Despite my humble beginnings as a home baker making cookies and then cakes, my latest (and some say greatest) culinary interest has been in pie, pie, and more pie. And more specifically... in pie dough. Crusty, hearty, flaky, not-too-sweet pastry is something that many bakers claim is QED. But, as I've mentioned before, I am not one of those bakers.
On Christmas Day, C'pher and I found ourselves in a rental car with satellite radio on an absolutely flawless day, weather-wise, driving from Charlottesville, Virginia (his family) to Moundsville, West Virginia (my family). Thanks to Google Maps, we had an itinerary on the back roads, and saw every tiny, isolated little mountain town along route 33. When we finally topped the Appalachians and could see down in the valley into West Virginia, we were convinced that God himself had programmed that route just to remind us how really lovely our country really is.
When we stopped for a break at a little gas station just inside the WV border, I saw some home-canned goodies for sale. The Pendleton Conty Apple Butter I snagged for my Dad... but the jar of Blackberry & Raspberry pie filling was aaaallll mine.
After managing to get the jar back to San Francisco without permanently dying all my clothing purple, I was itching to try it out. The terrible January rainstorms, and an afternoon get-together with pals to watch movies and drink too much wine seemed the perfect exuse... and of course I'd have to try another pie crust recipe! After all, Yasmin and Gary had both just pledged themselves to a new diet (hence the decoration atop the pie), and it is my accepted and honored duty to always and in every way tempt them out of such foolishness. I bake because I care, people.
How long has it been since I extolled the many virtues of the fabulous Cook's Illustrated magazine in this format? Too long, if I can't remember. CI is a cooking magazine I overlooked for a long time simply because it's covers look ugly. I mean... the romantic paintings of foodstuffs, the Very Plain Typography... it all served to make CI look like the culinary equivalent of the New England Journal of Medicine. Who knew it was more like the culinary Consumer Reports!
Once I got my hands on CI, I was enraptured. Painstakingly researched and tested recipes, actually useful tips, techniques, and tidbits, and science science science! I devour each issue -- for me, it's often the final word on how-to in the kitchen.
You can imagine my delight, then, when the Nov/Dec 2007 issue came promising "Foolproof & Flaky Pie Dough: Easy to Make, Easy to Roll." Since I know their reputation for trying almost anything to make a recipe work better, I can't say I was entirely surprised when round after round of testing ended with the conclusion that, instead of only adding water to the dough, an equal amount of vodka made the dough easier to roll out, while maintaining the much-coveted flakyness factor.
You heard me... VODKA. In addition to a few procedural changes, using vodka and water in place of all water creates an amount of gluten in the pastry that is juuuuust right: it's easier to roll out because there is more liquid, but since the alcohol in the vodka inhibits the formation of gluten, the resulting crust won't be too tough.
Could you taste the vodka? Absolutely not... it's fairly tasteless to begin with, and nearly all the alcohol bakes right out. I will say that I'm a "a little batter for the oven, a little batter for me" kind of baker and I did eat the raw dough -- that stuff is boo-oo-OOzy! Just don't let your little ones or your cousin who's finally got his 18 months sober chip dive in for a sample or you'll be busted.
Once I opened the berry pie filling and tasted it, I decided it needed a little... something. In the spirit of my original inspiration to begin baking, Anne Byrn's delightful idea book The Cake Mix Doctor, I decided to "doctor it up." I was able to find some fresh raspberries, and of course I had a lemon on hand. Since it still lacked the tartness I wanted, I added a scant half-teaspoon of sour salt -- another name for citric acid -- which is available in crystalline form at specialty shops.
Once assembled, I carted the pie out to our pal Yasmin's place to bake it fresh as we made several platefuls of grilled cheese -- sourdough garlic and whole wheat olive bread with fantastic Irish cheddar, well-buttered and served piping hot right off the grill. Once we made it through High Anxiety and Gigi, we sliced into the pie, and it was a delightful bit of summer in the dead of winter. It's amazing what some good wine, some good food and a rainy afternoon with Waiting For Guffman and great friends can do to help you forget the awful weather. And when there is flaky pie crust? That's just the, er... the icing on the cake!
FOOLPROOF PIE DOUGH
for one 9-inch double pie crust pie
If you can get your hands on the issue 89 (Nov/Dec '07) of Cook's Illustrated, be sure to read the full article that accompanies this recipe: it PERFECTLY illustrates why cooking is equal parts science and art. Well... okay, maybe it's 60/40 science/art, but you get the idea. First, lead researcher and article author J. Kenji Alt breaks down the components of pastry dough and explains how pastry becomes flaky. Then he admits to the many awful truths about working with a cold and dry dough: it cracks when rolling, it sticks and tears, and overworking it causes too much gluten to form, making the pastry end up more like leather than tender, crumbly deliciousness.
Vodka practically eliminates these problems. Allow me to quote from Mr. Alt:
Pie dough gets its structure from gluten, long chains of protein that form when flour mixes with water. But too much gluten will make pie dough tough. That's why traditional pie doughs are so stingy with the water. I discoverd that vodka lets you add more liquid (so the dough is easier to roll out) without toughening the crust. Why?
Eighty-proof vodka consists of 60 percent water and 40 percent ethanol. While gluten forms readily in water, it does not form in ethanol. Thus, my recipe, which contains 4 Tablespoons each of cold water and vodka, gets the benefits of 8 tablespoons of liquid (supple, easy-to-roll dough) but actually has the equivalent of about 6½ Tablespoons of water -- an amount that limits gluten formation and ensures tenderness. As for the alcohol? It vaporizes in the oven.
Alt has been apparently all over the Chowhound boards responding to readers questions about, among other things, flavored alcohols in the dough and admits that an apple pie with a calvados crust turned out very well. The mind fairly boggles with the possibilities.
You'll also notice a procedural change for this food-processor dough: he reserves a portion of the flour to incorporate into the dough after some has been mixed with the fat. This creates long sheets of gluten seperated by a fat-flour paste. Genius. JKA... will you marry me?
- 2 ½ cups (12 ½ oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour, separated
- 1 tsp table salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 12 Tbsp (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼ in. slices
- ½ cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
- ¼ cup cold vodka
- ¼ cup cold water
Process 1 ½ cups flour with all the salt and sugar in a food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds, and there should be no uncoated flour.
Scrape bowl with a rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add the remaining cup of flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl, and mass of dough has been broken up, 4-6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix, pressing down on the dough until it is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide into tow even balls and flatten each into a 4-inch disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
Note: Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor – do not substitute. This dough will be moister and more supple than most standard pie doughs and will require more flour to roll out (up to ¼ cup).
(Source: Cook's Illustrated #89, November & December 2007)
