Pies and Tarts | CraftyBaking | Formerly Baking911 (2024)

FAQs

What is the most frequently used pastry dough for pies and tarts? ›

A popular choice for creating dessert tarts and pies, shortcrust pastry is commonly made with half the quantity of fat to flour and has a crisp but crumbly texture. This pastry dough is a more forgiving variety of dough that can be resilient if overworked.

Pie crusts and tart shells can be made from several types of dough or crumbs. Flaky dough, mealy dough and crumbs are best for pie crusts; sweet dough is usually used for tart shells. Fillings make pies and tarts distinctive and flavorful. Four types of fillings are common: cream, fruit, custard and chiffon.

Any number of things can contribute to a slumping crust. Maybe your recipe uses an extra-high amount of shortening or butter, or you rolled the crust too vigorously, or you didn't let it rest and chill before baking.

Shortcrust pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, butter, salt, and water to bind the dough.

What you want for pie is flour that yields a tender, flaky crust, which means medium-protein all-purpose flour or low-protein pastry flour.

Pies that have a pastry lid - but not pastry sides and bottom - are known as 'pot pies' and many people believe they aren't actually real pies at all.

Mealy pie dough is best for using for pies that have a liquid or custard filling like pumpkin, or apple pie filling because it won't get soggy. The pieces of fat in the flour are very small, making the fat distribution denser which repels liquids.

Many pie and tart shells require partial baking (par baking) or fully prebaking the empty crust prior to filling. This method is termed blind baking.

Butter for flakiness and flavor, and shortening for its high melting point and ability to help the crust hold shape. You can use butter-flavor shortening if desired. If you want to skip the shortening, feel free to try this all-butter pie crust instead.

The acidic properties of vinegar inhibit gluten, some will say. This theory proposes that once the water and flour are combined, gluten starts forming, causing the dough to grow tough. Adding an acid, the theory goes, stops the gluten in its tracks and rescues the crust from toughness.

Why add vodka to pie crust? ›

So adding vodka adds liquid that helps to make the dough more workable and pliable without developing tougher gluten."

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Tip: Chilling hardens the fat in the dough, which will help the crust maintain its structure as it bakes. And the short rest before rolling relaxes the dough's gluten, helping prevent a tough crust.

These shortcut cinnamon rolls start with buttery, flaky store-bought puff pastry.

Shortcrust pastry is the best for pies that fully encase a filling as they tend to be firmer and less likely to leak. Puff pastry is great if you prefer just a pastry lid on top of the filling. Ready rolled shop-bought pastry are easy to handle and quite reliable - even professional chefs appreciate the convenience!

However, the most popular type of pasty is most likely shortcrust pasty, the type of dough used as the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or flan. Called “short” due to its crumbly and tender texture, shortcrust pastry features a high fat content and minimal gluten development.

Mealy pie dough's fat is worked into the flour more than in flaky pie dough, which means it resists soaking more than the latter does. Many bakers prefer to use a mealy pie dough as the bottom crust while reserving a flaky dough for the top.