The French terms for pie pastry are pâte brisée or, the sweeter, pâte sucrée. These use butter as the fat and have a different taste and texture than the typical Canadian pie pastry described below. Many inexperienced bakers are intimidated by pastry. However, the technique is easier and more forgiving than you might think. The thing to avoid is over-manipulation of the dough. There are 2 types of fat that the typical Canadian home baker will use in pie crust; lard or vegetable fat (aka: Crisco). Both are generally found in 1 pound blocks in the baking section of the grocery store and will usually contain a perfectly acceptable recipe for pastry on the packaging. What I am providing below is basically the recipe on the Tenderflake lard box.
Step 1- Assemble your tools
- a large mixing bowl
- a pastry cutter or 2 knives
- a rolling pin
- a measuring cup
Step 2- Assemble the ingredients
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 5 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 pound of fat (lard or vegetable fat)
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar (not balsamic or otherwise flavoured)
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- approximately 1 cup of very cold water
Mix together flour and salt. Cut in the fat with a pastry cutter or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal. Add the lightly beaten egg and vinegar to the water and gradually add the liquid to the fat and flour, stirring with a fork only until the dough begins to cling together. (Too much liquid will make it tough but too little, simply causes frustration). Gather into a ball and divide into 6 equal portions. Wrap each of the 6 balls in plastic wrap and pat to form flattened discs of dough. Each disc forms a single crust.(So, an apple pie will need two discs and a pumpkin pie only one). Refrigerate for ½ hour before using or freeze for up to 3 months.
To roll out the dough, flour both your rolling pin and the rolling surface.Roll to an even thickness of approximately 1/3 cm. If the crust breaks apart, simply patch it together. Patched pastry has an attractive rustic look anyway. Balling it together and re-rolling too many times will make the pastry tough. In my experience, perfectionism impedes progress.
Editorial Note: Some of you may feel the need to purchase a real pumpkin, bake it, peel it, seed it and mash it rather than buying a tin of pumpkin puree. You do so at your peril; pumpkin prepared in this manner is frequently both coarse and watery. Buy the tin. Follow the directions.Trust me on this one.
