Hello Bakers,
The weekend before Thanksgiving is here. No doubt you are running around trying to get as much done as possible. There is a lot of pressure around this holiday. So much so that I plan to hide in the apartment and happily eat beans on toast. I am still a little tired from the cancer challenge of the last six months and I need a rest.
My family is scattered this holiday and part of me is secretly relieved that I can just relax on Thanksgiving. The only time of this year that I am part of the 1%. I would guess that only 1% of the population hides away on Thanksgiving - the rest are cooking and traveling. Don’t get me wrong - despite hiding - I am still extremely grateful.
Before I go into seclusion, I want to share with you a no guess work pie crust. No “how much water is too much or too little” - when you watch a professional baker do this - it all looks so easy.
I am guilty of that - in fact - I will teach two pie classes at Sur La Table (Farmers Market) where that is exactly what I will do. In a regular pie crust recipe, cold water is the variable - that means we have no idea exactly how much we need to get the dough to come together in a cohesive mass. The recipe will have a range - but not an exact amount. And it’s so easy to add too much because the dough feels dry - what we need here, usually is patience, keep working the water through the dough, unless there is a fair amount of powder on the bottom of the bowl - then add water - a tablespoon at a time.
Look at that last paragraph! Wow - I do have some anxiety around making sure you, my bakers, know exactly have success with your pie crust.
Let me introduce you to a pie crust that works every time - some of you may know it - flaky cream cheese pie dough. Let’s nerd out and I will explain what is going on in this recipe. The water in the cream cheese replaces the water so that we only have to add 15g (1Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) - you won’t taste the cream cheese - there are equal amounts butter and cream cheese so this dough will taste like butter. Also, the cream cheese helps the dough become extensible - it’s easy to roll out. Shortening does this too but without making anyone nervous. By the weigh - use unbleached flour for your pastry doughs - bleached flour creates a dough that will shrink more - I am using King Arthur in this recipe.
The apple cider vinegar tenderizes the gluten - so there dough stays tender and the small amount of baking powder aids in leavening. (Originally, it was Nick Malgieri who put me on to adding a little baking powder to pie crust). I studied with Nick in New York back in the day at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School. He is a great baker and teacher.) I love his books too - they are so worth collecting.
Bonus - this can be used as a tart crust too - add a little sugar to it if you want - 28g, 1 ounce, 2 Tablespoons - if you like.
Because I want this recipe to be accessible to everyone - I am giving it to you in volume, ounces and grams. But as grams are THE most accurate way of weighing our ingredients when we back - please become a “grammar” and weigh your ingredients in grams.
Also, this dough can be made the night before you bake your pies and refrigerated overnight - this helps the gluten in the dough relax and the hydration process - water and flour absorption continue.
It can also be made and frozen up to one month - thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving, Bakers. Please try this recipe. It makes enough for two crusts - BTW it takes 360g of dough to fill a 9” pie plate. You can make any pie or any tart with this dough. Have fun - send me photos of your beautiful pies.
This makes a little extra so that you have some wiggle or rolling room. Any questions, I am an email (bakingwithcolette@gmail.com) or a DM away, Twitter and Instagram - bakingwcolette.
Happy Holiday Baking! XO, Colette
Here’s the Demo - spend six short minutes with me and I will show you how it’s done and the recipe is below
Cream Cheese Flaky Pie Pastry
Yield: enough for 2 9” single crusts or 1 9” double crust
Equipment: Stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, scale, measuring spoons, bowl scraper or spatula, plastic wrap handy
I listed the ingredients in grams, then by ounces and then by volume - I put the volume measurements in parentheses to make it a little clearer - my goal is to soon get ingredients into a table 0…..
Ingredients:
322g, 11.4 ounces, (2 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour)
4g, (1/2 teaspoon baking powder)
7g, .75 ounce, (1 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon salt)
186g, 6 1/2 ounces, (3/4cup + 1 Tablespoon) cream cheese, cut into 1” cubes and chill
186g, 6 1/2 ounces, (3/4cup + 1 Tablespoon) butter, cut into 1” cubes and chill
19g, 3/4 ounce, (1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) ice water
7g, (1 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon) apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
7g, .75 ounce, (1 teaspoon + 1/4) teaspoon salt
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
Mix on low speed for 30 seconds (this eliminates having to sift)
Add cream cheese chunks starting on low speed, then increase to medium, mix for 2 minutes until the mixture looks like cornmeal - no cream cheese chunks are visible
Add butter chunks, start on low speed and then increase the speed to medium and mix unitl the butter pies are the size of small corn flakes - still visible - these butter pieces create your flake - it is roughly a 2 minute mix
Combine the water and apple cider vinegar and add to the flour mixture, mix on low speed until just combined, then continue to mix on medium low until the dough becomes a cohesive mass - 1 -1 1/2 minutes.
Scrape the dough out of the mixer bowl, shape into a flat disc - 6-8” in diameter and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour or overnight. Please freeze if you are not going to use within 2 days - because it has no sugar in it - it will start to turn gray. This is from the flour - which oxidizes if it sits in the refrigerator too long.
Please send photos of your beautiful pies or just your beautiful dough. :)