked goods.
Unfortunately it won’t get here in time due this weekend, my son had asked me to make them for his birthday.
but, I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making pie crust. So thank you all very much for all those recipes!
It was a game changer for me…hope it works for you!!! Everyone I know claims to be avoiding gluten….but the high gluten flour makes a more professional tasting bread!!!
If people have a problem with gluten, they need to avoid gluten entirely. There’s no reason for anyone without celiac disease or gluten intolerance to worry about how much gluten is in the bread … might as well make it as tasty as possible!
Beautiful timing on the pastry ideas! I get to do all of Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Lucky me!
I’m going to Costco to get my pies, but every once in a while I can’t fit everything in my fridge, so I like making my own small human-sized pies.
I have a pastry cutter! Learned that in junior high Home EC! (see Mrs. Waterbury, I WAS paying attention!)
I also freeze my butter and use the grater
And I use a fork after the pastry cutter to blend any remaining flour.
I do have King Arthur flour somewhere, but I’m so used to using Gold Medal flour to make tortillas and pastry (empanadas, etc) so that is what I tend to use. My kids use the King Arthur and some Flour from Trader Joe’s.
Thank you for all of your great tips! Your timing was beautiful!
)
I have a pastry cutter! Learned that in junior high Home EC! (see Mrs. Waterbury, I WAS paying attention!)