Why do pie crust recipes approximate the amount of water? - Baking Bites (2024)

FAQs

Why do pie crust recipes approximate the amount of water? - Baking Bites? ›

There are a couple of reasons that an exact amount of liquid is rarely given in a pie dough recipe. The primary reason is that adding too much water can make your pie dough tough and once it has crossed that line to being overworked and over hydrated, there is really no recovering from it.

"Pie recipes don't give specific fluid amounts because every flour hydrates differently," Erin said. But this leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and recipes are often written in a way that makes people overly cautious.

Water: Helps to bind flour and fat together to make a dough. In choux pastry water is converted to steam or water vapour, which acts as the raising agent.

Too much liquid means the crust will not be flaky. You want to use just enough (cold) water to get the dough to hold together. Too much water when making a pie crust or any pastry for that matter, gives you a doughy / bready crust.

Keep the Butter Cold

With this goal in mind, the cardinal rule of pie crusts is to keep things as cold as possible.

Some bakers use milk or buttermilk in their pie crust. Thanks to their milk solids, both will help crust brown and add a bit of tenderness. But the classic liquid in pie crust is water — ice water, to be precise.

I usually use 1/2 cup (120ml) of water, but if the weather is humid, you may not need as much, and if the weather is really dry, you may need a little more. If too much water is added, the pie dough will require more flour and become tough.

Unlike water, alcohol does not contribute to the formation of gluten, the network of proteins that can cause a crust to turn leathery. Because the alcohol burns off quickly in the oven, drying out the crust, we could add enough vodka to keep the dough wet and extremely supple.

To make a pastry shell, the water and fat are incorporated into the flour; the resulting dough is chilled, and then it is rolled out. Rolling allows the gluten to develop, and the pieces of fat and flour to flatten and create layers.

Butter: A rich flavor and a flaky crust, but harder to work with. For some pastry chefs, butter is the obvious choice. “My preferred fat for pie crusts will always be butter. To me, it is all about flavor, and no other fat gives flavor to a crust like butter does.

What is one thing you should not do when making pie crust? ›

A pie crust recipe should always list a specific amount of water. The shortening forms a waterproof coating around the flour particles so that the water doesn't develop too much gluten in the flour. Too much water causes toughness.

Start with chilled ingredients

Butter creates a sturdy, crisp pie crust. For this, it is important to keep all ingredients cold which will inhibit the development of gluten in the flour. Use butter right out of the refrigerator and add ice-cold water to make the dough.

1. Use Very Cold Butter or Fat. Butter, shortening, lard, or suet—whatever fat the recipe calls for should be well-chilled and cut into small pieces to start with for the flakiest crust in the end. The fat in a pie crust must maintain some of its integrity in the dough to make the crust truly flaky.

The cardinal rules of pie dough: Keep it cold, work fast, and don't overwork your dough.

A small increase in the amount of water added to pie pastry dough will likely increase gluten development because pie pastry dough is low in water and therefore its gluten is "starved" for water, that is, it is not fully hydrated.

Water is the most basic and common form of liquid used in baking. Often, milk products such as whole milk, buttermilk, cream, or dried milk are used. Milk provides the baked product with flavor, nutritional value, and texture.

If too much water is added then too much gluten is formed, which makes the pastry hard and tough. If water is added unevenly the pastry will appear streaky when rolled. It is likely to blister, as steam will be formed unevenly.