33.2 Pie dough

The Romans wrote down the first pie recipe on record, and the first pies to catch on were made with meat. Those early pies were not baked in a pastry crust at all: only the filling was made, and it went into "reeds". Pies spread across Europe, and the first cherry pie is credited to Queen Elizabeth I. English settlers carried pies to the Americas, where at first the thick crust was just a container for the filling. Over time the crust became part of the dish, and pie is now a traditional American dessert.

Four ingredients

Pie crust comes in two kinds, flaky and mealy. Both use the same four ingredients. What makes them different is how the fat and flour are combined.

• Flour. Pastry flour suits pie crust best. It has enough protein to give the dough some gluten for structure, but little enough to keep the crust flaky. Mix pie dough only until the ingredients come together. see chapter 7: Flour
• Fat. Hydrogenated shortening is the fat most often used. It is soft enough to work into the flour and firm enough to make a dough you can handle. Butter gives a better flavor and feel in the mouth, but it costs more and melts at a low temperature. see chapter 19: Shortening
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• Liquid. Water is the cheapest liquid and the best one. Use it ice-cold so the fat stays firm and does not melt. Milk can be used, but the crust will brown fast.
• Salt. Salt is there for flavor. Stir it into the flour, or dissolve it in the water, so it spreads evenly.

Flaky and mealy

For flaky dough, the fat is rubbed or cut into the flour only until the pieces are about the size of a pea or a hazelnut. When the water goes in, some gluten forms. Rolling then presses the lumps of fat flat between layers of dough, and those layers bake into flakes. Use flaky dough for a crust baked empty before it is filled (called blind baking), and for the top crust of a covered pie.

For mealy dough, the fat is cut in all the way, until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal with no lumps of fat left. Every grain of flour is coated in fat, so the flour can soak up less water, and less water is used to bring the dough together. That gives mealy dough two advantages. Little gluten forms, so the crust is softer. And once baked it takes up little liquid, so a wet filling does not make it soggy. That is why mealy dough is popular for fruit and custard pies.