The Science of Perfect Pie: 16 Tips for Flaky Crusts & Firm Fillings

There's a reason your dough is flaky and your filling is firm... or not. It's the science behind the perfect pie. (Who knew your high school chem class had as much to do with baking as it did with blowing things up?) 

To understand this science, we asked Cheryl Perry, cookbook author and former instructor at the National Gourmet Institute (now a part of ICE), for tips on every aspect of the pie-making process — from creating the crust to setting the fruit filling.

Students in the Pastry & Baking Arts and Health-Centered Culinary Arts programs at ICE study this same science and put these concepts into practice, making pies, galettes, and various fillings.

So bookmark this page, and come back to it throughout the holidays, or on January 23 (National Pie Day), March 14 (the other Pi Day), stone fruit season, or anytime you want to make a delicious pie... because they all need a great crust.

5 Tips for Perfect Pie Crust

1. Colder is better: Keep your crust ingredients cold. Cold inhibits gluten development, so cold butter, ice-cold water, and even cold flour will help ensure a tender and flaky pastry.
2. Avoid bleached flour: Use a high-quality, unbleached all-purpose flour that is not enriched. Bleached flour is just that — bleached. Avoid this at all costs. Bleaching lowers gluten content, which makes it difficult for pie crust to hold together. The 11% gluten found in all-purpose flour yields the perfect tenderness in a crust.
3. A little acid goes a long way: Add a little acid to your dough. Whether fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, acid slows gluten development. One teaspoon will do the job, and it can replace some of the water you add.
4. The more pieces of butter, the better: Be sure to use pea-sized pieces of butter. Butter is made up of three parts: milk solids, butter fat and water. As the small pieces of butter melt, the water heats and creates steam, which lifts the pockets, creating a flaky pastry.
5. Leavener is your friend: Add a leavener to your dough. Baking powder is a leavener (a substance that causes the expansion of doughs and batters by the release of gas), so adding a teaspoon to your crust assists the butter in creating a flaky pastry. For vegan pastry, where you don't have butter pockets creating steam, baking powder is essential.

Once you've created the perfect crust, you need a delicious filling. Here are tips for the most popular seasonal pies: apple and pumpkin.

5 Ways to Thicken and Brighten Apple Pie Filling  

1. Water is not your friend: Apples, like most fruits, are primarily water. Water is the enemy of a fruit-filled pie because it makes the pie mushy and crusts soggy. To combat a watery pie, mix apples with the other filling ingredients (sweetener, cinnamon, salt, etc.) for 30 minutes. This pulls moisture from the fruit. Strain the mixture and reduce the liquid by half — the liquid should have a caramel-like consistency.
2. Get zesty: Add lemon zest instead of lemon juice. Fruit loves lemon, and the bright flavor of lemon zest does a better job enhancing fruit flavors without adding extra liquid. Think of lemon as the salt of the fruit world.
3. Balance sweetness: Add a pinch of salt to all fruit pies.
4. Let your pie breathe: Cut steam vents. This will help the liquids that are present evaporate as steam.
5. Thicken your filling: Add a starchy thickener, and be sure you see the liquids bubbling before removing your pie from the oven. When adding a thickener, be it arrowroot powder, kudzu powder or organic non-GMO cornstarch, it must be heated to a boil to activate. Otherwise, you'll not only have a watery pie, but it will be chalky from the starchy thickener.

Apple Pie Recipes to Try at Home

Looking for a recipe? Try this Salted Caramel Apple Pie or Autumn Pie (that has apple, pear and cranberry), courtesy of two ICE Los Angeles chef-instructors. Or, check out the Epicurious 4 Levels of Apple Pie episode to see the tea-riffic twist a former chef-instructor added to her pie.

6 Tips for Firming Up Pumpkin Pie Filling 

1. Let your filling sit overnight: Make your pumpkin pie filling a day ahead. Letting it sit in the refrigerator overnight allows the filling's spices to develop, creating a truly flavorful pie.
2. A little lemon zest does wonders: Add lemon zest to the filling as an unexpected way to enhance its flavor.
3. Bake until the outer edge sets: For a pumpkin pie with a smooth surface, free of any cracks or craters, bake the custard until the outer edge is just set and slightly puffed. The center of the pie should remain jiggly (but not liquid). This might make you concerned that the filling will be undercooked, but Cheryl's rule of thumb is 1½-inches from the edge should be set (not jiggly), and the carryover from the set edge will finish cooking the custard.
4. Get creative with your filling: Add something unusual to your custard. Try a little spiced rum and coconut milk instead of whole milk.
5. Blend your own spices: Mix your own pumpkin spice mix instead of using a store-bought version. Not only will this ensure the freshness of the spices, but you can control the balance of the different spices. For an extra-special touch, use freshly grated nutmeg and a touch of cardamom. Adding Chinese five-spice powder is an unusual and delicious twist.
6. Mix in other orange produce: Mix half the pumpkin with baked pureed yam, butternut squash or sweet potato for a deeper flavor.

There you have it. Now get baking!

Related: Tips for baking pumpkin pie

This post was originally published by the Natural Gourmet Institute.

 

 

 

 

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