Source: Algonquin College and “ Professional Baking” by Wayne Gisslen

Hello, fellow Disney food lovers!

Today we are making one of my favorite things to eat; Pie! How amazing is pie? Great, right?!

I was trying to think of a recipe that everyone should have in their recipe collection. A recipe that you can build on and make a million different Disney ways. It came to me that everyone needs a great basic pie crust. Something that you only need a few ingredients and doesn’t take 85 steps to make.

I learned this basic pie dough in an Intro to Baking and Pastry class in culinary school. The chef adapted it from a recipe in the book “ Professional Baking” by Wayne Gisslen. On a side note, if you are looking for a book filled with information about the baking world, this is a fantastic resource. I’m not going to lie, this book isn’t cheap because it’s mainly used as an academic textbook. It is worth every penny though.

The difference between a flaky pie dough and meaty pie dough is the amount of fat in the dough. We discuss a couple thing more during the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 500g Pastry Flour (sifted)

• 350g Shortening

• ____

• 150g Water (Cold from the tap)

• 10g Salt

• 25g Sugar

Instructions:

1. Weigh and prepare all your ingredients before you begin. This will make your life so much easier because this recipe can get messy.

2. Grab your COLD water and add the salt and sugar. The water needs to be very cold. Some people will chill water in the freezer, but if you just run the tap a little that will be perfectly fine.

3. In a very large bowl, combine the sifted flour and shortening together. Here you can “cut” or “rub” the shortening into the flour.

Rub the shortening means using your hands to break down the shortening.

Cut the shortening means using a tool or two knives to decrease the shortening size.

For a flaky dough, the fat chunks should be about the size of hazelnuts.

For a meaty dough, the mixture should look more like cornmeal.

You would use a more meaty dough for the bottom of a liquid fruity pie.

4. Add the water mixture to the flour mixture.

Do not over mix the dough or it will become tough. The dough will also be more likely to be overworked if you use a machine. That’s why we always do it by hand.

5. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Ideally for as long as possible.

6. Remove the dough out from the fridge and weight out 180g balls. Each ball will be enough dough for the bottom of one 8’inch pie pan.

7. Flour your table lightly. This will stop the batter from sticking to the table. Using a roller, roll out your dough to 3mm thick.

The easiest way is to roll up and down twice on the dough, turn the dough, roll, turn, roll etc. The will keep the dough round and the width consistently the same.

To know if the size is right, flip the pie pan upside down over the dough. There should be at least hard an inch on all edges.

Once the size is right, fold the dough lightly in half, slide over half of the pie and unfold.

 

8. Gently press the dough to the sides. You do not want to press too hard but also do not want air between the pan and dough.

9. Using a fork, puncture numerous dots into the bottom of the pan.

10. Use a knife to cut off edges of the pie.

Now you have the base of your pie. Depending on what kind of pie you are making you will  fill the pie and cover the top with another piece of dough. Or you can leave it without a top like a Key Lime Pie. I showed two examples of what you can do with some cookie cutters. Disney Parks cookie cutters of course!

Happy Baking Friends!