What fat do you use in pie crust?
It's apple pie time again, (about the only two crust pie that I make), and I'm wondering what fat you use in your dough. I grew up with lard crusts, and love them - incredibly flaky and tender. They have a distinctive flavor though, and I find guests and friends aren't terribly excited about the idea of a lard crust. (I can't find the higher quality lard some were writing about a couple of months ago.) I can't quite figure out how shortening can have no trans fats, and I never use shortening.
I've used butter for a few years, but the crust has a shorter flake than I'm used to with lard. Like the flavor, though. I'm wondering whether using a better butter with less water content would make a difference. I always use white pastry flour for my pies (available at King Arthur or the co-op).
What's your preference?
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20 Comments:
I used ½ & ½ butter and lard.
goodcooker at 7:20AM on 09/21/09
I use 1/2 shortening and 1/2 Earth Balance (a margarine). I use a new bag of all purpose flour, cold fat and ice water.
KarynMC at 8:04AM on 09/21/09
1/2 shortening & 1/2 butter, a.p. flour & ice water until it barely comes together and chill for a couple of hours before rolling out.
dhorst at 8:44AM on 09/21/09
Cold butter. I cube it into half inch pieces and put it into the refrigerator for 10 minutes before I cut it with the flour so that it stays firm.
I'm concur about shortenings labeled trans fat free! I do not believe for a second that they contains zero trans fats.
I have a friend whose mom uses Ghee in place of shortening for pie crusts. I haven't used it, but I've tasted her pies and they're perfectly flaky.
yayfood at 9:04AM on 09/21/09
Shortening and butter. I'd be keen on trying alternatives, though!
avaryne at 9:13AM on 09/21/09
I use butter strictly in my crusts, but that's what I'm comfortable with. I also learned how to make vegan crusts using oil, but that's a totally different technique. I wouldn't eat lard because I don't eat red meat, and I recommend to anyone that is making pies for other people to be cautious of using it! The secret to my mom's crust (which is mostly in the savory application of making pasties) is Parkay margarine. I'm not kidding! It tastes really good, though I'm not sure of the flake factor when it comes to pies and other sweet things.
meem21 at 9:39AM on 09/21/09
Nearly all butter, with about 2 TBS. of Crisco subbed for the last 2 Tbs. of the butter. Per St. Julia.
And my general feeling about lard crusts is: How much lard is in one piece of pie? I've never had anyone ask me what was in the crust before accepting and downing a piece of pie or cobbler. I've just gotten in the butter habit, but I respect a fine piece of pie crust no matter what.
lemons at 9:39AM on 09/21/09
vegetable oil
flavacrisp at 9:43AM on 09/21/09
A dear neighbor taught me this crust method years ago, and I'm still doing it this way:
For a 2-crust pie:
Combine: 2 c flour
dash salt
Blend together: 1/2 c veg oil and 1/4 c ice water
Pour quickly into flour mixture, stir lightly with fork til only just blended into a loose semi-shaggy ball.
Dump 1/2 the mixture out onto a largeish sheet of waxed paper. Cover with
a 2nd sheet of waxed paper. Now press flat and roll out to fit your pan, turning the two sandwiched layers often to make an even circle. Peel back the top sheet, invert the bottom sheet onto the pie plate and peel that off the dough. Press into place and then repeat with the top crust after you've filled your pie.
I'm afraid to investigate the health properties of this recipe, but I love the flaky crust and the ease of preparation.
moibec at 10:08AM on 09/21/09
Have you tried using vodka for part of your water when making the dough?
I make pie maybe every other month. I doubt the amount of trans fats in those slices of crust will kill me, but if they do, forgive me for having been so flippant about it. Crisco makes a good crust.
eeels at 10:21AM on 09/21/09
butter.
hmw0029 at 10:22AM on 09/21/09
I'm with @lemons. St. Julia! Every now and then I'll try a crust recipe from a trusted source, like Cook's Illustrated or Martha or the Chicago Tribune, that has a gimmick like vodka or vinegar or baking powder or cream cheese. The recipes have worked, and knock on wood, I haven't made bad pastry for about 30 years now. I figure everyone else has to develop a gimmick recipe because they can't top Julia's.
betteirene at 11:34AM on 09/21/09
Lard.
ride&cook at 11:52AM on 09/21/09
I have been using Crisco for years with the recipe from Betty Crocker. I find it easy to work with and I get consistent results. We recently rendered the lard that came with the half hog we had butchered for our freezer. I found working with lard to be difficult, plus I was not happy with the porky taste even though I had a very flaky crust. @eeels is correct. Pie is a special occasion dessert, so I don't think there will be health consequence being we eat so little of it.
Suzzanne at 11:54AM on 09/21/09
I love the taste of a butter crust. I also freeze and cube it.
MMinNYC at 2:59PM on 09/21/09
How much pie are people eating that they worry about the health risks from trans-fats in pie crust and resort to weird all-vegetable oil recipes?! Pie crusts need solid fats. Crisco (or similar partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening) is tried and true. Half Crisco and half butter. Lard is great, too, though the original poster seems to want to avoid it.
Lorenzo at 4:50PM on 09/21/09
Always all butter. But, I find it's hard to get a really flaky texture with all butter, unless I add an acid to the dough. Apple cider vinegar, white vinegar or even vodka will help the fat to interrupt the development of gluten enough to give you the same flaky texture that vegetable shortening or lard would do, but without the film left on the roof of your mouth that hydrogenated oils can leave.
Double crust:
2.5 cups flour
2.5 sticks of butter
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
1-3 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you want it
ice water
Technique: http://blog.recipelion.com/guest-post-perfect-pie-crust/
ice water
WickedGoodDinner at 11:58PM on 09/21/09
butter with some crisco works for me. i tried the vodka crust and didn't care for it. you can increase the flake by doing some fraisage on the dough.
cybercita at 12:20AM on 09/22/09
I use suet. It isn't easy to get here, because all prepared suet is exported from Denmark, primarily (I think) to the UK. So, I have to go down to the slaughter-house and get the blob of kidney fat, take it home, and render it myself.
Although not the most fun thing to do, it is very low tech: you just toss the blob of fat into a large pot, and liquify it over very low heat (this prevents browning of the membranes that are all through the kidney-fat blob, and which would contribute a flavour to the finished product). You can chill the blob first, and cut it up into smaller pieces, to hurry the process, but do not turn up the heat, unless you want a definite 'suety' flavour to be present. This takes quite a while.
Once the fat is liquified, just strain it through a clean cloth; I use an old white t-shirt that I'm going to toss, anyway (you probably will not be able to resuse the cloth, unless you're willing to take extreme measures, since the fat does not come out easily).
Then, pour it into the recepticle(s) of your choice (you might want to divide it up in convenient small portions), and refrigerate or freeze it.
You will then have at your disposal a very white, flavour- and odourless fat.
(Before anyone starts screaming about how unhealthy this is, I am not recommending it as a health food, nor is this something that I use in every dish I make; I make a couple of pies a year, a Christmas pudding, the occasional chicken pot pie. None of those in my immediate circle have any problem with their heart, circulatory system, or blood pressure, and when you consider the amount of suet actually present in a single portion of any of these things, the impact is minimal, at most).
mongoose at 9:10AM on 09/22/09
Butter, butter, butter. Always.
BreadAndButtercream at 12:10AM on 09/23/09